Edward Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The battle of the undead on the big screen has been under way for some time now, and after months of hearing that vampires are taking over pop culture, it seems like we shouldn't quite put our friends the zombies (no, not those ones) down for the count. Over at Newsweek, Sarah Ball put together a few reasons as to why zombies will never beat vampires in a pop-culture zeitgeist-off thanks to our long-standing love-affair with the pale tortured types. But just this weekend, audiences proved that when it comes to the walking dead, the zombies still have what it takes to bring in the crowds.

Everybody has their personal preferences (and man I love those bloodsuckers), so even though I've watched more vampire content than I care to remember (I even sat through the pilot of The Vampire Diaries), and I'll always be a dedicated 'fan of the fang', I think that sometimes those drooling bumbling walking corpses might be better suited (at least these days) to the world of horror. Here's why:

After the jump: my top 3 reasons Zombies (might) make better horror movies.

Click image below to view entire poster

Summit Entertainment has released the first official movie poster for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which, as you can see above, is all sorts of mysterious and daunting and, like, "Pshhh, fine -- go with him; I don't care!" Thankfully the studio didn't throw up the film's title in a different font and, instead, decided to give us some actual characters this time. And it's not hard to figure out what the main to-do in this film is; the poster makes that pretty clear. Bella (Kristen Stewart) is devastated when her boo Edward (Robert Pattinson) up and bolts ... and so, naturally, she begins to grow closer to someone else. That someone is Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), and Jacob comes from a long line of ancient werewolves.

(I know, right -- this chick Bella likes to swing with the weird ones, totally. Tell me about it.)

Of course, as Bella grows closer to Jacob (and the werewolves, who are the vampires' mortal enemies), Bella soon finds her loyalties tested ... and something tells us she can't just drop both these dudes for Kenny, the video store clerk and part-time Nintendo champion. (Note: The character of Kenny does not exist in the books, but I'd be glad to write him in for the next film if Summit will let me.) Check out the full poster below, and watch the MTV Movie Awards on May 31 to see the first full clip from New Moon, which hits theaters on November 20th.

Because nothing says I love you like back-to-back Twilight-related posts.

It might be one of the most talked-about films of the year, but it's also slowly becoming one of most spoofed flicks, too. Yes, Twilight, we're talking about you (again) ... and thank God you'll be back next year and the year after that, because a little part of us all would die if you just up and left right now without a hug or a kiss or a bite on the neck. But while we wait for New Moon (which will arrive in theaters on November 20, 2009, as just announced) to begin production (I feel for you Mr. Weitz, I really do), and for photos to arrive, and for thousands of screaming girls to storm San Diego Comic Con once again, might I suggest checking out the following video called The Twilight Before Christmas.

Picture this: It's that scene where Bella and Edward are chillin' in the forest, climbing trees and stuff. But instead of Edward, we have Santa. It's not the funniest piece of fan-made video, but dammit if high-speed Santa didn't produce a good, strong chuckle or two from yours truly. Check it out below.

Here's something I bet you didn't know: Some of us who write for Cinematical also enjoy a variety of other similar gigs. Like, for example, Patrick Walsh (who used to write for us) now writes episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ... and Scott Weinberg (who still writes for us) likes watching Philadelphia Eagles games for some odd reason when he's not contributing to this site. Then there's the fabulous Eric D. Snider, who, over on his personal site, has posted his rejected Twilight screenplay -- as in, the one Summit Entertainment didn't turn into a box office behemoth. You can check out the complete script over at Snider's site, but here are two snippets (read one below and one after the jump):

Scene 2

BELLA: It's tough being the new kid in school! Especially when everyone is so friendly and helpful and interested in me. Why can't they just leave me alone so I can sit in the corner and cut myself?
CLASSMATE: You're awesome, Bella!
BELLA: See what I have to put up with? Hey -- who are those hot people over there?
CLASSMATE: Those are the Cullens. They avoid direct sunlight, they don't eat food, they sleep in coffins in a graveyard, and holy water burns them. I think they're Canadians.
BELLA: They sure are spectacularly gorgeous.
CLASSMATE: Yes, they are.
BELLA: I mean seriously, those people are BEAUTIFUL. Especially the one who keeps looking at me. Man alive, that guy is stunning. I mean, wow. He is hot buttered seduction on a stick. I'm not interested in him sexually, of course, because sex is dirty, but wow -- LOOK AT HIM! Yee-ikes! Hubba hubba! If you don't mind, I'd like to spend the next 75 pages talking exclusively about how attractive he is, and then bring it up again every paragraph or so for the remaining 400 pages.
CLASSMATE: Knock yourself out.

Continue to Scene 3 after the jump ...

Asked what she would tell theatergoers who have no interest in vampires that might make them want to see Twilight, her new film adapting Stephenie Meyers' best-selling story of immortal longings and teen love, director Catherine Hardwicke laughs: "I would say that when you come out of the theater you might be in danger of whoever went with you ... just grab(bing) you and start making out with you. ..." The director of gritty urban fare like Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown, Hardwicke also explained how she truly identified with Twilight's teen heroine and got into the supernatural series: "When I read the book, I just got drawn in, and ... as I read the book I just started becoming Bella, and just breathing and hyperventilating, like her, and getting mezmerized by the whole experience. ..." Hardwicke spoke about undead romance, adapting a much-loved book, the classic vampire visions she avoided, and much more with Cinematical in Los Angeles. You can listen to the podcast here at Cinematical by clicking below:

You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

The week you Twilight fans have been waiting for has finally arrived, and in just a few days from now entire worlds will collide! Yup, I'm talking about civilized people who decided to skip on over to see Quantum of Solace in its second week versus TWILIGHT FANS GALORE! Tons of screaming pre-teen girls and their equally-as-obsessed mothers storming movie theaters across the country, demanding their Bella, their Edward ... their blood!

We kid, but it's always fun to ponder how well a hotly-anticipated film will do in its opening weekend. Could Twilight beat Quantum of Solace's $70 million take? Is that even possible? Or does the Twilight fanbase appear larger than it really is? When it's all said and done, what if Twilight fails to top $40 million in its opening weekend? Would that be considered a failure? And if not, what would be considered a failure? If Twilight doesn't meet a certain number at the box office this weekend, could those three Twilight sequels currently in development be in jeopardy? So many questions, so many different possibilities -- how well do you think Twilight will do this weekend?

Boy, you're gone for a few days to cover a film festival, and you miss all kinds of new Twilight news. Here's a roundup of the most recent Twilight goodness:

Over on the Twilight Lexicon blog, they've posted several of new pics from the Twilight set from Twilighter Janae, who's town was used as the stand-in for Forks.

Also on the Lexicon, more set photos, these from Indian Beach, the stand-in for La Push. These have been edited into a nice little video, for your viewing pleasure. And this is just a preview, they're editing more as we speak. Nice job, guys.