Pat Robertson does not have "Twilight" Fever.
On Thursday's episode of "The 700 Club," Robertson's syndicated religious TV show, the conservative Baptist minister and political activist slammed the vampire romance book and film series, calling the story about a teenage girl and her vampire lover both "demonic" and "evil."
Recalling a story about a friend who exorcised a spirit from a young girl, Robertson claimed that the demon had been invited in by the young girl after she had gone to see one of the films in the series.
"Yes, I think those vampire movies are evil," Robertson said. "There are no vampires, the whole thing is demonic, and it may give you some kind of thrill -- whee! -- of the spooky, supernatural, but it opens the door to the occult."
This isn't the first time complaints about the series have been lobbed against the film franchise, which is based on author Stephanie Meyer's series of books and stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. In 2009, as the series' second installment, "New Moon," was hitting theaters, the Vatican issued a statement that called it "nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such should be of concern."
The irony is that Meyer is a devout Mormon whose lead protagonists, Edward and Bella, wait until marriage before they have sex.
Either way, the religious condemnation has not dampened enthusiasm for the film series; the most recent installment, "Breaking Dawn Part 1," earned more than $700 million worldwide when it came out last November. The final picture in the series is due out this summer.