The new chapter in the "Twilight" series demonstrates once again the apparently infinite durability and resiliency of the vampire legend; nobody in fiction or film will ever drive the final stake through that monster's heart. Its particularly sexual nature accounts for most of the creature's appeal - it attacks its victims in a highly erotic encounter, killing with the terrible intimacy of a kiss. In the "Twilight" saga, the major victim even longs for that fatal kiss, which amounts in her case to the fulfillment of her love, the loss of her virginity.

The new movie takes up where the first one ended, with poor Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) hopelessly in love with vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and desperate for consummation. Although he reciprocates, he fears that her emotional commitment makes her vulnerable to other vampires, including some of his own family, and further, that in loving him she may lose her soul. In a noble gesture of renunciation, he leaves her for her own good, which pushes her into a breakdown.

Much of the film, which moves at the glacial pace of a soap opera, chronicles Bella's post-traumatic stress, her constant nightmares, her isolation from her friends, her frantic pursuit of risk. During this time Edward appears to her in a spectral form, warning her against the self-destructive path she follows. Practicing some occupational therapy, her friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) helps her rebuild a couple of salvaged motorcycles and rescues her from her despair.

Bella's relationship with Jacob grows wonderfully complicated when she realizes that he belongs to a group of Native Americans who change into wolves and roam the forest knocking off evil vampires. Loved by both a vampire and a werewolf, the lucky girl occupies a unique place in the history of both horror and romance, not the victim of two deadly menaces, but their shared love object. A confrontation between Jacob and Edward for the love of Bella initially even threatens to turn into one of those grand battles between monsters that enliven so many schlock horror films over so many decades.

Aside from the emotional turmoil of Bella's love for Edward, "New Moon" includes a number of related plots and characters. A vicious redheaded vampire named Victoria wants to kill Bella in retaliation for her involvement in Victoria's husband's death, which occurred in the previous movie (devotees of the original novels no doubt remember and understand that back story, but the rest of us really don't care). Echoing "Romeo and Juliet," which figures importantly in the movie, Edward believes that Bella's risky behavior killed her and consequently seeks his own death; he journeys to Tuscany to ask the chief vampires, an epicene crew called the Volturi, to kill him.

Bella's constant reiteration of her love, pain, sorrow, etc. grows absolutely deadly very soon, but the movie plods on and on anyway, while Edward's frequent hyperbolic expressions of his devotion suggest that vampires not only love blood, they also love schmaltz. The sappy, soppy sentimentality of the whole business, however, conflicts oddly with the scenes of violence and bloodshed, which include many instances of people used as projectiles and a couple of dismemberments.

The location shooting in the dark woods of Washington, an appropriate venue for bloodsuckers who must shun the sun, contrasts with the absolutely gorgeous sequences in Tuscany, where the bright light, the ancient towns, the rolling green hills, and even the Italian physiognomy provide a refreshing change from the tense gloom of the Pacific Northwest. Despite their diet of blood, the vampires, especially the Cullen family, an etiolated bunch, look anemic and unhealthy, very white, sharp featured, and red eyed, rather like laboratory rats, with an oddly subdued and precise manner of speech.

Providing some continuity with its predecessor, "New Moon," features yet another wholly obnoxious performance by Robert Pattinson, the latest androgynous pretty boy to inflame teenage girls across this great land. In one of the most narcissistic turns in recent memory, he constantly hangs his head at a slight angle, flashes a lot of profile, pouts fetchingly, and delivers most of his utterances in an unintelligible whisper, nicely epitomizing the sentimental, melodramatic, and essentially decadent subjects, style, and themes of the entire picture.