I thought for sure that any Hollywood remake of Tomas Alfredson's artful Swedish vampire film, Let the Right One In, would be a crass desecration. Well, color me blushing. Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) proves expert at tracing Alfredson's footsteps, creating a mood of chilling terror even while moving the setting from Stockholm to 1980s New Mexico with Reagan raising fears about the Evil Empire. Better yet, Reeves plugs in a live wire to play Abby, the girl vampire who's been 12 for, well, a very long time. That would be Chloë Grace Moretz, an acting dynamo (see Kick-Ass) whose mesmerizing performance goes deep. Abby fascinates her new neighbor, Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee of The Road), a boy victimized at school by bullies. He wants to be fearless like Abby, whose only parental figure is a guardian, played by the great Richard Jenkins. For the sake of newbies to this story, I'll say no more, except there will be blood and surprising tenderness. Moretz and Smit-McPhee will stay with you, especially in a delicate scene where he asks her to be his girl. "I'm not a girl — I'm nothing," she says. Prepare to be wowed. It's a spellbinder.

“Alison”

On Elvis Costello’s country-tinged ballad, the lyric does not get too sentimental in recalling an ex who had since been with one of the singer's "little friends" and is now married. Some believe the song is about murder, due to lines like “Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking,” "Somebody better put out the big light" and, of course, "My aim is true,” which became the title of Costello's debut album. In 2002, Costello told Rolling Stone, “It isn’t [about murder]. It’s about disappointing somebody. It’s a thin line between love and hate, as the Persuaders sang.”