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Filmmaker Chris Weitz said that he knew the “Twilight” phenomenon had gone off the rails when the female immigration officer at the Canadian border already knew who he was. And when paparazzi pictures of him and his family eating hot dogs showed up on the Internet. And when he faced the audience at July’s Comic-Con convention in San Diego.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been confronted by 7,000 screaming girls,” he said. “But it’s a loud sound.” And Weitz is just the director — which would seem an impolite thing to say, if Friday’s release of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” wasn’t poised to eclipse everything in its path.

FESTIVA READER Q&A: If vampires were real, would you want to be turned?

• “I would want to be turned if Dr Carslyse were the one to turn me.” - Vanessa Martinez
• “I’d become one..if it was edward cullen who’d change me :)” - Jennifer M Resendez
• “The only way I would want to be a vampire is if my husband was a vampire.. Other than that, it would be a no for me. I would like to experience life to its fullest, yes, even to reach old age. Living in the darkness, constantly having to feed on human or animal blood, or just simply having a heart that doesn’t beat is not something I’d want to experience. I enjoy doing human things. Eating food, loving, being able to have children, watching the world go by, just living life to its fullest. That’s all I really want.” – Dominique Martinez Schultz
• “Yes so me and Edward can live happily together forever! lol and To enjoy and see the many decades and years that will pass to see how times are changing because it is amazing what happens now-a-days.” – Jessica Lillian Alvarez

The second in the series based on Stephenie Meyer’s YA vampire novels, “New Moon” will further the cause of making otherworldly superstars out of whom Weitz called his “big three”: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, all of whom have already become objects of fans’ adoration and media scrutiny.

Their continued involvement in “Twilight” adds a dark note of celebrity overkill to a story already steeped in adolescent passion and impossible romance: The virginal Bella Swan (Stewart) is in love with the vampire Edward Cullen (Pattinson). And while he resists her willingness to go over to the dark side, he also risks losing her to Jacob Black (Lautner), a member of an American Indian tribe with a few undead skeletons of its own rattling around in the closet.

As we rejoin our program ... the Cullen clan is throwing a party for Bella’s 18th birthday, but when she accidentally cuts her hand, the ensuing flurry of blood lust among the immortal guests convinces the Cullens to leave their Pacific Northwest town for Bella’s own good. What ensues is precisely the kind of frustrated teenage love story explored by writers from Shakespeare down to those who carve their initials in trees. Meyer is always going for ultimate pathos, but her stories also prove that successful melodrama is usually not about what it pretends to be about: The “Twilight” series may be set among vampires, but its subtext is pure wish-fulfillment and fantasy.

“It puts everyday romantic dilemmas into a supernatural context,” said Weitz. “And things play out in the ways one might imagine they would play out in everyday life, but don’t.”

Weitz replaced “Twilight” Director Catherine Hardwicke. “It’s like ‘Harry Potter,”‘ he said, “They’ll have a new director on each film” — although that wasn’t the plan originally.

He said another aspect of the tales that drags female audiences of all ages into “New Moon’s” orbit is its almost chaste attitude toward . . . well, you know.

“The way it addresses teen sexuality is very considered and safe,” said Weitz, whose “American Pie” was anything but. “The heroine is a virgin and it’s addressed that she’s a virgin and that is something respected by her boyfriend; he’s very careful and protective of her. That’s a bit of a throwback, in a way. Actually, the fact that you mention the virginity of the character at all is a bit shocking.”

Vampire stories are always eroticized — as Weitz points out, the exchange of bodily fluids is a fairly intimate thing, even if you may not want to examine it all too clinically.

“You want to take people on an emotional ride, not necessarily an intellectual one,” said Melissa Rosenberg, who thus far has scripted three “Twilight” films (the third “Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” directed by David Slade, completed shooting two weeks ago). “If you’re just writing about passion, you’re doing, I don’t know what — soft core? There has to be a journey. So it’s really a coming-of-age story — it’s about Bella becoming a stronger person. And by the end she has a life as she’s created it for herself. The heartbreak is the whole idea of ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”‘

MISS THE FIRST MOVIE? HERE'S A RECAP

Isabella “Bella” Forks has just moved from Phoenix to Forks, Washington to live with her chief-of-police father, Charlie. As she tries to fit in at her new high school, she takes interest in a group of unusually attractive students who always sit together at lunch – especially Edward Cullen. His seeming hatred of her turns to repulsion and it frightens Bella. When Edward saves her life (twice), Bella notices the superhuman abilities he possesses – which he denies.

Bella questions her friend Jacob Black about the tribal legends, which leads her to believe that Edward and his family are vampires who feed on animals rather than humans.

Over time, Bella learns that the reason Edward avoided her was because the scent of her blood was overwhelmingly desirable to him. Edward fights his urges to kill Bella and drink her blood, instead falling in love with her.

But there are vampires who feed on humans and one such clan comes to Forks for their next meal. One of the vampires, James, develops a keen interest in the Cullens and their relationship with Bella. He decides to hunt Bella for sport.

Edward and Bella are separated to save her from the bloodthirsty James. Bella hides out in a hotel in Phoenix, but the cunning James tricks Bella and attacks her. Edward and his family swoop in to save Bella, who is near death, and they kill James.

After Edward sucks the venom from Bella’s wound, Bella is taken to a hospital. Once they return to Forks, Edward agrees to attend the high school prom with Bella. And though Bella wants nothing more than to be a vampire so she can be with Edward forever, he refuses.