Lions and Tigers and Bears... I Don't Think So...

Dedicated to all of my fellow Twi-hards and fans of True Blood. Enjoy!

P.S. If you don’t know what’s going to happen with the Twilight books and want to find out by reading the books, then don’t read this post yet. It will spoil the last couple of parts… And now, on to the show…

“Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!” That is classic line from The Wizard of Oz. But come on now, lions and tigers and bears? How 1939! (P.S. In case you didn’t know, that’s when The Wizard of Oz was released.) Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to get caught up with this decade; it’s time to get caught up with what really tickles our fancy these days… “Werewolves and vampires and fairies, OH MY!”

If you know me at all, you knew this article was inevitable, and you know my small obsession for vampires (and creatures of the like). As a fact about me, I read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn in less than seven days. I had to come home from work during my lunch break to find out how Bella and Edward were going to escape the Volturi in Italy. I attempted to go out on the weekends, but how could I get shwasted-face when Bella was being chased down by evil, revenge-seeking vampires and then when she had to choose between her hunky, smart, eloquent vampire and her rustic, down-to-earth, extremely toned, way too young werewolf? How could I live in my own boring and lackluster life when Bella and Edward were on Esme’s Island “doing things?” Lastly, how could I sleep when Bella and Edward had a half vampire, half human child that Jacob had imprinted on and vampire royalty was coming to destroy her? I mean I have to ask you again… HOW?! How is it possible?!

Needless to say, I was a fanatic, but based on discussions with my other girl friends, I wasn’t the only one. 80% of the girls I knew were hooked. Since my friend Michelle knew I couldn’t get enough, she introduced me to The Sookie Stackhouse novels. Another nine books conquered in less than two weeks. I delved further into this black hole of science fiction, hoping of the slight chance this fantasy could come true. So I have to wonder, with hundreds of thousands of other people out there with the same addiction as me, is the werewolf, vampire, and fairy fad here to stay?

You have to admit, since 2008, movies about vampires and other supernatural creatures have been overtaking the big screens as well as home theatres. Let me list a few…

• Twilight (movie)
• New Moon (movie)
• True Blood (tv series)
• Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (movie)
• The Vampire Diaries (tv series)
• The Vampire’s Assistant: Cirque du Freak (movie)
• Daybreakers (movie)

Yes, there’s more, but in an effort to keep this article fewer than two pages, I’m going to stop. Don’t worry the list for upcoming vampire movies for the rest of 2010 and beyond is just as long, if not longer.

So what do you think? Vampires and the like are here to stay or their future is as sure to fading as a vampire is to combust in the sunlight? I think it’s a two-sided answer. Movies like Twilight and series like True Blood will last for much longer because they already have a cult-like following. Twi-hards would rather die before getting the opportunity to see the fourth book on the big screen. And True Blood has the perks of appealing to both guys and girls, and as long as they stick closely enough to the books, it only gets more exciting. On the other hand, new movies with no foundation already instilled on their target audience are doomed for failure. Either the plot lines are going to be too far off of what people really want to watch (i.e. The Vampires Assistant, which according to IMDB was budgeted at an estimated $40M and only made $6M in the States) or they’re going to be too closely related to the already big-time vampire stories and be called knock-offs. And really, who wants to be a fan of a knock-off instead of the real thing? I mean come on now, that’s like preferring regular, off-the-street white trash over the cast of The Jersey Shore. Now really, who wants that?

I’m very much looking forward to the release of Eclipse (which btw, definitely watched that trailer enough times to single-handedly collapse the Internet) and Breaking Dawn (2011 can’t come soon enough) and the remaining seasons of True Blood (let’s see if you can make it all the way to Season 10 because my heart will definitely break if you don’t). But for the rest of these vampire movies coming out, trying to be the next hot thing, do what the vampires do: dig a grave for yourself and disappear into the night because your future is as doomed as driving a Toyota Prius (wait… too soon?).