Ever since the crazed fame and success of the “Twilight” series, which began in 2008, movie studios have tried to replicate the teen popularity numerous times. There was “I Am Number Four” in 2011, which failed to gather traction. In 2009 there was “Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant.” Following the trend, both “Beautiful Creatures” and “The Host” were released in 2013 and failed to deliver the goods.

While “The Hunger Games” was successful as an outlier of the trend, the movie industry is constantly trying to tap into the ever changing, over anxious demographic of teen fans. “Vampire Academy” and “Divergent” are projects that are scheduled to be released in 2014. Producers and investors hope these films will recharge the lost devotion that the “Twilight” series invigorated. Audiences and critics are hopeful for the imminent releases, but before we reach that, it’s important to harp on another failure of the popular teen book to movie trend.

“Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones” is based off of a series of six books written by Cassandra Clare. This film introduces Clary, played by Lilly Collins. She is a young girl thrown into a supernatural world where demon-slayers and evil monsters are the norm.

The story follows her immersion into the hidden world. With the help of experienced hunter Jayce, played by Jamie Campbell Bower, Clary promptly finds herself at the center of a dangerous feud.

The idea of a world hidden inside another is nothing new, and frankly many of the components in ‘Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones’ are borrowed from countless other fantasy franchises. The amounts of clichés that cement themselves in this film’s storyline make it seem like a collage of ideas developed by others. Director Harald Zwart creates a mess out of all the rehashed ideas, and as a result the film suffers from un-thrilling and anticlimactic big moments.

Another roadblock regarding the success of “Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones” are the boring, stereotyped characters. Lilly Collins and Jamie Bower were meant to be the next Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson; the confused lonely girl with the mysterious yet heroic boy. However their chemistry falls flat, and the lack of depth in their characters is in large part to blame.

A staple in all the cheesy teen romances is the boy who can never get the girl. “Mortal Instruments” perfects “friend-zoning” with Clary’s best friend Simon, played by Robert Sheehan. Simon is the only character worth remembering in the entire film. This is more because he is the lone personality that the audience can relate too.

All of the characters in “Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones” fall prey to the petty writing, the unoriginal story, and the lackluster character development.

This movie has nothing that will keep the audience on its toes. It is a mess of clichés and uninspired work, and rightly so it becomes another gravestone in the potentially successful teen movie graveyard. Hopefully no one digs this clutter up thinking that a sequel will do better.