Vampires

As a ruthless social climber in 19th century Paris, Robert Pattinson bares his incisors, and a few other things, without revealing the slightest suggestion of his character's inner life. "Bel Ami" is not the first screen adaptation of the Guy de Maupassant novel (a 1947 version starred George Sanders), and it's not Pattinson's first work in a period film (he played Salvador Dali in"Little Ashes"); in neither category will it stand as one for the ages. The book is subtitled "The History of a Scoundrel" and there's no question that Pattinson's Georges Duroy is an unlikable rogue.

The Cove   A Novel Ron Rash HarperAudio: $16.95 In his other novels, such as "Serena," Ron Rash captures the gentle (or violent) interactions between humans set against the beauty of the natural world, especially the rugged Appalachians. In "The Cove," Merritt Hicks provides a thoughtful rendering of Rash's new novel about a doomed love affair - once again set in Appalachia - in the turbulent years of World War I. Superstition surrounds a shadowy cove where a young woman and her brother live … until a stranger's arrival threatens their calm, idyllic world.

Kristen Stewart, the 22-year-old star of the “Twilight” films and the upcoming “Snow White and the Huntsman,” told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival, “I love scaring myself” -  and she wasn't talking about vampires or evil queens. Stewart was referring to her role as a fee-spirited, sexually adventurous beatnik in “On the Road,” Walter Salles' adaptation of the classic Jack Kerouac novel. Stewart said she embraced playing the character of Marylou, which involved sex scenes and nudity.

"The Avengers"will take a big bite out of the opening of"Dark Shadows,"as the superhero blockbuster is set to dominate the box office for the second consecutive weekend. After launching with a record-breaking $207.4 million - the biggest opening weekend ever, not adjusting for inflation - "The Avengers" isn't likely to lose steam at the box office any time soon. In its second weekend, the film featuring beloved comic book characters such as Iron Man, Captain America and the Hulk is expected to collect an additional $90 million, according to those who have seen pre-release audience surveys.

They don't call it "Tim Burton's Dark Shadows," but they might as well have. Nominally based on the cult favorite 1960s daytime soap opera, this film has much more to do with what goes on inside director Tim Burton's head than with any TV show, no matter how beloved. In fact, "Dark Shadows" is as good an example as any of what might be called the Way of Tim, a style of making films that, like the drinking of blood, is very much an acquired taste and, unless you're a vampire, not worth the effort.

Jonathan Frid, whose portrayal of charismatic vampire Barnabas Collins in the supernatural soap opera "Dark Shadows" turned the classically trained actor into a pop-culture star in the late 1960s, has died. He was 87. Frid died April 13 of natural causes at a hospital in his hometown of Hamilton, Canada, said Jim Pierson, a spokesman for Dan Curtis Productions, which produced"Dark Shadows. " The campy daytime soap was a year old and struggling in the ratings in 1967 when series creator Dan Curtis took his daughter's advice to "make it scarier.

Marcos Siega, a director and producer of "The Vampire Diaries" since 2009, has sold his Encino home for $1.65 million. The remodeled midcentury house features floor-to-ceiling doors, an upgraded kitchen, five bedrooms and five bathrooms in 3,628 square feet. The half-acre lot includes a swimming pool with a spa. Siega, 42, has worked on "Charlie's Angels" (2011), "Dexter" (2007-09) and "Cold Case" (2005-09). The property came on the market in September at $1.665 million.

Audiences haven't tired of Kate Beckinsale as a butt-kicking heroine — the fourth installment of Sony Pictures' "Underworld" series debuted to healthy ticket sales over the weekend. The vampire action-thriller "Underworld: Awakening" opened to $25.4 million, according to an estimate from the studio's Screen Gems label. Meanwhile, George Lucas' "Red Tails" — about the Tuskegee Airmen — exceeded industry expectations, selling $19.1-million worth of tickets. "Haywire," Steven Soderbergh's action-thriller starring mixed martial arts star Gina Carano, had a less impressive opening of $9 million.

"Underworld: Awakening" begins with a tidy, three-minute wrap of the series' first two movies (the third, a 2009 prequel minus star Kate Beckinsale doesn't figure into the equation) before revealing the current grim state of affairs for its clashing vampires and werewolves. Humans, at least those oblivious to the charms of the "Twilight" movies, have decided to stop killing each other and focus on eradicating creatures possessing fangs. Our vampire antiheroine Selene (Beckinsale)

"Awesome," according to one dictionary of slang, is "something Americans use to describe everything. " The linguistic overkill horrifies John Tottenham. So the British-born L.A. poet, painter and journalist has launched what he calls the Campaign to Stamp Out Awesome, or CPSOA. "Saying the word in my presence is like waving a crucifix in a vampire's face," Tottenham says. "It's boiled down to one catchall superlative that's completely meaningless. " I met with Tottenham last week at CSPOA headquarters inside Stories, the Echo Park bookstore he is trying to turn into the world's first awesome-free zone.