Twilight ‘rip-offs’

As the latest episode in the ‘Twilight’ series, ‘Breaking Dawn: Part One’ hits cinemas in the UK, we thought we'd look back at the scale of Twilight's influence over the last few years and expose some of the flicks we think have 'been inspired by' (or more accurately, 'totally copied from') Robert Pattinson & Co.

'Howling: Reborn' (2011)
In a nutshell, this is ‘Twilight’ but with werewolves instead of vampires. Okay, okay, we know that Twilight has werewolves in it too... But you know what we mean. ‘Howling: Reborn’ not only gives us suspiciously similar storylines, music, narration and moody looks, it even features noticeably matching lighting and make-up. Tut tut...

'Vampires Suck' (2010)
This terrible spoof, featuring the character Edward 'Sullen' (that's the funniest joke in it - that's how terrible it is) was panned across the board by almost everyone. Movie review aggregators Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes have it as the stand-out worst reviewed movie of the year. Which no doubt pleased the millions of Twi-hards who would have been livid at the shameless mickey-taking of their heroes. While the film may suck more than the vampires that are in it, at least it didn't try to cover up being a cash-in.

'Red Riding Hood' (2011)
There are so many 'similarities' here, it's easier just to list them: handsome heroes with impossible gravity-defying coiffured hair, full moons everywhere, eerily tall forest trees looming in the background, a love triangle, werewolves, an emo soundtrack, they even feature the same actor (Billy Burke) playing the leading lady's dad! Surely there was no shame from the makers of the film? Nope - they even hired the same director (Catherine Hardwicke). * sigh *

'I Am Number Four' (2011)
This Alex Pettyfer-starrer is also based on a popular teenage fantasy book. The main character starts at a new school, makes some new pals who turn out to be supernatural (in this case, aliens), then spends half the movie flirting with a love interest, before it all well and truly kicks off. Sound familiar?

'Beastly' (2011)
Another outing featuring English heartthrob and ‘Stormcatcher’ Alex Pettyfer, Beastly's obvious primary inspiration is the fairytale ‘Beauty and the Beast’. But look closer and you can't escape the ‘Twilight’ overtones. We can't remember too many major films featuring high school girls falling in love with supernatural beings that are based on teenage fiction being green-lit pre-Pattinson, can you?

'Bloody Veer' (TBC)
It's not just mainstream Hollywood that's jumping on the vampiric teen angst bandwagon, this upcoming Bollywood bloodsucker looks set to cash in on the success of ‘Twilight’ too. Indian producer Sidhartha M Jain has high hopes for this Desi version, even admitting in a recent interview that he'll be taking his cue from everyone's favourite teenage vampire film franchise.

'Vampire Boys' (2011)
Charlie Vaughn's horror fantasy pretty much sells itself as 'Twilight, but gay!' So we have all the same fanged goings-on in the same high school setting, but with a lot fewer girls (obviously).

What do you make of all these movies 'inspired' by the Twilight series? Blatant, cheap rip-off rubbish? Or just more Stephanie Meyers-esque action to sink your teeth into? And can you think of any more? Let us know...