Nikki Krieger of Finleyville owns all of the "Twilight" movies on DVD and has watched them countless times, but she'll still spend some eight hours sitting in a movie theater Thursday to watch a marathon. It will culminate at midnight with "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1" -- the first half of the two-part conclusion to the wildly popular film and book series.
Krieger, 18, grew up with Stephenie Meyer's books and the movies based on them, and she wants to psych herself up for the next film by watching them all at once.
She loves "the romance and the mystical features," says Krieger, who is sad to see "The Twilight Saga" book series end. "I like vampires. I like anything that has to do with them."
After more than 116 million books sold worldwide and three blockbuster movies, the second-to-last movie based on the first half of the last book, "Breaking Dawn," comes out at midnight Thursday in some move theaters. "The Twilight Saga," a four-book series about a teen vampire-human love story, quickly became a worldwide phenomenon when the first book, "Twilight," was published in 2005.
Lori Campbell -- a lecturer in the English department at the University of Pittsburgh -- says that the "Twilight" books have hooked many young people into reading, which is beneficial for them. Fans of all ages respond to the intensity, the gothic fantasy and the romance of the books, she says. The story about Bella and vampire boyfriend Edward can tap into a reader's deep longings, she says.
"The boys in this story are very romantic," Campbell says. "There's something very romantic about the love-story aspect of the book. Edward is the kind of boy you want. ... There's an eroticism about the bite."
Edward also has an element of "the bad boy that you want to fix and change," a challenge to which many girls and women can relate, Campbell says.
Campbell, who specializes in fantasy fiction and children's literature, first got into the "Twilight" books when she ran a book club and a member raved about them. Campbell initially didn't have much interest in a teenage-romance story with vampires.
"After a few chapters, I was hooked," she says. "It's actually a very compelling story."
The "Twilight" books have their flaws, though. Campbell says that they actually aren't that well-written, because of often-weak grammar, character and plot development. Campbell also finds some of the dialogue to be "stilted and not realistic," and Bella's revolving her life around Edward can send a negative message to girls, she says.
"But it is a very compelling story," Campbell says. "It's lots of fun."
Although teenage girls form a large part of the "Twilight" fan population, plenty of men and older women became hooked, too.
Adam Lach, 30, of West View, may get teased, particularly by other guys, because of his "Twilight" fandom -- but so what⢠Lach recalls how a friend's girlfriend lured him into the book series, and then the movies. Now, he has a "Twilight" blanket on his couch, and is reading "Breaking Dawn."
"I don't try to hide it; I tell everybody," Lach says. "Everyone makes fun of me, but I don't really care because I like it."
Perhaps the appeal of "Twilight" comes from the escape factor, Lach says.
"It's just like a break from real life, I think," he says. "When I come home from work ... I can just sit down and read and forget about everything. It's something you don't experience in everyday life."
Judi Belli, 68, of New Kensington, got sucked into the book and movie series after watching the first movie on Showtime. She says she became obsessed with "Twilight," and her family thinks she is crazy.
"I guess ... the fantasy world is so much more interesting than reality at times," Bell says. "Reality can be boring.
"It's the passion that Edward shows for Bella -- the passion, the love, the protection," Bell says, explaining the "Twilight" appeal. "It's just something that every woman would like to have. ... I've heard that a lot of senior women feel the same way. It's just the fact that he feels so tender toward her. That is the utmost that a man can be with a woman."
As a 12-year-old, Ashley Goblinger's love for "Twilight" is nothing unusual. Yet, she gets the prize for biggest fan among her friends. Ashley, of Ligonier, knew she would become a "big addict" when she first checked out a "Twilight" book from her school library at age 7.
"I love reading about how (Edward and Bella) fight and everything. It's so intense," Ashley says. "Twilight" defined her 11th birthday party as the theme: The downstairs basement was covered in decorations. Even her family's Christmas tree brimmed with "Twilight" decorations, like cutout cards of the characters, and DVD cases gracing the tree's branches.
"Most of my friends think I'm very unusual because I like it so much," Ashley says. "It never gets old to me."
The books have a way of sucking people into their allure, which many would call addictive.
Lisa Stout-Bashioum of Somerset, Washington County, calls herself an accidental "Twilight" fan. Her 20-year-old daughter was cleaning out her room, and gave her mom the first "Twilight" book, saying she didn't want it anymore.
"I picked it up and I started reading it, and I got totally sucked into the whole 'Twilight' drama," says Stout-Bashioum, 50. "I immediately ordered the next three books.
"It's just kind of funny, because it's not typically something I thought I would be interested in," she says.
Books
⢠"Twilight," 2005: Heroine Bella Swan moves to a rainy Washington town called Forks, where she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen. Until then, Edward had kept his vampire identity a secret. This is a love story with bite.
⢠"New Moon," 2006: The star-crossed lovers, Bella and Edward, face many new obstacles, including a separation, fierce wolves roaming the woods in Forks, a revenge threat from a vampiress, and an encounter with the Volturi -- Italy's royal vampire family.
⢠"Eclipse," 2007: The book continues Bella and Edward's love story. Bella has to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with werewolf Jacob Black.
⢠"Breaking Dawn," 2008: Now that Bella has decided to join Edward in the world of immortality, a chain of unprecedented events unfolds with potentially devastating consequences.
'Twilight' franchise excels in tween fantasy
Looking back, it seems so obvious.
Of course, the "Twilight" films would become a blockbuster franchise. Of course, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner would become heartthrobs, their pictures on posters adorning half the bedroom walls of tweens everywhere. Of course, the series would prove so popular, with the first three films making almost $790 million combined, that the studio making them would split the last installment into two parts, taking a cue from "Harry Potter."
But in the weeks before "Twilight" opened in 2008, none of this was a sure bet. Instead, the film, based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer, was something of a risk. The stars of the film weren't exactly household names -- yet -- and audiences weren't as vampire crazy as they would become.
Yes, Meyer's novels were considered lightweight fare. If "The Lord of the Rings" was serious fantasy literature turned into a film franchise, then "Harry Potter" was the cool-kid version. "Twilight" was more like the kind of story 12-year-old girls would text each other.
That hardly matters, nor do the slings and arrows tossed by critics. This isn't Oscar fare. These are movies that know their audience (see "12-year-old girls," above) and delivers what it wants. Which means: Pattinson looks sadly soulful, Lautner takes off his shirt a lot, and Stewart mopes. To a grown-up, this seems like pretty silly stuff. To fans, it is almost perfect -- an overdramatized version of high school.
So if it's not the acting (it's not) and it's not the nuanced storytelling (please), what has made the "Twilight" films so big⢠The comfort. The familiarity. The lack of surprises.
— Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
Additional Information:
Marathon movies
If you need to catch up on your 'Twlight Saga' movie viewing, several Carmike theaters in Western Pennsylvania will be showing a marathon starting Thursday afternoon and leading up to the premiere of 'Breaking Dawn' just after midnight.
Theaters showing the marathon, which starts between 4 and 4:45 p.m., include Wynnsong 12 in Delmont, Carmike 10 in Bethel Park, Cinemark Robinson Township and the Carmike 15 in Greensburg. Check theater listings .
