Phobia Friday:  Lycaonphobia - Fear of Werewolves

Like a trio of gifts from heaven (or Forks, WA) the internet got three juicy new clips from the Twilight sequel New Moon this week. Read my clip reviews and watch them all below! [Warning: spoilers ahead.]

Bella vs. the Wolf Pack

Taylor Lautner introduces this iTunes exclusive clip, which reveals Jacob Black's mid-air teen-to-wolf transformation and tells us exactly how Bella learns about the Wolf Pack – by picking a fight with Paul!

Bella (Kristen Stewart) approaches Sam (Chaske Spencer), Paul (Alex Meraz), and Jared (Bronson Pelletier) out in Quileute country. The trio are shirtless and in cut-off shorts, perhaps indicating that they've recently phased back from wolf form. It seems we'll be getting a lot of shirtless men in New Moon. Score!

The books tell us that Paul has a bit of a temper, and gets into it with Bella. But really, would Bella slap-punch an angry muscled dude? I'm thinking not, but they need to have her do it to make the scene work…

The dynamic between Sam, Paul, and Jared here is interesting; Sam – the oldest and the leader of the Wolf Pack – tries to rein in Paul, but Paul's anger is physically overwhelming. Jared, meanwhile, is amused by it all. He'd probably still be giggling if Paul ripped off Bella's head.

Paul's phase into wolf form – and, seconds later, Jacob's leap into wolf form – look pretty dang good to me. The giant CG wolves look like wolves but have an otherworldly quality. At least they don't look like cartoons.

Jacob vs. Edward TV spot

Watch it here.

Fandango's exclusive TV spot has a lot of goodies for us: it starts with Bella and Edward's break-up scene (more on that later), features a shirtless Jacob, has a snippet of Laurent being chased down by a wolf, and ends with a shoving match between Edward and Jacob that doesn't happen in the book!

Sure, it's tough and unrealistic to glean an entire storyline from snatches of scenes here and there, but this TV spot does a good job of encapsulating Bella's two-man dilemma. When Edward breaks her heart, Jacob is there for her (clothing optional). But Jacob's got his own deadly secret, which gives his otherwise nice boy image (you know, the kind you'll only ever be friends with) a dark and dangerous edge. And oh yeah, remember Victoria and Laurent! They're in New Moon, too!

Plus, it's nice to see Edward manning up and fighting for Bella instead of running off to Italy to mope and sparkle.

Edward vs. the Volturi

Watch it here.

But wait, there's more! Namely, the Volturi. Aro (Michael Sheen) gets some exposure in this pretty awesome clip, in which he hands over Bella's fate to his bloodthirsty guards, Felix (Daniel Cudmore) and Demetri (Charlie Bewley).

Actually, this scene is nice for a lot of the Volturi; we get to hear from Marcus (Christopher Heyerdahl), who prods Aro while looking extremely bored, and from Caius (Jamie Campbell-Bower), who pushes him even closer to throwing Bella to the wolves, so to speak. In just a few lines, Michael Sheen gives Aro a gleefully insane touch. I can't wait to see more of him in the full movie.

And then, there's the action. Director Chris Weitz has done some cool stuff playing with slow-motion to emphasize the super speed at which all vampires move. The fight between Edward and Felix erupts within seconds, and we see it from Bella's slow point of view. It's kind of brilliant, most of all when Felix throws Edward into the air and appears on the other side of the room just in time to smash him into the marble floor. The CG veins bursting in Edward's face are a nice touch.

The Break-Up Scene

Last year, lucky fans in Italy were the first to see a bunch of footage during the Rome Film Festival. This year, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg showed up with three of the Volturi – Jamie Campbell-Bower, Charlie Bewley, and Cameron Bright – to present 20 minutes of footage from New Moon. In case you're thinking, wait a second – what about us? You're right. It's totally unfair.

Inevitably, some of the footage made its way online, although many of the videos have been pulled down already. Suffice to say, Bella and Edward's full break-up scene will devastate the easy criers. Bring tissue!