Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I've always enjoyed vampire movies and as a kid this one was my favorite. Though its cheesy, i still like it.

"I had written this scary film about an empowered woman, and they turned it into a broad comedy. It was crushing."--Joss Whedon.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer film led to the darker and much more popular Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series. The movie (a barely-watchable parody of clichéd horror films) falters in all the ways the TV series kicks ass. Joss Whedon wrote the screenplay for the 1992 film, and was the creator, executive producer, and screenwriter for the 1997-2003 TV series. He has always stated that the TV series was closer to his vision of Buffy than the movie. I have given the movie a two-star rating when measured against the five-star TV series. The film is arguably little more than a minor chapter in the "Buffyverse canon," and the best thing I can say about it is that it opened the door to the Buffy Universe.

By now the film's plot is probably familiar to everyone. The film introduces the world to Buffy Summers (Kristy Swanson), a spunky "valley girl" cheerleader at Hemery High School in Los Angeles. She is approached by a mystery man in a trenchcoat named Merrick Jamison-Smythe (Donald Sutherland), who informs her that she is a "Slayer," a young woman destined to fearlessly fight vampires. Because she has dreamt of slaying vampires, she accepts her role as The Slayer, and completes a brief training before fighting the neighborhood bloodsuckers, including Lothos (Rutger Hauer), who has earned a reputation for killing Slayers. After Lothos kills Merrick, Buffy fights him at the senior dance, which sets the stage for Whedon's television series ("High school as a horror movie") starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. The film, though predictable, made me laugh a few times. As Buffy, Kristy Swanson is no Sarah Michelle Gellar. Paul Reubens, Luke Perry, Hilary Swank, David Arquette, Ben Affleck, and Ricki Lake all play supporting characters in the film. Overall, Buffy the film is mostly horrible.

G. Merritt

When I first saw this movie in high school, I thought it was pretty bad. Cheesy acting, ham-fisted storytelling and too over-the-top to really appreciate. Then, in recent years, my girlfriend really got me to start watching the Buffy TV show, which I really enjoy, and that inspired me to go back and give the movie another try. While still not a GOOD movie, per se, it's better than I remember. You can see how the core of Joss Whedon's character was here, and even a few snippets of his trademark dialogue, and you can see the fingerprints of where the director fouled things up. Still not great, but as a historical footnote in the annals of a great TV show, this movie is interesting at least.

Yes, I know it came out in 1992, but it has that 80s feel to it. No cell phones in the whole movie!

Back to the movie: looking for a new addiction? Watch this movie and then the 7 season TV series -- very well written.

I first saw this movie when I was 10 or so at a birthday party and loved it! Now 5 years later I went out and bought it, since it was on sale (I would find out why later) and sat down with a couple of friends and got ready for some fun. Well the first thing we both saw was how horrible the dialouge was, the teenage 'slang' is exaggerated as our their actions. Even worse were the jokes, due in part to Kristy Swansons acting. The filming didn't do much justice to it either and the vampires were the most humorous villans I've ever seen.
It only gets 2 stars because of the awesome show that would be made out of it later.