Director Catherine Hardwicke, actress Kristen Stewart and author Stephenie Meyer on the set of Twilight (Summit)

By Janeane White

Twilight (opened November 21 throughout San Diego) as both a movie and a book is an overall excellent story: A young clumsy girl falls in love with the most dangerous person she could ever meet and gets in to even more trouble from there.

But I felt that the book and the movie were almost two entirely different stories. The movie had changed important scenes and added extras just to make it more appealing to the audience. But that was unnecessary because it was already primed to be a massive movie hit because of the books' success. Millions of girls and women turned up to see the film in hopes of seeing what they have been picturing in their minds to be this amazingly hot vampire family with this ditsy chick. I felt that the book was perfect all by its self. Some of my favorite chapters in the book were distorted in the movie and it seriously disappointed me. I know that filmmakers can't adapt every detail from a book to the movie because the movie would be extremely long and people would lose interest.

Towards the end, huge chunks of the book where skipped and some of these chunks are important. In the end the scenes were chopped up and edited even more, making the movie feel rushed. It was two hours long but I felt like it was only half of that and that the movie should have been made longer. My favorite two scenes from the book are when Edward takes Bella to the meadow for the first time on their first real date and he kisses her for the first time. The second scene is when Bella tells Edward she isn't scared of him at all in his room -- he crouched, growled, lounged and attacked her in a kidding manner just to show how strong and powerful he is. In the movie Bella and Edward ditch school when she confronts him about knowing what he is. They run through the woods and magically find this meadow where they just laid together. The first kiss, which was suppose to be there, was in her room and it was suppose to be a bare touch of lips. But in the film it was much more then that. In the book that would have been to much because Edward doesn't have that kind of control. This aggravated me. In the other scene, instead of him attacking Bella, he basically flew into the trees with her on his back. I was mad at how the fight that Edward had with James (the bad vampire) to protect Bella wasn't in the book either. They added it for entertainment purposes.

Overall I was disappointed in Twilight (rated PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sensuality), especially in Edward. I had pictured some extremely hot guy with a velvet voice and when I saw who played him in the movie the first thought that came to my mind was "what a let down." I just thought everything was wrong and I wish I didn't see the movie. For people who have read the book, expect a disappointment. For everyone else, this might be an acceptable movie. It has a good storyline and it's cute. It really is a good movie but it's nothing in comparison to the book.

--Janeane White is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She enjoys movies and spends all her time at the theater. She is also interested in special effects makeup done in the movies. She is an honors student and is currently working towards early graduation. Some of her favorite movies include Queen of the Damned, Hellboy, The Descent, the Underworld series, and the Saw series.

Ever since I met a group of Twilight Moms waiting in line at Comic-Con I have been intrigued by the new teen vampire film. Based on a successful series of books, Twilight has moms and their young daughters in a mad frenzy for the film. Here's the second trailer. the film opens on Friday with fans probably already starting to line up (or at least buying their tickets) for the Thursday midnight show. Trailer courtesy of Summit films.

Rodrigo Gudino's Demonology of Desire screens Sunday at MoPA. (Rue Morgue Cinema)

Dissent. Revolt. Liberate. It's Film School Confidential 2008! That's right, it's time again to celebrate the passion, dedication and fresh young talent found right here in San Diego and Tijuana. The festival takes place at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park on Sunday November 16 at 6:00 pm. Film School Confidential is an event sponsored by the Media Arts Center San Diego, the Museum of Photographic Arts, and the San Diego Film Critics Society. Film School Confidential is now in it's seventh year. Unlike other student festivals, FSC is a curated event. There are no calls for entries and filmmakers do not have to pay a fee to submit their films. Instead, the films are chosen based on recommendations by teachers, professors, and other filmmakers. This year the festival offers something of a descent into darkness. There are a few bright, even fanciful films early on but by evening's end the tone grow exceeding dark with a trio of Latin horror shorts. We will also be honoring retired Point Loma teacher Larry Zeiger with the Kyle Counts Award for his years of encouraging and showcasing young talent.

Here's the line up:

Lina Leandersson is a 12 year-old vampire in Let the Right One In (Magnolia Pictures)

By Jason Lacsamana

Let the Right One In (now screening at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) is definitely my favorite vampire and foreign film so far this year. Let the Right One In is a Swedish film originally called Låt den rätte komma in. It was directed by Tomas Alfredson and written by John Ajvide Lindqvist . The film features a 12 year-old boy named Oskar who is often bullied at school until he meets an unusual girl named Eli. After meeting Eli many strange things occur as he discovers just how different she is from other girls. Their friendship soon turns into love as she helps him with his problems with the school bullies.

