As much as I enjoyed the shaky-cam mayhem of Cloverfield, I'm pretty bummed about the idea of Matt Reeves helming a remake of the 2008 vampire film, Let the Right One In. Even before the original film had hit theaters stateside, there were deals in place for Reeves to remake the film for U.S. audiences -- and that's what has me worried. Whenever something is remade for North America, what it usually means is that a little 'sanitation' is in order. For better or for worse, audiences tend to react badly to seeing children in a decidedly non-childlike way, and that's what made The Right One so memorable. But I guess I better get used to the idea, because Reeves recently told the L.A. Times that he's been scouting locations and that a second draft of the script has already been completed and now has the new title, Let Me In.

Let the Right One In was the story of Oskar, a young boy living in the suburbs of Sweden who begins a friendship with a vampire child named Eli who has moved in next door. For Reeves' remake, he's kept the time period in the 80's, but relocated the story to Regan-era Colorado. Most importantly, he's promised that he won't be making his Oskar and Eli any older in an attempt to appeal to the 'Twilight Crowd', and the success of his remake will all come down to who Reeves casts for his two leads. The director has already started working with Avy Kaufman to try and find the perfect cast, and luckily, Kaufman has experience when it comes to casting 'creepy kids', having been the casting director for The Sixth Sense and The Ice Storm.

After the jump: the original film's director and screenwriter give their two cents...

When he went on the Late Late Show to promote The Strain, Guillermo del Toro – who co-wrote his first novel with seasoned crime writer Chuck Hogan – told Craig Ferguson that his goal with the book was to reclaim vampire lore from the decidedly unmenacing lover-vampires popularized by Anne Rice and, God forbid, Stephenie Meyer. (Watch the Late Late Show excerpt below the jump – worth it just for Ferguson's uncannily accurate take on Twilight.) I do think he overstates his case a bit – the last decade has offered such a surfeit of vampire stories, that there would seem to be something for everyone (not least del Toro's own Blade II, easily the best of that franchise). Still, I'm grateful to have del Toro's twisted imagination provide an antidote to the glittering fairy-vampire nonsense everyone always insists on discussing these days.

The novel, which came out June 2nd, just popped up in the #9 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List. It's not every day that a filmmaker as worshipped as del Toro makes a popular literary foray, so I thought The Strain was worth talking about. It is not currently pegged for a film adaptation, but I suspect that won't remain the case for very long. Whatever its merits as a book, it would make a kickass horror flick.

Guillermo del Toro's prodigious creative output makes me hang my head in shame. He's not content to just direct, write, and produce internationally acclaimed movies; he's not satisfied torturing Ron Perlman and Doug Jones with freakish makeup or giving grown adults the sobbing heebie-jeebies. No, while you've been sitting on your couch, drinking beer and playing Guitar Hero, he's splicing and dicing The Hobbit and getting ready for the first part of his vampire trilogy to hit bookshelves. Yes, bookshelves.

Del Toro and Chuck Hogan have written The Strain Trilogy, the first volume of which will be available June 2nd. William Morrow has put up a really neat video interview with del Toro about his interest in "the otherness, the scary void of an animated corpse that lusts after your blood." (He also takes a nice dig at the sexy sparkly vamps of Twilight.) Expect gory deets on "how each of the feedings of these vampires is acutely detailed and painful to read, so you will experience this sense of dread and horror..." His vamps will be "as menacing, and as real, and as absolutely disgusting and alien as possible."

"I hope you enjoy the book!" he signs off cheerily.

Del Toro is such a character that I love reading or seeing any interviews with him. I really have to commend William Morrow on doing a video interview with him to promote the book; it's a cheap, easy way to drum up buzz and it speaks really well to the target audience of The Strain. Horror fans are tuned in to the Internet as much as sci-fi or comic book fans are, and although his pre-existing fan base would seek out The Strain anyway, other publishers should follow WM's lead for innovative online marketing. There are plenty of other great books out there that are falling between the cracks.

It isn't just superhero stories that do brisk business in Hollywood these days -- horror comics are popular too. Variety reports that the latest to be optioned is The Night Projectionist, an upcoming miniseries published by Studio 407, which will be brought to the big screen by Myriad Pictures. The two have also teamed up for Hybrid, which will begin production later this year.

Penned by Bob Heske, it's a story more along the lines of 30 Days of Night than the bloodsuckers of Twilight or Underworld. The story kicks off in 18th century Romania (as all vampire stories must) as a village prepares to lynch a village girl for launching a vampire plague that is destroying their humble townsfolk.

Fast forward to present day and Halloween's Eve, where an all night Dracula-thon film festival is taking place in a decrepit theater. Unluckily for the attendees, the projectionist is a vampire -- and with his help, the human audience is trapped inside, ready to be feasted upon. (This could happen to any one of us -- carry a crucifix to your next all-night film festival, readers.) It all connects back to that unlucky Romanian village, and the man who betrayed it all those years ago.

