It’s love at first look instead of first bite in “Twilight,” a deeply sincere, outright goofy vampire romance for the hot-not-to-trot abstinence set. Based on the foundational book in Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling multivolume series, “The Twilight Saga” (four doorstops and counting), this carefully faithful adaptation traces the sighs and whispers, the shy glances and furious glares of two unlikely teenage lovers who fall into each other’s pale, pale arms amid swirling hormones, raging instincts, high school dramas and oh-so-confusing feelings, like, OMG he’s SO HOT!! Does he like ME?? Will he KILL me??? I don’t CARE!!!

And, reader, she doesn’t, the she being Bella (for Isabella) Swan, played with tremulous intensity and a slight snarl by Kristen Stewart. A sylph with a watchful, sometimes wary gaze who’s often cast in daughter roles, Ms. Stewart transformed from an appealing actress into something more complex with her brief, memorable turn in the 2007 movie of Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild.” As the child-woman whose longing for the ill-fated wanderer Christopher McCandless is largely expressed through piercing looks and sensitive strumming, Ms. Stewart gave form and feeling to the possibility that the search for freedom and authentic experiences can be found in the embrace of another human being. This was a girl worth living for, if not for that film’s lost soul.

Since living really isn’t an option for Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), the moody, darkly brooding vampire who catches Bella’s eye and then her heart, she becomes the girl worth fighting for, a battle that, as in the book, involves not just malignant forces, but also ravenous appetite. Like all vampire stories, “Twilight” is about repressed desire and untamed hunger and the possibility of blood, the blood that flows from violently pierced necks and that, from John Polidori’s 1819 short novel “The Vampyre” to Alan Ball’s new HBO series, “True Blood,” represents ravishment of a more graphic kind. This is the ravishment that, in its pantomime of seduction and surrender, transforms innocence — like that of Bram Stoker’s sacrificial virgin, Lucy, in “Dracula” — into “voluptuous wantonness.”

Ms. Meyer’s contribution to the vampire chronicles, the trick that transformed her into a best-selling brand, has been to stanch this sanguineous emission, turning a hot human flow into something less threatening and morally sticky. Edward, you see, burns but doesn’t bite. As in the book, he leads a numbingly quiet, respectable life with his vampire family in Forks, a small Washington town under a near-permanent cloud cover. His father, Carlisle (Peter Facinelli), a doctor with a ghostly pallor and silky gait, tends to the living, while the rest of the brood, including his monochromatic mother and siblings, strike pretty poses, play baseball (in thunder and lightning) and occasionally hunt for animals. We think of ourselves as vegetarians, Edward jokes.

It’s no wonder he looks famished. When Edward first meets Bella, who has moved to Forks to live with her father (Billy Burke), he glowers at her threateningly, his hands clenching into fists. Bella is mystified, and you might be too, if Melissa Rosenberg’s screenplay didn’t turn up the volume as the teenagers grow closer and Edward hints at his true nature. “What if I’m the bad guy?” he asks. (Cue the shrieking virgins.) “I still don’t know if I can control myself,” he later confesses, as someone’s guitar gently weeps. A self-described monster, he has all kinds of cool, superhuman powers (running, leaping, mind-reading), but nothing compares to how he masters his universe: he keeps his fangs in his mouth.

That may make him catnip to anyone with OJD (obsessive Jonas Brothers disorder), but it also means he’s a bore, despite the efforts of the capable and exotically beautiful Mr. Pattinson. (The actor first broke hearts as the martyred Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter cycle.) Though her filmmaking can be shaky, the director Catherine Hardwicke has an eye for pretty young things and a feel for the private worlds that younger people make for themselves. But she’s working in shackles here. In her best movie, “Lords of Dogtown,” about the birth of the modern skateboard movement, a teenage boy sneaks out at night by slaloming off a roof while holding a surfboard. It’s a blissful declaration of freedom, including freedom from the big parental no.

Though Edward and Bella reach certain heights in “Twilight,” notably during a charming scene that finds them leaping from piney treetop to treetop against the spectacular wilderness backdrop, the story’s moral undertow keeps dragging them down. If Ms. Meyer has made the vampire story safe for her readers (and their parents) — the sole real menace comes from a half-baked subplot involving some swaggering vampires who like their steak saignant and human — it’s only because she suggests that there actually is something worse than death, especially for teenagers: sex. Faced with the partially clad Bella (who would bite if she could), Edward recoils from her like a distraught Victorian. Like Ms. Hardwicke, the poor boy has been defanged and almost entirely drained. He’s so lifeless, he might as well be dead — oops, he already is.

