Twilight: new blood in New Moon

In space, no one can hear you scream. In cinemas showing Twilight films, it's obligatory – at least in the really scary bits, or whenever hunky vampire Edward Cullen, aka Robert Pattinson, appears on screen. And it's all about to start over again, with the arrival of sequel New Moon. But fans hoping for an easy rehash pf the themes of the first flick, which made more than $380m at the global box office, could be in for a shock. For the followup, as its title suggests, is all about change Photograph: PR

First up, where's Pattinson? In Twilight, new girl in town Bella (Kristen Stewart) falls in love with the best-looking boy at school, Edward Cullen (Pattinson), only to discover he's an immortal vampire with super-speed and strength. But in Stephenie Meyer's book, upon which New Moon is based, Cullen is largely absent in Italy Photograph: PR

The reason? Cullen's bloodthirsty family, or, rather, one of them. Bella is enjoying a birthday celebration with the Cullens, all supposedly reformed "vegetarian" vampires who only drink animals' blood, when she suffers a paper cut. An ensuing attack by his "brother" Jasper, who just can't contain his natural instincts, leads Edward and his family to quit the quaint little town of Forks, Washington, for good in an effort to keep Bella safe Photograph: PR

Fortunately, our heroine is able to take solace in the comforting arms of Jacob Black, a local native American boy who turns out to be … a werewolf. But despite all those muscles, and the ability to chase after and return sticks in rapid-quick time, he's just not Edward Photograph: PR

Together with other members of his clan of Quileute indians, all of whom share his ability to transform into a wolf, Jacob discovers that it is his duty to protect the human inhabitants of Forks from the vampire threat Photograph: PR

And that threat is very real in New Moon. Dreadlocked bloodsucker Laurent is just one of the vampires who quite fancies a nibble of Bella's neck Photograph: Kimberley French/PR

Meanwhile, Edward and the Cullens travel to Italy, where they come into contact with the Volturi, dangerous vampire royalty who are led by the sinister Aro (Michael Sheen). The role is a slight switch for the star of Frost/Nixon and The Queen - he played werewolf Lucian in three Underworld films, but has not previously portrayed a vampire Photograph: PR

One of the Volturi, Jane, is played by an almost-grown-up Dakota Fanning, now 15, virtuoso child star of I Am Sam, War of the Worlds and Charlotte's Web. It doesn't appear to be a huge role Photograph: PR

The Volturi apparently have the power to kill other vampires. They also have that annoying red-eye thing that afflicts camera operators who use a flash in dark places. In this scene, one of them threatens Edward's "sister" Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene) Photograph: PR

Here's another one of the blighters. We're not sure quite what his powers are, but he certainly looks pretty terrifying Photograph: PR

Will Bella and Edward ever be reunited? Can each escape the dangers that threaten them in New Moon? And will anyone ever work out that cameras with built in red-eye reduction are now widely available? We'll have to wait until November 20, when the film finally arrives in cinemas on both sides of the Atlantic Photograph: Photo by: Kimberley French/PR