Fairy tales usually feature a damsel in distress falling in love with a traditional hero, not a powerful monster. In Twilight, based on the successful book by Stephenie Meyer, a shy high school girl falls for a brooding, beautiful vampire.

Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) abandons hot Arizona to live with her father (Billy Burke) in tiny, frigid Forks, Washington. Trying hard to deflect her curious classmates’ attention, Bella becomes intrigued by the Cullens, an attractive set of adopted siblings: pairs Rosalie (Nikki Reed) and Emmett (Kellan Lutz) and Alice (Ashley Greene) and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone), and the very appealing solo, Edward (Robert Pattinson).

At first, Edward seems repulsed by Bella. But when he ends up mysteriously stopping a van from crushing her, the reasons behind the conflicting forces drawing him to Bella are revealed: he’s a vampire who, along with the rest of his clan, has chosen not to hurt humans. However, poor Bella turns out to be the most enticing potential victim he’s ever encountered.

With everything conspiring against them, including Quileute tribe pal Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and a group of nomad vampires (Cam Gigandet, Rachelle Lefevre and Edi Gathegi) that threaten Bella’s fragile human life, Edward and Bella unite--the lion in love with the lamb--determined to be together forever…whatever that turns out to be.

Launching with a midnight release, the Twilight DVD sold more than 3 million copies in a single day--proof it’s a pop culture phenomenon. And the page-to-screen leap succeeds on multiple levels.

Director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown), her pulse on the youth demographic, was an apt directorial choice. Her love of the source material and dedication to bringing it to life the best way she could is obvious.

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg (“Dexter,” Step Up) condensed a 500-page book into a script that effectively sharpened up the story for the big screen.

A long time collaborator of Hardwicke, cinematographer Elliot Davis makes the Pacific Northwest look stunning.

The rock music soundtrack fits well into the film, and composer Carter Burwell has orchestrated a beautiful score for Bella and Edward’s love story.

What really makes Twilight so effective, though, is the immortal at its center. Pattinson is perfection as Edward; his chemistry with the always excellent Stewart could warm any cold-blooded spectator.

The standard issue Two-Disc Special Edition DVD (Summit Entertainment, MSRP: $32.99) has an array of extras. Disc one contains the widescreen version of the film, audio commentary with Hardwicke, Stewart and Pattinson, a collection of music videos from some of the soundtrack acts and extended scenes with director’s commentary.

The best portions of the audio commentary track are when Pattinson pokes fun at himself, Hardwicke offers some Twilight insight and the acerbic Stewart talks about what motivated her performance.

Twilight author Stephenie Meyer cites music as a primary influence. Some of the music that helped launch Twilight the novel is also in the film. Disc one has a performance of Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole” and the music video for Linkin Park’s “Leave Out All the Rest.” The third musical entry is the music video for Paramore’s “Decode,” a tune written especially for Twilight.

The five extended scenes begin with a foreword by Hardwicke where she breaks down why each scene was shortened.

Disc two is loaded with deleted scenes, two featurettes and the film’s theatrical campaign.

There are five deleted scenes, each left on the cutting room floor for pacing issues, according to Hardwicke’s prologues before each scene. Ones to watch are the too-steamy-for-the-screen deemed “That’s the first time I dreamed of Edward Cullen,” and the touching Cullen family moment “She brought him to life.”

A mini-documentary broken into seven segments, “The Adventure Begins: The Journey from Page to Screen” looks at the cooperative partnership between Meyer and the production team, how the vampires came to life, the two big action sequences and, finally, the magic that went into the postproduction process.

Screaming girls provide the soundtrack to the “Comic-Con Phenomenon.” This featurette is merely a peep at the hoopla and hype of the Twilight presentation at the 2008 San Diego-based convention that showcases media that crosses genres like science fiction, fantasy and horror.

The theatrical campaign segment of the special features has the teaser and final trailers for the movie as well as two sneak peeks that were intended to up the anticipation for the film’s official release.

In addition to the standard two-disc release, there are also extra-special DVD packages. A Borders’ Exclusive 2-Disc Edition ($29.99) has additional cast interviews and 10 exclusive photo cards. Target’s 3-Disc Deluxe Edition ($22.99) includes a digital version of the film and a bonus disc with 45 minutes of never-before-seen content. And, for the truly blood-thirsty, Costco has the Ultimate Collector’s Giftset ($59.99) which includes an individually numbered Twilight-themed jewelry box, a certificate of authenticity, a charm bracelet, watch, bookmark and six glossy photo cards plus the official Twilight CD soundtrack.

With the next chapter in the Twilight saga, New Moon, rising November 20, audiences won’t have to wait long for a second bite of the beloved series.

Twilight is now available on DVD.