By guest blogger Lucy Mapstone

If you’re a die-hard fan of the Twilight Saga, you might be aware there was a fan party last night for the new film, New Moon, which included appearances from Robert Pattinson (for the sake of this blog, I’ll call him R-Patz), Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and the director Chris Weitz. They sauntered along the red carpet, surrounded by hardcore fans (one came all the way over from Spain…) and got up on stage to answer questions from Radio One’s Nick Grimshaw.

Fans who managed to make it inside the event (including myself) were also treated to some live music from the bands, The Magic Numbers and Band of Skulls. It was a fine event, with red mood lighting and smoke-machines everywhere, just to add an appropriate vampire touch to the inside of the Battersea Evolution in Battersea Park, London.

The stars of New Moon were asked questions about the movie, and also about their personal lives. However, it was difficult for them to get a word in edgewise due to the thousand or so young girls screaming ‘TAYLOR WE LOVE YOU’ and ‘TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF’. One girl even shouted for R-Patz to go to bed with her.

As I sit here today, with a slight case of tinnitus (hearing teenage girls screaming for R-Patz and Taylor Lautner for three hours can have that affect) I can’t help but wonder if the whole Twilight ‘thing’ is becoming a little too much. Part of me wonders if it is snowballing too quickly. I can almost taste the backlash coming. New Moon, the second installment of the Twilight Saga, hasn’t even been released, but you wouldn’t be alone in thinking that it had. Never before has an impending movie release generated so much excitement from the female youth. Girls were wandering around the event in excited huddles, R-Patz and Taylor’s faces emblazoned across their T-shirts. Outside, on the red carpet, international fans were holding up posters, magazines and books to be signed by the three main cast members (who, by the way, admitted they would like some peace and quiet away from the Twilight madness. Can’t blame them really.)

Twilight is actually a decent film, and I’m not just saying that from a female/fan perspective. I can be objective here. It has a genuine atmosphere, a wonderful portrayal of teenage angst, fine actors and hot vampire action. However, if you are not part of the largely female fan-base, you will probably be put off ever watching it, or any of the sequels. It smacks of the Harry Potter phenomenon, where people avidly started to hate it just because it was so popular, and refused to watch it on that basis. It’s a real shame; the books are well-written for the particular audience, and the films are pure indulgence and a real pleasure to watch.

New Moon looks set to blow its predecessor out of the water, and yet while it may smash box office records next weekend (and I predict it will) there will be a substantial amount of critics and film-lovers who will slate it purely because of the immense popularity and hoards of girls who write fan-fiction and obsess over the possibility of a relationship with a vampire (or a werewolf, depending on what side you’re on.) ‘Fangs’ a lot fan-girls – you might have ruined the credibility of one of the greatest vampire movies of all time.