Twilight

I should say first off that I haven't read the Stephanie Meyer series that begins with the book Twilight, although I may in the future. I was not one of the wide-eyed fangirls standing hours in line at the theatre to be one of the first to see the movie. In fact, I broke a little personal rule of mine about not going to a movie on the opening day by going to see Twilight last night. However, there were extenuating circumstances, and see it I did.

I did enjoy the movie. I did have some quibbles with it. They were, however, not really story quibbles as much as movie quibbles. I found some of the vampire makeup not terribly well done (too stark), and I think the movie didn't need to be as long as it was. (No doubt die-hard Twilight fans will think it was exactly the right length, and since they're the target market, I won't fault the moviemakers for that.) The main character, Bella, who is also the story's narrator, didn't come across as a very sympathetic character in some ways. I think, though, that as is usually the case, her motivations are probably very well-explained in the book and glossed over in the movie. So anyone who has read the book(s) will be able to fill in the gaps.

This is not a movie for horror-movie fans. It's a movie for romance fans, and particularly teen-romance fans. So be warned.

I find some of the discussion around this aspect of the movie (and the books) sort of amusing. The protests that the vampires in the Twilight series are not "real" vampires--in essence, that Meyer has not followed the vampire "rules." I think it's funny that some people think writers should be constrained in their original treatments of imaginary creatures, because they're not doing it "right." I think there's always room for a fresh take on an old idea, and writers have every right to go ahead and explore those new ideas.

The real question for me in going to see Twilight was whether I would find it a difficult movie to watch because of my...you know...thing about vampires. The thing that started when I read Stephen King's Salem's Lot. It's not that I can't stand vampires--I've watched movies like Blade and Underworld--but I'm always a little worried that I'll get too creeped out.

Not a problem in Twilight, really. Much of the violence happens off-screen and what blood-sucking there is, isn't very horrific.

Which is not to say that I didn't hurry in from the car when we got home. There might have been something lurking in the shadows.