What you see above is the very first promotional still from Eclipse, which is the third film (release date: June 2010) of The Twilight Saga. Presumably, this still would lead one to believe that Eclipse is all warm and fuzzy like the first two Twilight films, but anyone with half a brain who’s familiar with author Stephanie Meyer’s source material should be aware that this installment is quite different from its predecessors. Unfortunately, there are Twihards out there whose frenzied state would preclude common sense, such as that chick who asked Robert Pattinson to bite her baby, not to mention the crazed Swine Flu fan:

The Twilight Saga: New Moon hunk apparently lashed out when the teen – who planted a smooch on Rob’s lips – declared, “My mom wouldn’t pull the car over to let me out because I’m just getting over the swine flu‚ so I jumped out at the red light just to see you.”

So, it’s safe to assume that there’s a certain (to be generous) lower quadrant of Twihards that do, in fact, lack deduction skills. These girls expect another sparkly chapter of the Edward Cullen story, but–if they’ve ever really read Eclipse — they’d certainly have to realize that (SPOILER ALERT) there will be a bloody and protracted battle scene that climaxes with Edward ripping the head from a redheaded vampire vixen, dismembering her entire body, and setting it aflame. He does all of this in front of Bella… isn’t that romantic?

“Romantic” is also nothing to expect from Eclipse‘s director, David Slade, who’s best known for helming the graphic novel adaptation of 30 Days of NIght (my review here). As far as vampire flicks go, it was easily one of the most graphically bloody and downright brutal portayals to ever hit the big screen, and Slade won’t necessarily lighten up the Eclipse material just to make the film more swoonworthy. In a preemptive movie, actor Taylor Lautner (who plays werewolf Jacob) has attempted to prepare the audience:

Slade is the third director to helm a Twilight flick, and Lautner admits that he’s got a whole new dark take on the saga. “It’s been good. He’s a lot different, but I think he’s going to add a cool taste to the movie,” he explained. “It might be a little darker.”

Ashley Greene (who plays vampire Alice Cullen) has even more to add:

Twilight star Ashley Greene told us last week that she’s been getting battered and bruised on the set of Eclipse. Whose fault is that? Well, other than author Stephenie Meyer, who wrote some scary fight scenes into her novel, all the abuse Greene and her co-stars have been taking is thanks to director David Slade . . . . “I think it’ll be different,” Greene said. “He’s … a little more focused on it being real and maybe it being gorier and a little dark and kind of dramatic.”

Like the novel, which builds up to a climactic battle of vampires and werewolves, Greene said Eclipse has a lot more action than the first film and might appeal to more than just screaming teen girls. “The first one was very focused on this love story and really sweet and it was beautiful, but it didn’t have a lot of stuff that guys would go, ‘Yeah, I want to go see that,’” she said. “There’s going to be a lot more focus on [action], and the fight scene will have more emphasis on it. I definitely think it will be a little more guy-friendly.”

A little more guy-friendly, eh? Well, Slade would be the only possible director that could pull this off, but it’s still not bloody likely that teenage boys will willingly watch anything that comes with the word “twilight” attached. After all, Dustin Rowles notes, these boys “will still keep returning to Transformer type movies unironically. The difference is: There won’t be a stigma attached.” And this stigma is perpetuated by those very Twihards that will actually be shocked when Eclipse reveals itself as a much darker vampire tale.

As if to prove my point, here’s what a cluelessly rabid RPattz fan stated after viewing the first Eclipse teaser poster (below), “This poster looks like it could be for a horror flick — which I pray that is NOT what Eclipse ends up being! It’s a love story!”