Beautiful Creatures: Gothic Romance in theaters Valentine's Day

This YA novel just didn't speak to me. The original cover, with its lilac letters seeming to grow out of the tumble of tangled tree branches, said creepy and supernatural. The Beautiful Creatures title is very provocative but the book's description sounded like pure Gothic romance so I skipped it. As far as art appreciation goes, I prefer the cover sans characters vs the movie tie in version where everything seems scrunched in and squeezed together.

"Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything."

The movie poster courtesy of JustJared.

Now the screen adaptation from Warner Brothers is set to hit theaters on Valentine's Day and, as I posted previously the cast includes the terribly talented Viola Davis. The studio is banking on this adaptation of the wildly popular book - and its sequels - to take the place of the Twilight series so I guess it's not that surprising to see actors of a certain gravitas like Davis as well as Emma Thomson and Jeremy Irons leading up the cast.  Newcomer Alice Englert is Lena Duchannes, Emmy Rossum is Ridley and Alden Ehrenreich is Ethan. 

Ehrenreich is a recent NYU graduate and rising star. Russell has mutual friends and saw Ehrenreich in a play he wrote himself last year. Russell tells me he is very very talented, that Francis Ford Coppola cast him as the lead in Tetro when Alden was 19. Others agree, the now 23 year old actor will also be seen in the upcoming Stoker which comes out in February as well. It stars Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasichowa and Matthew Goode and looks completely creepy.  What a very busy and thrilling month for him! I'll be interested to see if he does turn into one of Hollywood's darlings. He's been talked about as the next DiCaprio. What do you think? 

To find out more about the teen gothic romances by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl visit the Little Brown website.  And check out the trailer below.