Gone Was the Twilight Series... Well, Not Quite Yet

The last Twilight movie opened in November 2012, and it was quite the phenomenon. Fans lined up 3 days before the purchase tickets, girls cried because they refused to accept there's no more Edward-Belle torture to self-impose to, people condemned the Jacob + What's-Her-Name-That-Belle's-Daughther combination, and it was the big winner (or loser, depends on your perspective) at the Razzie Awards.

So, that's it right? The end of an era, the end of teen-craziness over vampires-werewolves-humankind love torture? Well, not quite. In the first three months of 2013, we had at least seen three movies that are considered distant relatives / close siblings to that Stephenie Meyer's YA series (and one of them was even penned by her).

Third Cousin : Warm Bodies
This is perhaps just a distant relative, a third cousin. But when you watch this love story of a zombie and a human girl, you can't help but think of Twilight. How can you not? Even Teresa Palmer looks like Kristen Stewart in some angles. The zombie is pale, much like the vampire Edward. There are good zombies and bad zombies, much like there are the Cullens and the Volturis. The only missing connection is maybe there's no Jacob (Thank God!).

Warm Bodies takes itself less seriously thus enables it to be more funny and less pretentious. There are no lips biting from the heroine or a walking pale wood pretending to be romantic hero. It's much more entertaining.

Step-Sibling : The Host
Although it's written by the same author, this tale of an earth full of human bodies with alien souls is only considered by me as a step-sibling to Twilight. It's about the heroine who was forcefully inflicted with an alien souls but slowly learned to bond with this kind alien, and her "love-triangle" with her boyfriend, and a guy the alien is attracted to. It's complicated to put it in a sentence you see, and it's not really a triangle per se since it actually involves four souls. There's also a bad seeker (played by the gorgeous Diane Kruger) but there's no epic showdown between the good and the evil.

This movie with Saoirse Ronan front and center, is not as bad as some critics put it to be, at least Ms. Ronan herself is maintaining her good work as per usual.

Sister : Beautiful Creatures
I can summarize this in one phrase: The reverse-gender version of Twilight. There's this ordinary guy falling in love with a witch-in-making. A creepy big house located in the deep of the wood, mysteriously & creepy family members who always dress so luxuriously and sleep-inducing love story.

Good news is: at least the center duo can act better than that two from Twilight. But then again, hey, who can't?










Are there more coming our way? I hope not! Twilight is gone, just accept the fact and move on, stop making wanna-be movies when there are countless topics to be explored. Be more creative, that's how you win audience.