  Kristen Stewart is Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson is the teenage vampire Edward Cullen in Twilight, the hit movie based on the best-selling series of books by Stephenie Meyer.
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In a scene in Twilight that now has legendary status -- at least for teenage girls who treat the vampire phenomenon as an erotic religion -- Robert Pattinson's Edward turns to Kristen Stewart's Bella and growls:
"I'm the world's most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in: My voice, my face, even my smell. As if I would need any of that. As if you could outrun me. As if you could fight me off. I'm designed to kill!"
With unconditional love empowering her timid self, Bella snaps back: "I don't care!"
There you have it, the heart of Twilight.
Edward the undead insanely desires human Bella.
And this teenage girl, keen to surrender, is insanely in love with her beautiful, pale-skinned, melancholic, blood-sucking, vampire boyfriend.
This is Romeo and Juliet with a deadly twist; this is, literally, author Stephenie Meyer's answer to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, cited as a primary inspiration.
The Twilight book series, now at four volumes, has sold more than 40 million copies in 37 languages. Catherine Hardwicke's $37-million film is now a $371.7 million worldwide box-office hit. This is why this week's DVD debut of Twilight -- in a fan-friendly, fully-loaded edition that will have girls squealing in delight -- is a big deal.
The two-disc Twilight: Special Edition is uniquely set for release on Saturday. It will own the weekend. Is it worth it?
For film critics, probably not. Twilight is a big, sloppy, sappy, glossy, American love story with an unusual take on vampire lore. The special effects, especially in the loopy vampire baseball scene and the terrible "final battle" sequences in which Edward fights a rival for Bella's precious virginal blood, are clumsy and crude.
Plus, if Twilight was stripped of vampires, it would be just another morose high-school romance.
For teen fans, however, Twilight is seductive, even a sensational revelation. And the special edition DVD set will not only serve their interests, it will satisfy their preternatural cravings.
For romance.
For glimpses of pretty-boy Pattinson.
For insight on how Meyer wrote her best-sellers, on how Hardwicke made the movie, on how a vampiric dreamscape became a visual reality.
Disc One presents Twilight in widescreen only, as it should be. There are also extended scenes, each introduced by Hardwicke, plus a commentary teaming Hardwicke with Pattinson and Stewart.
Three music videos offer songs by Paramore (in a staged forest setting that recalls a scene in the film) and the bands Muse and Linkin Park (each in a live concert performance).
Disc Two is the motherlode of extras.
A seven-part, 55-minute documentary chronicles the entire saga from Meyer's 2003 dream, which ignited her desire to write a vampire romance, to the finishing touches on the film before its world premiere last November.
Another segment has deleted scenes, another shows the promotional campaign, yet another has excerpts from Twilight's romp at the Comic-Con convention.
Both Meyer and Hardwicke -- who collaborated as book morphed to film -- are enthusiastic. You could call them girly, the opposite of brooding Bella.
Hardwicke even enlisted Meyer for a cameo in the cafe where Bella's dad dines. She looks flushed with excitement.
"I got the idea for Twilight from a dream," Meyer says in one interview. "It sounds kind of cheesy but it was a great dream!"
That dream, of Edward and Bella in the mountain meadow, became Chapter 13 of the first book.
"Stephenie wrote such a cool book," Hardwicke says, "and I wanted to just make that real, make that visual, make it exciting, lift it off the page from words to just a thrilling experience where you felt that you were there!"
The DVD will do just that for the core audience that has turned Twilight into an integral part of pop culture.
