Bookstores are full of vampire literature such as The Vampire Diaries (L.G Smith), The Morganville Vampires (Rachel Caine) and The Twilight Saga (Stephenie Meyer.)
These books have spawned other extremely popular media texts. The Vampire Diaries was adapted for a television series in 2009 and airs in the UK on the channel ITV2. The President of Warner Bros International Television, (which is the company behind the CW Television Network that the series premiered on) Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, stated: ‘…the acquisition of The Vampire Diaries by ITV2 proves that in-demand series will still generate significant interest…We are especially pleased to place this series targeted at the youth audience on ITV2, as we believe this is the perfect home for the show.’ Likewise, The Morganville Vampires series of books have been ‘optioned for film, television and multimedia by British Producer Charles Armitage of Noel Gay Motion Picture Company (UK).’ According to the series author herself on her personal website. This indicates, although the project has only been optioned, apposed to being a certainty, that it is still believed that vampire texts are bound to do well with audiences.
Of course, the rebirth of vampires (no pun intended) into the mainstream could arguably be put down to The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. ‘Meyer has sold 45 million books in the U.S. and 40 million more worldwide. Altogether her books have spent 235 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, 136 of them at No. 1. The movie version of Twilight…made $350 million.’ Pretty impressive, right?
So, speaking of Twilight. What’s the deal with it? Generally speaking it’s just a story of forbidden romance between a mortal girl and an immortal boy, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. Which, if we are honest, isn’t anything particularly new. However, what Twilight managed to do was change up some of the old vampire lore (OK, so not everyone is totally thrilled about the idea of sparkling, vegetarian vampires, but 85 million people say they like it.) These changes made it feel fresher, and captured the hearts of tweens, teens and women all around the world.
Not to mention, Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen) is kind of pretty. See?
The film rights to the novel Twilight were acquired by Summit Entertainment, which is an independent American film studio. There were quite a few production companies behind the film, such as Temple Hill Entertainment, Maverick Films, Imprint Entertainment and Twilight Productions to name a few. The production took place in the USA, and most scenes were filmed in Oregon and Portland - The Pacific Northwest, where the book itself was set. Principal photography took the cast and crew 44 days, with only the weather trying to work against them.
The film was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and released in November 2008, was made for a relatively small budget film, at least in Hollywood terms, anyway. It was made for $37 million, yet went on to gross an estimate of $384 million. Talk about a profit! It also stayed in your average Multiplex cinemas for two months, from release in November to the majority of cinema’s finishing it up at the end of January. Not a bad run. It was funded by producers; Greg Mooridian, Mark Morgan and Wyck Goddfrey. The executive producers were Guy Oseary, Karen Rosenfelt, Michele Imperato-Stabile and Marty Bowen. They were smiling all the way to the bank.
When it came to knowing the audience, Summit had an advantage as they knew the age and gender of the core fan base of the novels, mostly being 16-24 females. Therefore, when it came to marketing, they chose to show the relationship side to the story, apposed to the action or horror.
They also created a ‘need-to-see’ aspect to the film, especially amongst the existing fans by releasing teaser trailers, and even little sneak peaks before the final official trailer was released. They showed some key parts of the novel that fans would identify, such as when Edward saves Bella from the oncoming van. They also use captions instead of a voice-over in the trailers, adding extra tension to the dramatic scenes.
Twilight does not particularly use ‘stars’ to attract an audience. Most of the cast were quite unknown, with the two leads Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson probably best known for Panic Room (2002) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) respectively. The cast of the film quite a bit of publicity before the release of the film, appearing on chat shows such as The Ellen Degeneres Show and E! News.
On the official Ellen Degeneres Show website it says ‘The last time the sexy Robert Pattinson was here, "Twilight" hadn't yet been released. A lot has changed since then! Today the scream-inducing actor chatted with Ellen about all the attention he's getting, and shares some hilarious fan stories.’
The special effects in Twilight were not too gratuitous, but according to the director, Catherine Hardwicke in an interview with LA Times, the most challenging part was getting Edward to sparkle. ‘We had probably 10 special effects companies trying out experimental ideas on some footage we had to see how we can make him dazzle and sparkle and shimmer. Most of it wasn’t good. We ended up going with ILM (Industrial Light and Magic, George Lucas’ company) and they, of course, are masters at creating amazing effects. We did a full body scan of Rob, which we turned into a 3D model of him -- (laughs) there is a 3D model of Rob somewhere! -- and did all this very high-tech mapping of every surface of his face and body.’