“Twilight” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Some violence, little viscera.

TWILIGHT

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke; written by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer; director of photography, Elliot Davis; edited by Nancy Richardson; music by Carter Burwell; produced by Greg Mooradian, Mark Morgan and Wyck Godfrey; released by Summit Entertainment. Running time: 2 hours 1 minute.

WITH: Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Billy Burke (Charlie Swan), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Nikki Reed (Rosalie Cullen), Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Cullen), Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen), Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen), Cam Gigandet (James/Nomad Vampire), Taylor Lautner (Jacob), Anna Kendrick (Jessica), Michael Welch (Mike Newton) and Justin Chon (Eric).

Full story link

So who’s seen it?  comments?  My favourite part of the review is where she says

If Ms. Meyer has made the vampire story safe for her readers (and their parents) — the sole real menace comes from a half-baked subplot involving some swaggering vampires who like their steak saignant and human — it’s only because she suggests that there actually is something worse than death, especially for teenagers: sex. Faced with the partially clad Bella (who would bite if she could), Edward recoils from her like a distraught Victorian.

Yup sex is worse than death, you heard it here first, well not really first but you get the idea.  I love the idea of Edward as a shrinking Victorian because we all know how warped, twisted and repressed they all were lol

]]> http://www.vampiretwilight.com/2008/11/21/the-twilight-reviews-are-in-the-love-that-dare-not-bare-its-fangs/feed/ 2 http://www.vampiretwilight.com/2008/09/10/vampire-merchandise/ http://www.vampiretwilight.com/2008/09/10/vampire-merchandise/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:11:18 +0000 CME http://www.vampiretwilight.com/?p=153 Wow these are still selling like hot cakes which I guess sell faster than cold cakes, who knows lol

Vampire Related designs now available in our Cafepress shop. New designs are being produced especially for Halloween, and for Christmas, because everyone loves a vampire at Christmas, don’t they?

Stay tuned for the new merchandise, but meanwhile, check out our current stock by clicking on the Buy Stuff tab at the top of the site.

Only Vampires Can Love You Forever

Vampire Baseball League

Perpetual Coolness is the Vampire's Curse

Team Edward Travel Mug

Team Jacob Travel Mug

I first saw this a couple of months ago since several versions of the pilot (last night’s episode) were leaked to the internet (good grief more leaking vampires!) Speculation is that this was an unofficial official leak to build up some hype for the show, since it does seem to happen quite often.

Sadly, the girl playing Tara in one of the pilots was not picked up and they have gone with Miss Obnoxious instead, Rutina Wesley or something like that. She is the worst character in the show so far, in respect of the character from the book ie she is nothing like her! She also comes across as being a little bit racist if you ask me, possibly in retaliation but in my mind completely unnecessary since it’s not in the books, so presumably they have another agenda with this.

It’s HBO, so expect violence, swearing including the C word and lots of sex and nudity. The kinky vampire sex video is watched several times throughout the show and since this is only episode one, then I guess it’s a taste of what’s to come.

Apart from that, so far it seems to be following the book fairly closely, including Bill licking the blood off Sookie’s head in Episode Two. Oh did I mention I watched episode two today? No? Well I did! hehe

It’s a good looking, well produced show, and I’m pleased to say they fixed their fang problem and got some that don’t look stupid. Sunday nights are looking up!

For all of you Moonlight fans pining for Mick St John, perhaps you will find some consolation in Vampire Bill and Eric Northman *wiggles eyebrows*

Ok so yes, more chapters of Stephenie Meyer books have been leaked on to the net (again). Man this woman must be a publisher’s worst nightmare. The purpose of having a book deal with a publisher is so that they can make money from publishing the books, and likewise the author, I would have thought, but Ms Meyer seems to lose control of her content a trifle easily IMHO and surely must by now be being severely reprimanded by her publisher. This is an even worse disaster than the “early sale” and consequent scanning/distributing of that book she wrote to wind up the Twilight story. Yes I know the name of the book but I really can’t bear to type its name again *shudder*

Frankly when I saw the first few lines on the internet (who didnt let’s face it?) that was enough to put me off reading the blasted thing right then. At least she owns up to bad writing in this blog post:

I’d rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun. It was only an incomplete draft; the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes

Erm… ok, yes incomplete draft, that must be it. Well enjoy Twilighters, as she has made the draft available on her site (as of August 28) for all and sundry. Perhaps it will inspired would-be authors when they see what a first draft looks like from such a well known author as Stephenie Meyer. Personally I can’t be bothered reading any more of this tosh at the moment.

