Reportedly, the biggest readership for  Stephenie  Meyers’ “Twilight” book series consists of teenage girls. “Twilight,” the movie version of the first novel, targets that demographic and is likely to hit the box office bulls-eye. Director Catherine Hardwicke delivers a slick teen romance with more swoon than bite. You don’t usually find “date movie” and “vampire” in the same sentence, but this is the exception. Hard-core horror fans may want to stay home and replay “Nosferatu.” 

Kristen Stewart, a canny actress who mostly has to do annoyed and emotional here, plays Bella Swan. She’s the new kid at Fork High School in rainy and quaint small-town Washington state.

Bella’s chatting with her friends over lunch when a clannish and wan group of kids enter the room. They’re the Cullens, foster siblings to a doctor who lives in a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired mansion outside of town. When Kristen’s eyes meet those of Edward Cullen , the two of them fall hopelessly in love.

Edward is played by Robert Pattinson,  whose poster will probably  adorn the walls of pink-accented bedrooms all over the country. He’s a pale  James Dean with too much lip gloss, and he can play a mean and soulful piano as well as leap tall trees and outrace a locomotive. Edward, like the rest of his family,  is a vampire. However, they’re evolved vampires: They nobly eschew the blood of humans for that of lower animals. Therefore, they call themselves vegetarians, and that’s about as sharp as the intentional humor gets. Though there are some unintended giggles, the movie strives for the somber tone of “Jane Eyre” and doesn’t miss it much with the spectacular, rain-shrouded scenery.

At first, Bella is piqued by Edward’s attempts to avoid her. It’s only out of altruism, however. Her smell inflames Edward with blood lust — and here we must take a metaphor break. You don’t have to be Sigmund Freud  to figure out that this is a thinly-veiled reference to another kind of lust. Edward just wants to say “no” while Bella wants to say “yes,” and damn the consequences.

Much of the first part of the movie tries to build suspense with Bella’s gradually dawning knowledge that Edward is a vampire. Since all of the target audience and anybody else who hasn’t been on an outer-space tourist junket is in on the secret, this is a time-consuming tactic. Still, it’s effective in the teen romance thread of the movie. It gives Bella and her pals time to noodle over who goes to the prom with whom and what dress to wear. Now there’s real suspense.

“Twilight” revamps some age-old vampire lore. The Cullens are a yuppie family who don’t eat normal meals but attempt a “Food Network” meal for Bella’s first visit. You expect to see Uncle Fester wander in from the deck in chinos, a polo shirt and deck shoes. Instead of howling and creeping up walls, the children of the night play backyard baseball.

Any high school romance requires some bullies and we get those in unevolved vampires. 

“Twilight” is more about high school dynamics than the creepy world of blood suckers and it achieves its purpose.  Look for sequels.