Film Review: Reviewed By Stella Papamichael; 3 out of 5

A teenage girl falls for a vampire in the first film to be adapted from Stephenie Meyer's bestselling series of fantasy novels. Kristen Stewart is suitably enigmatic as the heroine, Bella, who's been sent to a small town in Washington state to live with her dad (Billy Burke). There she struggles to fit in at school, until a mutual attraction to handsome Edward (played by British actor Robert Pattinson) blossoms into a relationship that's fraught with danger. Pattinson (Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter films) does tend to ham it up with his James Dean pose, but his chemistry with Stewart more than makes amends. Although the dialogue is clunky at times, director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen) makes the greyish gloom feel thoroughly exotic, and teenage audiences will no doubt forgive some overwrought moments in what is a charming tale.

Plot Summary

Romantic horror fantasy based on the bestselling novel by Stephenie Meyer, starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Bella Swan moves from the city of Phoenix to a sleepy Washington town where she meets and falls in love with the intense Edward Cullen. Although remaining undeterred upon discovering he is really a vampire, she must go on the run when another of his kind becomes determined to kill her.