Bitten And Smitten
Readers Crave Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’ Tales of Vampire Love
By Laura Yao
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 1, 2008; Page C01

This is all sounding a little too familiar. Here’s how the story goes:

A mother with no writing experience is struck by inspiration. She sits down one morning and starts to jot down a story. She creates characters and sketches out a whole world for them, full of magic and danger and dramatic rescues. Her characters are almost ordinary, which is their charm, except for the fact that they are [fill in the blank: wizards or vampires]. She sends the story to a publisher, not expecting much in the way of a reply, but soon finds herself writing a successful multi-book series and earning millions of dollars.

Yes, the creation of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight Saga” series, and its subsequent arc toward fame, recall J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” success story to no small extent. Tonight, “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth and final book in Meyer’s series, will be released at midnight, with a first printing of 3.2 million copies. There are already nearly 10 million of her books in print. There are hundreds of fan sites dotting the Internet. At Borders bookstores across the country tonight, release parties for “Breaking Dawn” promise the same costumed fans, trivia contests and debates that a year ago heralded the release of the last Harry Potter book. The “Twilight” movie hits theaters in December. And Meyer’s books are also thick as doorstops.

If you haven’t heard yet, “Twilight” and its sequels are — wait for it — vampire romance novels for teenagers. But the series is only nominally about suave, bloodsucking representatives of the undead. After all, Meyer is a devout Mormon from Phoenix, and her books are squeaky clean.

Meyer’s vampires don’t hail from Anne Rice’s world of darkness; the Cullen family of the “Twilight” series comprises seven vampires who exercise great self-control by not drinking human blood, because it’s immoral. They rely on the less nutritious, less delicious blood of animals; Edward has a predilection for mountain lions, while his brother Emmett prefers grizzly bears.

So in Meyer’s books, nobody sucks anybody’s neck, let alone gets stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake. And while they’re first and foremost romance novels, nobody has premarital sex.

Instead, in a departure from the more action-packed halls of Hogwarts, discussions of feelings and emotions and such fill Meyer’s tomes. Ick. “Twilight” is written from the perspective of Bella Swan, a high-schooler who is in love with classmate Edward Cullen, a 107-year-old vampire; Meyer lingers for pages at a time on their exchanged looks, passionate declarations and innocent touches. They can’t be together that way because he might kill her by accident, but she loves him unequivocally, even though he’s a monster, and he loves her back, even though she’s klutzy. The adolescent yearning is palpable.

This could explain why “Twilight’s” readership is predominantly female.

“It’s much more of a girl’s book — it appeals to a female readership in the same way Jane Austen does,” says Amy Clarke, who teaches an undergraduate Harry Potter course at the University of California at Davis. “I’m not putting it in the same class of literature, but it has a lot of similarities.”

Clarke says her two teenage sons, both of whom read the Harry Potter series several times, refuse to read the “Twilight” books. “They gag when we go by the movie poster,” she says. (Megan Tingley, Meyer’s publisher and the senior vice president of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, says she’s noticed more boys reading the books and showing up at Meyer’s events. “Girls are making their boyfriends read it,” she explains.)

Fans insist that “Twilight” defies classification, that it’s not a girl book or a boy book, not a vampire thriller or a romance story. Elysa Montfort, a 21-year-old student at St. Mary’s College of Maryland who started the fan site Twilight Source, has read Anne Rice’s novels and says “Twilight” is nothing like them. And her Twilight Source co-founder, Laura Thompson, a 19-year-old student at McDaniel College in Maryland, says simply, “I don’t keep romance novels on my shelves.” Both love the books for the richness of the characters, and for Meyer’s suspense-filled storytelling.

Tingley says she wouldn’t have published the book had it really been a vampire romance. “I don’t publish genre fiction,” she says. But when she read the manuscript in 2003, “I had such a strong response to it that I knew other people who wouldn’t identify themselves as vampire or romance fans would feel the same way I did.”

The themes in the books, in Tingley’s view, are ageless. At its core, the story is about choice. The Cullens choose not to prey on humans; Bella must choose whether to become immortal. Though the “Twilight” series is marketed in the industry’s young-adult category (age 12 to 18), Meyer tackles issues of identity and relationships in a way that appeals to 50-year-olds and 10-year-olds alike.

But while moms approve of its message of abstinence and acceptance — “Twilight” makes the reading list of almost every mother-daughter book club out there — is the story as empowering as it seems?

