The Midtown Gazette

A Columbia Journalism School newsroom covering Midtown Manhattan in the heart of New York City.


,

Twihards Descend on Times Square for ‘Breaking Dawn – Part 2’ Opening

Miriam Rosen, Yardena Rothenberg and Deanna Meyer dressed up as the Volturi, the oldest and most powerful vampires in the “Twilight” series. Photo: Claire Stern.

Last night, throngs of teenage girls gathered at the Regal E-Walk Stadium 13 movie theater on West 42nd Street adorned with fangs, white cake make-up and blood pouring down from the corners of their mouths. It was the opening night of “Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” the fifth and final installment of The Twilight Saga, the series of fantasy films that ignited a worldwide vampire craze, based on the bestselling novels by Stephanie Meyer.

The three main characters in the series, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), reunite in this film, which tells the story of Bella’s new life as a vampire and mother to her and Edward’s newborn daughter, Renesmee, a half-human, half-vampire. All seems well and good for the first half hour or so, until the Volturi, the ruling clan of vampires, gets wind of the birth and, thinking Renesmee has been unwillingly turned into a vampire by her parents, vows to murder the child and the Cullen family. To protect themselves, the Cullens band together with other vampires to battle the Volturi.

Miriam Rosen, Deanna Meyer and Yardena Rothenberg, 18-year-old students at Hebrew Academy of Five Towns High School and self-professed Twihards (an amalgamation of the words “Twilight” and “die-hard” used to describe Twilight fanatics), dressed up as the Volturi for the opening.

“There’s always a ton of people dressed up,” Rosen said. “We’re the craziest ones there always,” Meyer added with a chuckle.

The three friends have attended the midnight showings of the previous four films and read all four novels. “We love the books,” insisted Rosen. “The books come first.”