Twilight is a 2008 romantic-fantasy film directed by Catherine Hardwicke and based on the novel of the same name by Stephenie Meyer. The film stars Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenage girl who falls in love with vampire Edward Cullen, portrayed by Robert Pattinson.

This cool teen movie is very much along the lines of teen horror literature, such as point horror, or point romance, set with a great soundtrack. The vampire element is used as a tool to tell a love story, rather than the movie being a horror based film.

The film flows well, with Kristen Stewart providing a talk over of her feelings and thoughts as the movie progresses, although if you’re expecting to see an action horror flick, this one isn’t for you; the action, when it does take place is light, and merely works as to show Edward’s love for Bella. There isn’t much of a horror element either, the vampire family to which Edward belongs, are ‘vegetarians’, as Edward says, in the fact that they only drink blood from animals and not humans. Edward also explains about Nomadic vampires, who hunt humans for blood, and there is a sub-plot of a group of vampires doing so. The main plot is about the two leads falling in love, and Bella learning about Edward's vampire skills. The devoted love portrayed by the two for each other is heartfelt and shows just how strong you feel as a teenager brilliantly.

The Cullen’s family, portrayed by Lutz (Emmett), Reed (Rosalie), Reaser (Esme), Pattinson (Edward), Facinelli (Carlisle), Greene (Alice), and Rathbone (Jasper), cross the three Nomadic vampires after inviting Bella to join them for a game of baseball, and put her in danger from James (Cam Gigandet), a tracker vampire, who is intrigued by Edward's protectiveness over a human, and decides to hunt her for sport with his partner, Victoria, (Rachelle Lefèvre). This is where the action part of the movie really begins, with Edward and his family putting their lives at risk to protect Bella.

The entire cast are good in their roles, but especially Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as the romantic leads, as they pretty much carry the entire film. British actor, Pattinson, particularly steals the show with his vampire good looks (wearing a lot of make-up and some awesome contacts.) He also has a brilliant sculpture to his face which suits the role. Stewarts beauty is played down, probably, so that a young female audience would be able to identify with her more, and she does play the outsider/girl-next-door brilliantly.

The vampires are mostly portrayed as beautiful, with fast and superhuman agility and strength. Unfortunately, most of the vampire mythology is thrown out the window though, so that the story can be told. Instead of sleeping all day, these vampires never sleep, and when sunlight hits them, they don’t die – just shimmer, as if their skin were made up of diamonds, their reflection can be seen in mirrors, plus nothing is mentioned of crosses, garlic etc. This all adds to the romanticism of the story, but it could have had a harder bite if it had stuck to the original myths.

Some comparisons can be drawn with the TV show, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, with Buffy’s star crossed love with the vampire with a soul, Angel. Also, the whole movie seemed similar to ‘The Secret Circle’ and ‘The Game’ teen novels, written by L.J. Smith.

The movie is very good, but not for cynical people, and not really aimed at horror fans at all. This is romance at its most poetic, all the way. When going to see the movie, I realized just how popular the series of books by Stephenie Meyer are, as teenagers flocked in, cheering as the credits started, and getting excited by just purchasing their tickets. A shame more couldn't have been shown of the vampire life, but the romance was right on the spot.