Let the Right One In is definitely a must see. The film definitely doesn't lack the gore that should be found in a vampire film while still being able to hold up a wonderful story line. The film is considered to be a drama/horror/romance which I can reasonably agree with. The film often had me asking myself "WTF?!".The horror parts really had me on the edge of my seat. I found that the storyline was a romance story and although I'm not a big fan of romance stories I enjoyed this one. What makes the romance story in Let the Right One In different from most romance story was the blood and gore that complimented it.I suppose it just gave it that film noir touch which I ever so enjoy.

I must congratulate the main actor and actress for their spectacular acting.I started feeling like the characters were actually real, that's how great their acting was. Oskar is played by Kåre Hedebrant and Eli is played by Lina Leandersson, it seems like this is their first film and I can't find too much information about them but they seem fairly young. Despite their age I found them to play their parts wonderfully.

If there is anything I could ask from this movie it would be for more. I'm dying to know what happens next. A sequel is definitely something I'm looking forward to but I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Regardless of whether or not there is a sequel I still highly suggest you watch this film while you have the chance, I find it is definitely worth its ticket price. Definitely a film you'll want to sink your fangs into.

--Jason Lacsamana is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. He says he wants to be a Teen Critic because he loves watching movies and loves to critique them but never really had a way of sharing his critiques.He cites zombie movies as his favorites of all time.

Let the Right One In is the best vampire film in a long time (Magnolia Pictures)

Halloween may be behind us but I still have horror on my mind. My friend alerted me to Let the Right One In (opening November 7 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas), a Swedish vampire film. Right there it peaked my interest since as far as I could remember I had never seen a vampire film from Sweden. So while most people are eagerly awaiting the Hollywood adaptation of the bestselling tween vamp romance Twilight, Let the Right One In slides in early and sets the bar exceptionally high. This may even end up on my top ten for 2008. You can listen to my Film Chat by clicking above.

Nikki Ferris and Kyra Clifford took part in World Zombie Walk this past Sunday. (Beth Accomando)

With Halloween right around the corner, I wanted to highlight a horror sub-genre that I'm particularly fond of - the zombie film. Those lumbering, vacant-eyed undead have become a horror staple since the 1930s, and they seem to be gaining popularity with recent films such as Shaun of the Dead. So this Halloween I have suggestions for some undead titles you can check out. I've also consulted with author Glenn Kay who just wrote Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide. To put me in the proper mood for all this, I headed over to the World Zombie Walk on Sunday in downtown San Diego and met up with some of the undead hordes.

With Halloween right around the corner I thought I'd highlight an upcoming horror film, The Uninvited. The film doesn't open until January 2009 but you can rent the original South Korean film now. The confusing thing, though, is that it is not a remake of the South Korean film of the same title but rather of the hit thriller by Kim Jee-woom called A Tale of Two Sisters. But both South Korean films are well worth checking out. Both Uninvited and A Tale of Two Sisters are slow building but effective psychological thrillers that pack surprising twists and an underlying sadness. The big question -- as always -- is whether the English language remake can capture any of the South Korean film's subtle shadings and emotional punch. The remake of A Tale of Two Sisters will mark the feature film debut of the British Guard Brothers, and stars Elizabeth Banks (soon to be seen in Zack and Miri Make a Porno) and Emily Browning (of A Series of Unfortunate Events). The story involves a young woman who returns home after a stay in a mental institution. She renews her close relationship with her sister but finds her new stepmother less than friendly. The trailer is courtesy of Dreamworks.

Prepare to be tortured, it's Saw V (Lionsgate)

By Janeane White

Can you say WOW! Saw V (opened October 24 throughout San Diego) clues the audience in on all the behind the scene details that were left out of the previous four Saw films. I never expected it to turn out how it had. From the way the other movies were set up I would have thought that certain events would happen and they didn't. In fact what happens was completely unexpected. Saw V follows the familiar path of corrupt cops thinking they are invincible. This formula is a reoccurring plot found in quite a few movies that have come out reciently. I feel this plot is overused and personally I would have used something better to continue such a great series. In Saw V, there were new torture tests and twists that I didn't see coming. Overall I think this was a good movie but it was nothing in comparison to the previous films of the Saw series. When you think Saw you think of blood, guts, and gore but this movie just didn't cut it. When someone died they did show the details up close of every agonizing bit of pain fill the victims' eyes as you watched them suffer for the evil deeds they had done. But then it basically wimps out on the final kill and in a way ruins the reputation of the series. It just doesn't do the series justice. This movie turned the camera away so the audience misses the final death blows. This was depressing. I expected more out of this movie. 

