'Twilight' mania reaches fever pitch

The PR machine for Twilight reached terminal velocity this weekend.  

Oh, you haven't heard of Twilight?  Well, it's the latest series of young adult fiction to be turned into a mega-movie franchise.  Written by Stephanie Meyer, the books tell the story of lusty vampires and a brooding teenager who is the object of everyone's blood lust. 

 In short, they are perfect teenage-girl porn, appealing to girls that are too young to have watched Buffy, and the girls that did watch Buffy and never quite got past it.   What 13-year-old doesn't fantasize about a hot young vampire waltzing into her life, offering her adventure, danger, and hot undead lovin'? They love each other, but he kinda sorta wants to kill her, but he also wants to protect her from other hot vampires that definitely want to kill her.  And her parents just DON'T understand.   Any series of books written by a former Mormon housewife and aimed at hormone-ravaged teenage girls is going to have a certain amount of schlock, I suppose. 

This Examiner is not a reader, but supposedly the books capitalize on the sort of listless brooding that teenage girls specialize in; especially those that read Anne Rice and listen to Evanescence.    

Although not as critically well-received as the Harry Potter franchise, the Twilight series has its own share of rabid fans who dress up as the characters, throw Twilight-themed parties, create Twilight-themed Facebook flair, and start Twilight-themed rock bands.  Umm, really?   

The movie opens on November 21st.  Click on the 'Videos' section of the widget to watch the trailer.