Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty ImagesIt was pretty easy to tell who had been bitten by the Twilight bug.
Hundreds of Bella and Edward fanciers—most wearing black and some sporting makeshift fangs and cloaks seemingly left over from the last Harry Potter premiere—gathered outside the Borders at Penn Plaza in Manhattan in honor of deleted scenes, a making-of documentary and some musing from Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.
Aka, just some of the features to be found on the special-edition, two-disc Twilight DVD.
Midnight DVD release parties (that started at 10 p.m.) all over the country were hosting costume contests, merchandise giveaways, scavenger hunts and other Summit Entertainment-sanctioned fun.
But the biggest draw at the Hot Topic boutique in Hollywood seemed to be the promise of an appearance from one of the movie's stars—preferably Rob Pattinson himself. Screaming fanggirls (to be fair, there was one Twi-guy on the scene) responded "To see Rob!" when asked what brought them out.
Who showed up instead?
Actress Ashley Greene, aka Alice Cullen, was the "surprise" guest greeting fans at the witching hour.
A few of the franchise's other stars, such as Edi Gathegi (vampire Laurent), were expected at parties in NYC, Salt Lake City, Chicago and Dallas. But alas, no Pattinson sightings. Meanwhile, a shindig in Forks, Wash., where the stories are set, may have been the only place to catch a performance by some Quileute wolf dancers in honor of the werewolf portion of the Stephenie Meyer-penned saga.
As for Borders, the bookstore laid claim to the official Twilight Movie Awards, which encouraged fans to pick their faves in categories such as Best Quote, Best Hair and Best OME (Oh My Edward) Moment.
Also getting in on the action was Blockbuster, holding a series of in-store blood drives on Thursday in anticipation of the arrival of what is sure to be one of its hottest rentals of the spring.
Meanwhile, witching-hour shenanigans were also taking place at Wal-Marts (the only store selling cheaper one-disc copies of Twilight and the only place to hear an "exclusive message from the cast"), Targets and other retailers across the country.
—Additional reporting by Drusilla Moorhouse & Jennifer Cady