The biggest question, which “Breaking Dawn” will finally put to rest, is whether Bella will become a vampire and marry Edward. “Do we really want our daughters reading books about a girl like Bella who is always needing to be saved, who is willing to give up her mortality for a boy?” Clarke says. Bella is initially fascinated by Edward because he, like all vampires, is beautiful, godlike in appearance. She needs constant assurance from him that he really does like her, that she is special.

Girl power it isn’t. But the series has become a worldwide phenomenon; the rights for “Twilight,” the first book, have been sold in 37 countries. The first printing for “Twilight” was 75,000 copies, small potatoes compared with “Breaking Dawn’s” first run. When Montfort tried to reserve an advance copy at Borders, she was told that she might not be able to get it at midnight because demand has been so high.

Tonight, at the witching hour (vampiring hour?), fans will converge inside Borders stores for their coveted copies. They will stay up all night to read them. And they will discover, finally, whether it’s better to be beautiful, strong and immortal, or to be just plain ordinary.

Here are my thoughts on what the options are:

1. It’s a pretty good fanfic

2. It’s a fake produced to deceive fans

3. It’s real but it’s been released as first 14 chapters only as a PR stunt to whet more appetites and generate more sales

4. It’s real.

If it’s Option 4 then it’s a ‘real’ worry because the story so far is so far fetched that I can’t type WTF enough times to cover it.

Guess we’ll find out tomorrow for sure.

Spoilers abound below and you have no one to blame but yourself for looking.

[spoiler] testing the spoiler haha, you looked!

Is it real or is it fake?  If it’s fanfic, then it’s not bad… but if it’s the real thing…

[/spoiler]

BTW fangurls, not interested in your comments about well anything really unless you can be civilised, so don’t waste our time and yours.

Most Enthusiastic Fans: The Twihards, devout readers of Stephenie Meyer’s series of vampire books, Twilight, were the loudest and proudest in Hall H, starting a Twilight chant while they waited, shrieking anytime a cast member, Meyer or director Catherine Hardwicke said anything, and asking lots of questions about vampire hotness. After the panel was over, so many Twihards rushed the movie’s booth that fire marshals briefly closed it down. Fanboys, don’t look back. The fangirls are gaining on you fast.

Reports said that they were decked out in ‘handmade’ t-shirts etc but seriously why make it youself when you can purchase some of these cool threads.

Support Team Jacob

Support Team Edward

What do you mean, you haven't bought it yet! Click here now and get it ordered!

For those of you who just can’t wait for next week’s release of Breaking Dawn, here’s a little taste of what might be…

Click here to read all of Breaking Dawn – The Spoof, Part 1

Here’s a sample of what it contains:

Chapter 5: Waterworks
Bella does nothing but cry, wail, moan and question the point of her existence without Edward. This goes on for about 34 pages.

*snort*  Sounds about right hehe

ok one more, and then you have to go read it all – and in order!

Chapter 2: Hoops
Jacob, still heartbroken over Bella, is licking his wounds, both literally and figuratively, in Canada. After listening to nothing but The Cure and watching Lifetime original programming for six straight days, he concocts one last, desperate plan to win Bella’s affection. Because there are only two things to do on The Rez – namely werewolf stuff and playing basketball – Jacob has developed a killer jump shot over the years. He has also continued his abnormal growth spurt by adding another several inches to his height and now stands an impressive 6 foot 11. With his superhuman athleticism, gigantic height and deadly three-point range, Jacob decides to return to La Push and try out for the high school basketball team. Since he could not win Bella by being a caring, fun-loving, selfless, supportive friend, Jacob decides to get his girl the time-tested way – by becoming a self-absorbed, shallow high school athlete!

]]> http://www.vampiretwilight.com/2008/07/29/breaking-dawn-spoof-lol/feed/ 0 http://www.vampiretwilight.com/2008/07/28/breaking-dawn-big-ole-spoiler-not/ http://www.vampiretwilight.com/2008/07/28/breaking-dawn-big-ole-spoiler-not/#comments Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:56:45 +0000 CME http://www.vampiretwilight.com/?p=46

click here to order Breaking Dawn from Amazon.com

EW.com have released what they claim to be a big spoiler for Breaking Dawn. You can read the full story here Remember if you don’t want to know don’t read!

Spoiler below:

[spoiler] Bella and Edward get married apparently quite early on in the book [/spoiler]

Remember this is one big romance, even though it spans across four books, so if you know anything about the romance formula, you will not be surprised by how it ends for the romantic hero and heroine.