Though its quality is a point of debate, masterpiece or not, the Twilight franchise was a pop culture phenomenon. The first installment, Twilight, premiered in 2008 to substantial audience appeal as well as a hefty box office and would go on to become the staple cult classic of vampire romance. It’s amazing how talked about it still is today, even if the widespread commentary isn’t always positively inclined. It seems universally agreed upon that the theatrics and questionable movie logic that the franchise operates on are quite baffling when examined with a neutral eye. But hey, it did reign.
In 2015, three years after the final installment of the franchise was released, Nickelodeon made Liar Liar Vampire, a sarcastically stunning Twilight parody, written by Adrian Vina and directed by Vince Marcello. It follows Davis Pell, a teenage boy who relocates a lot because of his mother’s job, and since he’s always ‘the new kid’, he has difficulties making friends. But this time, when he moves to Forksley, things get a little shaken up. After a series of unplanned blunders and unintended coincidences, the most popular girl in his new school becomes convinced that Davis is, in fact, a vampire. The news spreads fast, and he turns into an instant celebrity.
Liar Liar Vampire goes for the gold with its mimicry of Twilight. Davis Pell is the perfect stand-in for Edward Cullen, even down to the hair. Caitlyn Crisp is a much looser parallel of Bella Swan, her character being tied to influence rather than meekness, but you get the gist. Then there’s the mediator—Davis’s neighbour, Vi—who stands in contrast with the crowd and keeps the audience sane through the wackiness of it all.
The movie’s references to Twilight don’t end with the characters. It’s set in a town called Forksley, a play on Twilight‘s City of Forks, and a name with less room for misinterpretation. It also imitates the cold, bleached colour grading that defined the 2008 film. Not to forget the use of Davis’s thoughts as a narrative overlay, the way Twilight did with Bella’s. Davis’s overlay, though, would be the more imaginative one of the pair. The vampire quirks native to the world of Twilight are canon in Liar Liar Vampire as well. The changing eye colour, sparkling in the sun, but with more emphasis on the canines. You’ll even catch a Twilight poster in there if you look closely. It’d be a real loss if the parody doesn’t reference the ‘I know what you are’ foggy forest scene. That one just has to make the cut.
The Nickelodeon movie could have certainly settled to be a simple tongue-in-cheek reinterpretation of Twilight. But it sets itself apart with a subversive final act. Caitlyn Crisp never actually believed Davis was a vampire and only stirred the rumour as a publicity stunt. Yet, instead of making her the story’s mean girl, Davis sticks up for her. After all, pretending to be who you’re not in order to be welcomed is something the majority is guilty of. In the end, we’re all just trying to figure out who we are. That’s a nice lesson to come out of a Twilight parody with.
