From the moment music education senior, Erica Johnson, sat down at her computer desk, she was mesmerized. As she watched the screen with her eyes as wide as a child’s on Christmas morning, she saw two pale creatures moving towards each other in a vacant hall, one fighting for hunger and vengeance, the other fighting for love.

“Oh yes. That was hot. That’s ‘Twilight’ baby,” Johnson said.

Johnson is just one of the many fans who repeatedly watches the trailer for the movie,
“Twilight,” just one week before it opens in theaters on the big screen Nov. 21.
“Twilight” was originally a book written by Stephenie Meyer about a girl, Bella Swan, who doesn’t feel like she fits in anywhere in the small town of Forks, Wash., until she meets her vampire lover, Edward Cullen.

The “Twilight” series, comprised of three other books (“New Moon,” “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn”), has sold over 17 million books worldwide, and fans are comparing it to another book-series-turned-movie-franchise, “Harry Potter.” While the book may not have wizards, Weasleys or quidditch, it does have a legion of fans, the old release date for the sixth film installment of that other series and it even borrowed one of the actors from that series as a main character.
But as fans around the world buy pre-sale tickets, join numerous Facebook groups and monitor sites with a countdown meter down to the millisecond, fans at Loyola are gearing up for the premiere as well.

Danielle Montgomery, biology junior, plans to attend a midnight showing of the show with some of her friends sporting T-shirts with an important message.

“I’m making T-shirts that say ‘Team Edward’ on them,” Montgomery said.

But music education senior Kendall Griffin will be throwing a “Pre-Twilight Party” in anticipation for the movie opening at midnight  Nov. 21, a party Johnson will be attending.
“We just wanted to have a party to share our joy and adoration for ‘Twilight’ because we know a lot of our friends are fans,” Griffin said.

But, since tickets are selling out on sites such as http://www.fandango.com and http://www.movietickets.com, Johnson said she is worried that she won’t be able to see the midnight screening.

“The weekend ‘Twilight’ comes out, I’ll be in Baton Rouge, (La.), for the Louisiana Music Educators Association conference,” Johnson said. “Elaine (Donaldson, music education senior) and I are both officers of Music Educator’s National Conference, and we both are recent fans of the book, so hopefully we will be able to see the movie while we’re there.”
Many people have gotten into the series because of a friend’s or a librarian’s recommendation reminding them of the  “Harry Potter” series.

“The books are similar to ‘Harry Potter’ for me in that they just pull you in, and I would find myself reading for hours without realizing it,” Kate Hoelscher, mass communication sophomore, said. “I immediately fell in love with the series.”

And while many female fans enjoy the series because of its “Romeo and Juliet”-esque love story of two lovers who shouldn’t be together but who have fallen completely in love with one another, guys have taken a liking to the series too.

“I think girls sympathize with the series because of the dreamy protagonist (Edward), and they have an emotional investment in the book,” Neilson Tran, biology junior, said. “But the book was interesting and intriguing, and it was nice to see how the characters developed.”
These fans said they are close to and protective of these characters,, and the casting of Robert Pattinson (who played Cedric Diggory in the “Harry Potter” movies) as vampiric romantic lead Edward Cullen is not without its detractors.

“I don’t really agree with the choice, but I commend him for taking on the role,” Johnson said.
But for many, the character choices for the movie did not and will not drive fans away.

“I liked the fact that it wasn’t like the typical vampire story,” Montgomery said. “At first I thought, ‘Vampires, that’s not interesting …’ but after reading the book in one night, I thought otherwise.”

“Like Jo (JK Rowling), Stephenie did a lot a research before writing this book,” Johnson said. “Fiction derived from non-fiction adds new life to the story … plus, Edward Cullen is the hottest fictional character anyone can ever imagine.”

Briana Prevost can be reached at [email protected].

(Tom Macom )