Even though Saw V (rated R for for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, language and brief nudity) ripped off the series by not living up to the expectations of the gore and blood levels, it was still a good movie. If this movie wasn't part of a series I think it could still be considered a good movie.  This film did more explaining about what was happening and going on in the previous movies then have its own story. I felt that it  wasn't a continuation in the series with some one taking over the "buisness," it was more of an explanation of the other films.

--Janeane White is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She enjoys movies and spends all her time at the theater. She is also interested in special effects makeup done in the movies.She is an honors student and is currently working towards early graduation. Some of her favorite movies include Queen of the Damed, Hellboy, The Descent, the Underworld series, and the Saw series.

Look familiar? The Spanish film [REC] was the inspiration for the Hollywood film Quarantine (Filmax)

By Jason Lacsamana

The movie Quarantine (opened October 10 throughout San Diego) was one bad excuse of a remake of the original Spanish film [REC]. The viewer sees the events through the lens of a TV cameraman throughout the film. In the film a news reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott accompany a squad of firefighters to expose the life of a firefighter at night. The firefighters are called upon to respond to a report of an elderly woman in distress in her apartment. Once they arrive on the scene events take a turn for the worse. Angela, her cameraman, the firefighters, and all the residents of the apartment are suddenly quarantined in the building by the CDC (Center for Disease Control). They are trapped without any information as to why. They are only told that they could not leave. It is clear to them that something is seriously wrong and if they plan to survive then escape would be their only hope.

To all those who haven't seen the original version of this film, [REC], this movie might seem pretty good. Its shaky camerawork makes the viewer feel like they are actually in the movie as it intensifies certain scenes. The intense scenes in the film keeps viewers biting their their lip in suspense. Although compared to the original, it was a poor excuse. I found that the original had more suspenseful moments than the remake. I was really upset that some original scenes were cut out to be replaced by some less gruesome scenes. The original also explained more of the background information while the remake cut out this vital information for scenes that really lacked any meaning besides showing gore and violence.

If you want to see a good suspenseful thriller Quarantine (rated R for bloody violent and disturbing content, terror and language) is the movie for you, but if you are able to, I highly suggest you watch [REC].

--Jason Lacsamana is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. He says he wants to be a Teen Critic because he loves watching movies and loves to critique them but never really had a way of sharing his critiques.He cites zombie movies as his favorites of all time.

Quarantine is a "must see" horror pic but could that chick please stop screaming (Screen Gems)

By Janeane White

The movie Quarantine (opened October 10 throughout San Diego) was absolutely amazing and thrilling! If you liked Cloverfield then this would be a good movie for you. It took the perspective of a TV news cameraman. He and the TV reporter (Jennifer Carpenter) are doing a piece on firefighters and what it is like to be one. The firefighters get a call to a building where a women screamed. They check it out and everything goes downhill from there. While the TV people and firefighters are inside investigating the problem, the FBI comes up behind them and locks them in, telling them they are not allowed to leave. One by one, everyone comes down with some sort of disease and then it's a fight to stay alive.

This was an extremely suspenseful, horror-packed film that had the audience at the edge of their seats. One scream after another proved the audience was engaged with the film, telling the main characters not to go here, there or even to turn around.

The majority of the movie was awesome. The end scenes were good too except for what happens to the main character. I thought she deserved a better fate than she got. In the end there was some over acting and the main character wouldn't stop screaming and it became annoying. Another thing I thought was weird was that a scrawny old lady could take out a full-size, built man. The guy had taken people down left and right yet he couldn't defeat this little skeleton-like thing. I just thought it was weird. Overall the storyline and plot were excellent.

Quarantine (rated R for bloody violent and disturbing content, terror and language) is one of the best scary movies I've seen in a long time. I definitely recommend this movie to be on your "must see" list.

--Janeane White is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She enjoys movies and spends all her time at the theater. She is also interested in special effects makeup done in the movies.She is an honors student and is currently working towards early graduation. Some of her favorite movies include Queen of the Damed, Hellboy, The Descent, the Underworld series, and the Saw series.