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29 March 2024

Can vampire romances really work?

Twilight is a vampire romance short on emotional insight. (SUPPLIED)

Published
By Kirk Honeycutt and Rachel McArthur
Twilight has already exceeded all expectations in the United States, thanks to every female teenager rushing to the cinema to watch heartthrob of the moment, Robert Pattinson, in action.

At the time of going to print, Twilight had fetched a very respectable $105 million (Dh386m) in two weeks. "Credit crunch" is clearly not in the vocabulary of 12- to 15-year-old girls.

So for its UAE release, the key to Twilight's success is probably to stand back and let Pattinson fans rush into theatres to exalt in this romance between a human girl and a vampire boy. But do – or could – any guys watch the movie?

To a male, a vampire movie means blood 'n' guts and horror in the night. What's all this mushy stuff? The guess here is that girls determine what happens on Thursday-night outings more than is recognised, so guys will have to tolerate a PG-13 vampire movie and crack jokes at all that mushy stuff.

So its success is predetermined, and two more films – all based on a four-book series by Stephenie Meyer – are in the works. But if that's the case, couldn't director Catherine Hardwicke, whose Thirteen shows that she knows something about teenage girls, have taken enough care to make a film that doesn't talk down to young people? Here's the scenario. Scene: A high school chemistry lab. Human girl enters. Vampire boy sees her. She stares. He stares. Both are smitten. Music swells. The chemistry teacher brings over some worms. Isn't this romantic?

OK, a scene like this is one thing. But nothing in Melissa Rosenberg's fairly intelligent screenplay suggests the need for this much ornate direction. Nevertheless, there is considerable potential for this apparent franchise. One can only hope when it's done, everyone recognises that the first film was the weakest.