You can catch a preview of the comic over on Studio 407's website -- the art is fantastic and there is actually a pretty cool twist in just 8 pages of story. (For the artistically inclined, there's also a behind-the-scenes look at the artwork on Horror Comic Book News.) Heske's first issue isn't due on shelves until February, but it's gotten good reviews from Ain't It Cool News, Comics Bulletin, and the Rundown already. Definitely one to look out for.

Those of you who caught last night's South Park episode would have noticed a pretty familiar and topical theme: vampires. We're not sure whether the boys intentionally made sure this episode aired the week Twilight was to arrive in theaters or if they just got lucky, but it was all pretty funny nonetheless. And while they didn't reference Twilight (the one thing the episode was missing)*, they did take a few jabs at Hot Topic and the difference between goth kids and vampire kids. In the episode, the character Butters mistakes some vampire-themed kids at school for real vampires, and when his friends and parents all reject him, he turns to this new group for acceptance. Check out the scene below which shows Butters' transformation into a vampire, and you can catch the rest of the episode over at South Park Studios.

*Yes, they do reference Twilight once early on. Thanks for pointing it out.

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.

NOTE: This post discusses Twilight, the movie, and the Twilight book series (particularly the latest book, Breaking Dawn), and is SPOILER HEAVY. If you've not read the books and don't want to read spoilers, do NOT read this post until you've read them. It's also longer than my usual column, as I had a lot of ground to cover, so if you hate reading long pieces, skip it. Thanks.

You're probably aware, even if you're not into books about vampires and clumsy, average teenage girls falling in love with one, that there's a popular book series called the Twilight Saga, and the first book in the series, Twilight, is being adapted for the big screen by director Catherine Hardwicke. What you may not be aware of is the little undercurrent of female writers decrying the series as inherently anti-feminist.

The Twilight series grew in popularity, mostly off the radar of the feminist set, until it got so popular that the feminists started to take notice -- and offense. I first became aware of this anti-feminist backlash when Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries (among other girly books) responded on her blog to readers writing her to ask what she thought of the series, thusly: " I didn't take my husband's last NAME when we got married. Do you honestly think I'd like a story about a girl considering changing SPECIES for a guy? No offense to any of you, but as a feminist, I just can't go there... "

I found Cabot's take interesting because I'm a feminist myself, who also didn't take my husband's last name when we got married, but I don't happen to find the series inherently anti-feminist. Nonetheless, since the release of the fourth book in the series, Breaking Dawn, on August 2, the feminist mutterings have started to escalate to a dull roar.

Ooooh, boy. Over on Stephenie Meyer's website today, they posted a link to some new behind-the-scenes Twilight video over on MTV, and what I saw on the video looks very promising. They have footage on there of the filming of the fight scene between James and Edward, and some chats with a few of the stars of the film, and I have to say, it seems like director Catherine Hardwicke and her cast seem to really "get" both what Twilight is about, and their responsibility to fans of the series to get it right.

The more I see of how Hardwicke is putting the film together, the better I feel about the possibility that this might actually end up being a case where the film adaptation comes close to being as good as the book, and it's looking like hardcore Twilighters might end up loving this film. And of course, Hardwicke knows that if they're going to make this a series of films, it's imperative that she not screw up this first installment; most Twilight fans I know would rather not see a movie made at all than see it done poorly.

Oh, those Twilight Moms. How great are they? Only a truly obsessed fan would brave a rainy, dreary Pacific Northwest day to go watch part of the shoot for Twilight -- and have the presence of mind to get some great pics as well. Although, as a mom myself, I can attest that if you've been through childbirth, staying home with kids building block towers all day, and picking up formerly wet Cheerios that have crusted dry onto pile carpeting, a day spent in the rain watching a movie you can't wait to see be filmed is the best mom field trip ever. And if I was still in Seattle, you can bet that my daughter and I would be having some bonding time driving down to Oregon to catch the film being shot, too.

Here are my thoughts of what I've seen of the shoot and behind-the-scenes stuff so far. The setting in the pics from this shoot is absolutely gorgeous and really captures the beauty and essence of the Pacific Northwest. As for the potential of the film to not suck, the casting of Bella and Edward in particular was crucial to the book series' ardent fans accepting the film, and I'm digging the casting at this point. Having just seen Kristen Stewart in What Just Happened?, I think she has exactly the right look and attitude to play Bella; she does the brooding teen thing well, but also has the softness and intelligence that's such a part of who Bella is. She kind of reminds me of early Christina Ricci, minus the edge and acerbity that Ricci tended toward.

My daughter and I are huge fans of the Twilight series. We've both read all three existing books -- Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse -- and are marking the days off on a mental calendar until the August 2 release date of the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, and my daughter and I could discuss the books endlessly.

We've had countless conversations about whether Bella should become a vampire, or if Stephenie Meyer will ever stop teasing us with that and let Edward turn her, already. And whether Bella will have a vampire "superpower" once she does turn, and what that power might be. And which characters we like the most. And so on, and so on, as I'm sure the rest of you hardcore Twilight fans do.