Warm Bodies - What does a good film have to do to get noticed?

I recently watched this film, having heard good things pre-release, and after watching a rather gripping trailer...

And I was not let down (least not by the film). I will avoid spoilers entirely by explaining that the movie is a wonderful blend of Scott Pilgrim / Kick-Ass style narrative and humour, thrilling action and tension, combined with a gloriously warm love story at the center, wrapped in a narrative about racism and prejudice. All in all a very good film...

When I first read the preview articles the first disclaimers mentioned by my favourite film mags was "This is not Twilight with zombies", and they were right. It is so different, it is annoying that that statement even has to be made. It seems simply because it is a boy meets girl story with a supernatural element that they must be one and the same... why do we not just say Twilight is a imitation of Ghost, or Wolf, or Beauty and the Beast?

I know the Twilight films are popular, and I confess I have seen them all (one can not criticize what one has never experienced), but I have watched a fair few films in my time and the Twilight ones, in order are: Okay, Acceptable, Good, Poor, Criminal. They peak half way through the series with one good film, and betray the audiences with one of the worst endings to a series ever!

So why are they so popular? Is it the love story that all teenage girls feel an affinity for? I hope not, because it is one of the most loveless romances I know of. The guys all have spells in some shape or form that force them to love this girl, whom is cold and discomforting in return. People might find romance in acts of compulsion, but if someone makes no conscious choice I see no real love...

But that's by-the-by and just my opinion. But the fact remains that there are far more romantic films out there, so what is special about Twilight? I suspect the simple answer is length and marketing.

I am a major critic of literature and film these days for being too long. Too often material is drawn out, stretching the quality thin, so that a drip-feed of story can be rewarded with a drip-feed of revenue. More pages, does not mean more gold.

But warm bodies, is a single, contained, complete story, wrapped in an hour and a half with more heart, more action, more humour, and more character than all of the Twilights put together. And I suppose this does not bode well for me, with my 150 page e-book.

But I'm a story-writer, not a rambler....