Distributor Gets It Wrong With 'Let the Right One In' Subtitles Fiasco

A couple of weeks ago, Icons of Fright thought something was fishy with the subtitles on the DVD release of Let the Right One In. It seemed like a worthy gripe: The film was the best horror or horror-related movie of 2008, it was tragically underseen in the U.S., and Sweden didn't choose to submit it for Best Foreign Language consideration, and the DVD release marks the best chance for the dark and moody teenage vampire movie to find its audience. If the subtitles are wrong, that could change everything. There was quite a bit of outcry over the move, which Magnolia Films is now responding to, and my, does it seem like that studio is making a mistake. It's not a press release, but an internal communication between Magnolia and Canadian film company, Mongrel, which is distributing Let the Right One In in Canada. Brace yourself for some really bad customer service.

"Yes the bloggers are having a field day on this one. Normally they like to pick on the English Dub tracks, but in this case it's the subtitles. Obviously online tend to get rowdy and bandwagon mentality without knowing all the details. The current subtitle track is not altering the context of the film at all, in fact it's a more literal translation than any prior version of subtitles. It's not a defective or faulty subtitle file. Just more literal and larger in size for the small screen." "Both English and Spanish subtitle files were produced for this dvd release. Frankly it's not all that uncommon to have the subs vary from prior releases, typically go unnoticed as subs are purely a translation of film dialogue. This wouldn't have been a blip had it not been for one particular horror blog doing a side by side and claiming that they are wrong. They are not. We are not doing a recall or anything of that nature, again, these are not defective. Title came out two weeks ago and general public don't notice and don't care – bloggers are well known for jumping on something, making an issue of it and moving on. We have decided that based on the feedback that we will be making a running change, so that going forward (once inventories deplete), we will be making that subtitle version available. Options in set up will be; English Subtitles / English (theatrical) Subtitles / Spanish Subtitles."

There are some truths and untruths in that statement. I have seen films with different subtitles from their film releases before. Usually, that's because a different company in another country did the theatrical release, and the DVD distributor did its own translation later. As for the context remaining unchanged, I can't say for sure. Icons of Fright seems to make a very good point that if you have seen the film before, the new subtitles won't mean the same things to you. The untruth is that the general public won't notice or care. The public most inclined to buy this movie on DVD reads movie blogs, so odds are, there's awareness about this just about everywhere it matters to Magnolia. And because Magnolia could really use a smash on the home video market, one would think the proper response to this imbroglio doesn't involve pissing on the people who pointed out the discrepancy, which has a direct and constant line of communication with the studio's prospective ticket buyers and DVD purchasers. But what really irritates me is that Magnolia accepts that the movie's fans have a point, or else we wouldn't be getting the old version of the subtitles again. If the new set is clearly more literal, then this would be a step back. If there's merit to the old subtitles at all, Magnolia should admit it made a mistake - regardless of which subtitles are the most accurate - and shut up.

Comments

[Frnkln]

Colin, I assume this is also the case with the Blu-ray?

[Scott]

I knew something seemed really off about that movie