Vampires and the humans who love them have been an onscreen hit this season, as evidenced by HBO’s breakout hit series True Blood and the Swedish import Let the Right One In. Next in the onslaught is the highly anticipated Twilight, a romantic comedy that’s sure to make many young ladies giddy.

Twilight is based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer. Her three other books, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, foreshadow several more big screen sequels.

The budding relationship between 114-year-old vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and Isabella “Bella” Swan (Kristen Stewart, Into the Wild) is intertwined with numerous ironies. Why is Edward obsessed to the point of frustration by Bella? Because she smells so delicious, yet he doesn’t want take her life. He tells her that he shouldn’t be around her. He might take a little bite, but not be able to stop. Bella finds his thinking extremely attractive. She tells him he’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen, but he never says that to her. Edward repeatedly says they should remain far apart because he craves her so much.

Below the surface, this could be about a teenage boy attempting to practice abstinence but realizing that in the heat of the moment it’s really difficult. Or about a young woman who wants to go all the way, and has no thought about the consequences. She tells him during several occasions, “I’d die for you.”

But at face value, Twilight revolves around two people who want each other just because — and sometimes that’s a perfectly good reason.

The story is set in Forks, Wash., but the movie was filmed in Portland, Ore. The scenery is lush and beautiful and thoroughly represents the Evergreen State through the movie’s use of dense coastline, coniferous forests and of course, the rain.

The actors are very well chosen. Director Catherine Hardwicke (Lords of Dogtown, Thirteen) wanted Edward’s character to look sexy and boyish in one frame and menacing in the next. Bella, very fresh-faced and innocent seems unfazed by Edward’s penetrating stare.

Clutching a potted cactus, Bella arrives in Forks after leaving her mom and stepfather in sunny Arizona. Her father (Billy Burke) is the chief of police and “doesn’t hover” around his daughter.

After starting school, she encounters the Cullen family, whose complexion at times resembles Batman’s Mr. Freeze.

Other characters make up this complex world of vampire and human, including American Indians descended from wolves, the subtle rivals of the Cullen clan. There are other rival vampires around who get the ball rolling for the movie’s 30-minute action sequence.

Unlike past film depictions, Meyer’s vampires don’t have fangs, sleep in coffins — or sleep at all for that matter — can be out during the day and don’t die when touched by sunlight.

Twilight’s sensual romance will make its viewers crave more. The semi-awkward and humorous banter between Bella and Edward will make people remember their high school years and want to relive prom all over again.

Reach reporter Nicole Ciridon at arts@dailyuw.com.