The overall critical reception of Twilight was, well, quite critical really, but thankfully there were some nice people out there. ‘Director Catherine Hardwicke (who made Thirteen) captures perfectly the breathless thrill, fear and fascination of first love.’ Said Christopher Tookey of The Daily Mail, with Total Film adding, ‘Grey on the surface but florid underneath, this swoony supernatural romance may amuse and bemuse non-initiates but won’t leave the faithful betrayed.’ Audience reaction from the fans was mostly positive too, one fan on HisGoldenEyes.com, a Twilight Fan site, said ‘Personally I love the movie. I have seen it 5 times. I can't wait for the DVD. I think they cast everyone perfectly except for Rosalie. I still just don't see Nikki Reed as Rosalie. Everyone else was perfect. I liked everything they added.’ However, another added ‘I didn't hate it but I didn't like it either. I am stuck in the middle.’
But anyway, whatever the haters and critics said, it didn’t get through to Summit Entertainment, as New Moon, the sequel to Twilight did even better at the Box Office and is sure to make many more millions with it’s DVD release. As will Eclipse, the third installment. As will Breaking Dawn, the fourth. With fans like The Twilight Saga fans, these guys don’t have to worry about anything.
Now, not all vampire releases of late have been swoon-inducing, hormone filled love stories. Let the Right One In or Låt den rätte komma in as it is known in its homeland of Sweden, was directed by Tomas Alfredson and was released in 2008, based on the book of the same name written by John Ajvide Lindqvist, he also wrote the screenplay for the film.
The film is much darker than Twilight, although it too focuses on the relationship between the two protagonists. In Let the Right One In, a twelve year old boy, Oskar, is being bullied at school, and finds companionship with a girl named Eli, who happens to be a vampire. It’s a very sweet tale, but unlike Edward in Twilight, Eli comes across much more fearsome as she attacks and drinks the blood of humans, which is doubly disturbing when Eli is also twelve years old (more or less, as she says herself.)
The film is a co-production with production companies such as Filmpool Nord, Canal+, The Chimney Pot and more and is presented by EFTI and was filmed in the north of Sweden. ‘They found an area in Luleå [city in the north of Sweden] that’s built around the same time, at the time Blackeberg was built and the way it feels there... The images doesn’t look the same, but it feels the same way. So I think it’s absolutely, absolutely fine.’ Said John Ajvide Lindqvist in an interview with Ain’t It Cool News.
Let the Right One In was marketed towards English speaking countries by barely using subtitles in the trailers. To some viewers, this may mean they don’t realise it is a foreign film, so they go and see it. And of course, to the people who like foreign films it’s an enjoyable watch for them, too. Its poster campaign decided to show the film in an eerie, creepy light, apposed to the relationship between Oskar and Eli, this differs from what Twilight chose to do, because its audience were more invested in the romance than the horror, so their poster depicted that, whereas Let the Right One In chose to show the horror over the friendship in the poster. This may be to attract an older audience that are interested in arty, horror films, apposed to Twilight’s ‘tween’ audience.
Its production budget was 29 million SEK, and it got its funding from Svenska Filminstitutet (Swedish Film Institute) and then went on to make a worldwide gross of $10,795,387. When it came to the distribution, the worldwide distributors included Bolero Film, Cathay-Keris Films, Canana Films and Living Colour Entertainment, amongst others.
Critical reviews of the film were mostly complimentary, with Nigel Andrews from
Financial Times saying ‘The brilliantly eerie Let the Right One In is the European Angst Zone’s answer to Hollywood’s Twilight.’ With Kevin Harley from Total Film adding his two cents worth. ‘As cold as a corpse, as warm as love and thick with shady business in between, Alfredson’s chiller is moving and nerve-jangling. A vampire movie to nourish the heart, mind and fear glands.’
Audience reaction to Let the Right One In varied. A comment left on Play.com said ‘This film is fantastic. It is not a rip roaring typical vampire movie so don't get if wanting that. It is slow and understated with building suspense which adds to the quality. Best film I've seen this year.’ The February 2010 edition of Media Magazine also put in their viewpoint by stating ‘Despite being a fantasy in one sense, Let the Right One In has an element of verisimilitude that Twilight lacks. The Americanisation of the European Mythology is an excellent topic for an extended investigation for any A2 specifications. The Swedish film retains a European sensibility that is chillingly ‘real’ - whatever ‘real’ means.” Whereas, on Amazon.com, one comment said, ‘I suppose I'll have to remain bemused at the wealth of rave reviews for this film but for me it didn't work on any level and had absolutely no redeeming features.’
The Tribeca Film Festival seemed to disagree though, as they awarded it the winner of best narrative feature. According to CBS News, ‘…it was hailed by the jury for its ‘mesmerizing exploration of loneliness and alienation through masterful re-examination of the vampire myth.’
A re-make of Let the Right One In called Let Me In, directed by Matt Reeves is set for release in October 2010. It was shot in New Mexico and it’ll be an English speaking film. Who knows, maybe they’ll try and squeeze a franchise out of it. That’s Hollywood for you.
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