From cringe to camp—why 'Twilight’s' sparkly vampires remain timeless in 2025

Fifteen years later, Edward’s shimmer and Bella’s pseudo strokes feel oddly...appealing.

29 August, 2025

From cringe to camp—why 'Twilight’s' sparkly vampires remain timeless in 2025

2008 was a revolutionary year: Taylor Swift released Fearless, Tumblr was the cool kids’ website, and I was crashing out to Paramore on wired pink headphones. But the biggest hallmark of 2008—one that remains unforgettable in its blue-tinted cinematography—was a centuries-old brooding man obsessing over a teenager who somehow managed to live out all of our dreams. They turned overthinking love into an art. Yes, we're talking about Twilight. Who cares that it never won an Academy Award? Their fangs had Tumblr, Hot Topic, and every teenager by the throat for years, and guess what? They still do!

Let’s be real, there were times when we were a little embarrassed to admit we were rewatching this fever dream. But are we still embarrassed? Absolutely not. We’re grabbing our iced coffees and heading straight to the cinema, Decode blasting on our AirPods. The one-time “cringe” label that had us all rewatching under the covers has been reclaimed as 2000s camp, and its widespread appreciation is no longer a secret. It's a peak canon event for everyone who was there, and everyone who knows anyone who was there. The sparkly vampires are truly immortal now.

So when we heard that Twilight is returning to theatres this October, we had to talk about it all over again. Consider us ready for the Team Edward vs Team Jacob wars to begin!

Memory (forest) lane

Before the folklore forest, we had the ever-blue-tinted, somehow-always-misty forest of Twilight. Bella chewing her lip like it owed rent, Edward hyperventilating because he couldn’t read her mind, and the forest aesthetic that was half gothic, half shimmery vampire. Every scene looked like it was filmed through a moody Instagram filter years before filters even existed. And then there was the soundtrack: Paramore, Muse, Iron & Wine—indie bangers that created their own cultural micro-movement. You weren’t just watching Twilight; you were soundtracking your entire adolescence. Rewatching these films in 2025 is the closest we’ll ever get to a working time machine back to the 2000s—awkward fashion, MySpace mood boards, and all.

The OG toxic situationship

Edward Cullen is many things: a vampire, a high schooler, a mind reader, and a deeply brooding, obsessive man. He’s also the reason why girlies in 2025 are still delulu over the mysterious, pale man who clearly doesn’t like them back. He put the “b” in boundaries, and then shoved those boundaries straight to the back of his mind. Stalking Bella in her sleep? Gaslighting her every other conversation? Leaving her in the middle of a forest because he “knows what’s best”? The red flags were practically neon. And yet, he was sold to us as the ultimate dream man. He walked so Zade Meadows could run (shoutout to all my Haunting Adeline girlies—please seek therapy, that is not love). Looking back, Edward might have been the founder of the modern toxic situationship: confusing, addictive, and impossible to let go of, even when you know it’s bad for you.

Delulu is still the blueprint

Every post that starts with “If there hadn’t been this, there wouldn’t have been you”? You know it started with Twilight. Say what you will, but this saga was the blueprint for a whole generation of YA delusion. Without Bella and Edward’s all-consuming (and wildly unrealistic) romance, would we even have had the Divergent obsession, the Hunger Games crashout, or the Percy Jackson meltdown? Probably not. Twilight made us believe in destiny-coded crushes, epic betrayals, and love triangles so intense they divided friend groups. Delulu was always at the heart of Twilight, and its return to theatres in 2025 proves nothing has changed. If anything, the fandom energy has only gotten stronger—because YA adaptations would not be what they are today without Twilight. It didn’t just open the door; it built the entire delulu house we’re all still living in.

The love triangle founders

For real, no one did love triangles as wildly unhinged and as deeply entertaining as Twilight. People are still debating Edward vs Jacob, and it’s safe to say no one really moved on. Edward was the most red-flag coded of them all, and if you’re Team Edward, maybe give your therapist a call this week. Jacob was the rebound before the rebound was even a thing. So if you’re Team Jacob, I know you texted and deleted something to your ex last night.

Not to mention, while everyone was busy clawing over Edward and Jacob, a quieter camp was flipping their hair for Charlie Swan and Dr Carlisle Cullen. Charlie with his dad-energy and awkward moustache charm? Carlisle with his eternal good looks and “gentle vampire doctor” persona? Let’s be real, some of us always knew the side characters were the true endgame. And don’t even get me started on the other Cullen couples. Alice and Jasper’s ride-or-die vibes, Rosalie and Emmett’s chaotic power-couple energy—they were serving relationship goals long before Instagram made it a thing.

The camp canon moments

Twilight’s most infamous movie moments have aged into pure pop-culture legend. Remember the CGI baby Renesmee? Still the stuff of memes and nightmares. The Breaking Dawn Part 2 battle scene that had us screaming as heads rolled—Carlisle’s shocking decapitation, Seth going down far too soon, Jasper following right after—only for it all to be revealed as Alice’s vision? Iconic cinema. The vampire baseball game with Muse blasting as they slid, flipped, and swung bats like Olympic gymnasts in slow motion? Utter camp brilliance.

And then there’s Jacob dramatically ripping off his shirt in New Moon to dab at Bella’s tiny cut, Edward stopping a van with his bare hand while glaring like it was personal, and Bella nearly passing out in biology class because Edward was fighting his thirst a little too hard. Even the cafeteria entrance of the Cullens in slow motion, with a wind machine, and all beige fits, was a moment.

These scenes weren’t accidents; they were the franchise leaning all the way in. What once had us cringing in the back row is now the reason Twilight has become timeless camp. Rewatching it in 2025, you realise: every exaggerated stunt, every dramatic stare, every “hold on tight, spider monkey” line wasn’t just a moment; it was a meme waiting to happen.

From guilty pleasure to cultural reset

Let’s be honest, most of us trash-talked Twilight back in the day because it was unlike anything we’d seen before. Was it cringe at times? Absolutely—every timeless series has its moments. But what’s changed in 2025 is the attitude. Cringe has become camp; the same people who mocked Twilight are now booking tickets to watch it on the big screen again. The drama, the blue filter, the lip-biting, the endless scoffing with every line—it was bizarrely ahead of its time, and it’s now the blueprint for moody YA obsession. Where today’s quizzes reveal what your stance in this debate says about your inner self, Twilight was the founding mother of the YA love triangle. And let’s not forget Jacob imprinting on an infant.

What was embarrassing in 2008 is a cultural reset in 2025, and maybe even the original blueprint for today’s toxic situationship obsession. The allure of the vampire and the danger of the love story drew us in, and it still has us in a chokehold more than a decade later. Rewatching it in 2025? I’m horrified, but also set.

Twilight walked so that The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf, and an endless supply of dark romance vampire and werewolf fics on BookTok and Wattpad could run. In familial terms, Edward is the grandfather, Damon is the son, Scott is the distant cousin, and Zade Meadows is the future-incarcerated grandson. It’s safe to say these films aged like…vampires: very pale, sometimes shimmery, and somehow hotter every year. Biologically possible? Who cares.

Lead image credit: IMDb

Also read: Bella and Edward Seem Completely Different in New 'Twilight' Book, 'Midnight Sun'

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