A Successful Vamp Re-Tread

Rating: 6/10 (2 February 2010)

Leaving comparisons with HBO's True Blood aside, I will state, for the record, that I liked Twilight as an entertaining flick. Yet, there were so many plot holes that it was difficult to follow this movie the first time around, hence, the second viewing. Twilight experts have assured me that the reason for this – as so often happens when a script is made from a novel – is because the movie left out many salient points. (Ok, the book is still on my list of To Do's!) As everyone knows, Twilight's tale brings 120 year-old vampire, Edward Cullen, together with Bella Swan, a 17 year-old teen, in a torrid teen romance. (Creaking old guy with a teenager...ugh!) Bella moves to cloudy and dreary Washington from sunny Arizona to live with her estranged father, Charlie Swan. Edward and his family of fellow blood-suckers attempt to exist among the living. One touching scene with the Cullen "family" shows them attempting to welcome Bella by preparing an Italian dinner that they won't even eat.
The vampire film, a popular sub-category of the horror genre, routinely goes through a Hollywood retread every decade or so. The film is clearly geared for the youth market, all awash with silent longing and simple dialog. In the 90s, we had "Interview with the Vampire" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula"; two well-made films, although the former pitted misogyny against homo-eroticism and the latter pounded us with the Woman + Sexy VampGuy=True Love syndrome. Yawn.
The captivating point in the vampire sagas is when the story is told from the woman's perspective, as in Twilight. This was also a strong point in the 1979 version, starring Frank Langella and Kate Nelligan. This Dracula encouraged Lucy's empowerment and the film juxtaposed it against her friend, Mina's Victorian victim, making this the truly definitive vampire movie to enjoy.
It will be fascinating to see how the second installment of the Twilight series, New Moon, is handled under the direction of Chris Weitz, instead of with a woman's touch.