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

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

click on the book cover to purchase Breaking Dawn

Well we did have this available at this site – along with the world and its dog – but we were asked to remove it due to copyright reasons. I guess they were very busy policing the entire internet for that one!

We complied. Many people haven’t yet (know what I mean?)

I guess the author has enough publicity and rabid fans so we don’t really need to aid that effort now do we. Suffice it to say though that 1. The hype over “chapter one” is exactly that HYPE, you don’t learn anything apart from Bella is driving around in a bullet proof car – a little overdone I would say until people are really trying to shoot her! and 2. Well a quick search on your favourite search engine will find you another source of the preface and chapter one quick enough. My money’s on livejournal. Enjoy!

My predictions are Bella and Edward are MFEO and Jake is just getting in the way – but isn’t that the case with all romances? Something has to seem to get in the way of the happy couple getting their HEA. Bella is a selfish cow who deserves to end up alone (stop whining already). Edward isn’t really a virgin (come on! One hundred years of solitude this is not!) I’m so tired of the preachy preachy attitude/ go to hell if you have sex before marriage etc. Jacob has to (for the love of God) imprint on a nice sweet, non-whiney girl.

I’m still on Team Jacob, but Robert Pattinson is looking hotter each day! And no I don’t hate the books, I love them really, but I also get to form my own opinions.

While you’re here, why don’t you buy something and help the site out?

In addition to the Team Edward and Team Jacob merchandise that you can see below, we also have two other Twilight related designs:

Only Vampires Can Love You Forever

Only Vampires Can Love You Forever design is available on a wide range of products including mugs, mousepads, bags, buttons, magnets, and a great selection of different coloured t-shirts.

Vampire Baseball League

And if you are looking for a change from Twilight, why not Moonlight! We have a selection of Moonlight inspired designs in the shop, including the one you see here.

Perpetual Coolness is the Vampire's Curse

And just a reminder…

Team Edward Travel Mug

The travel mugs are new to Cafepress, and they are pretty cool. I have a very old battered looking travel mug so I am thinking about treating myself to one of these bad boys, trouble is I can’t decide which design to choose.

Team Jacob Travel Mug

Team Jacob travel mug. Hmmm I think I like this one, maybe it’s the green or maybe it’s just Jacob *sigh*