Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

A Brilliant Conflict

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Considering this movie was made in the nineties, where teenager movies were filled with the same stereotypes (an issue we're still dealing with), it's downright rebellious to portray a character like Buffy. Buffy is a cheerleader, a blonde bimbo who cares about nothing except her popularity and fashion sense. She's a beautiful girl, she knows it, she uses it and she has no regrets whatsoever. She's the typicall character portrayed as the villain in every teenage drama and yet, Joss Whedon made her the heroine. Imagine if the fate of the world had to rest upon the shoulders of a highschool cheerleader. This movie is riddiculous and hilarious, it plays with the steretypical women's roles in movies and it stakes them dead, making Buffy an iconic female character. I love this.

Ah, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' – the seminal TV show of the nineties which launched Kirsty Swanson as a household name. Well, maybe in a parallel universe. Before Sarah Michelle Gellar started saving the world (a lot) and falling in love with almost every good-looking undead stud in Sunnydale, they actually tried the format on the big screen. This version never really took off and has kind of been lost among the annals of cinematic history, only being revived as a strange beast of interest that (TV) Buffy fans like to watch, simply in order to compare this weird 'alternate take' on their icons to what the 'real' thing turned out like. And I have to confess that that's why I watched it. I was never a mega-fan of the nineties TV series, but I've grown to watch it through my daughter and was kind of curious what the filmic incarnation of Buffy was like. If it was up to my daughter she'd probably end the review here as she could barely sit through the whole film! However, I thought it was an interesting little 'compendium piece' if nothing else.Yes, it doesn't have quite such a memorable cast list as the TV show and the dialogue isn't half as snappy (and the vamps don't 'dust' when killed, probably due to budget reasons!), yet it still maintains a strange sort of charm. Whereas in the TV show it is definitely Sarah Michelle Geller's show, here it's the older, more established actors who are a more memorable, for our non-Geller Buffy mast face off against B-movie veteran of the eighties Rutger Hauer, while being taught her slaying skills by 'watcher' Donald Sutherland.I guess the filmic incarnation of Buffy is even harder to 'sell' now in retrospect than it was at the time. When it first came out it didn't have huge names, big effects or anyone that would draw in the masses. And, let's face it… the title of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' does sound a little cheesy. I know the film (and TV show) doesn't always take itself too seriously and a healthy dose of cheese is required during watching at all times. I just could imagine the audience's reaction to seeing a film entitled this. It seems to be too old for youngsters and yet to 'teen-ish' for adults, therefore didn't really draw in a wide and varied audience.As with the TV show, we meet our titular 'slayer' Buffy, who's a teenager who just so happens to be this generation's 'chosen one,' tasked with wiping vampires out from the face of the Earth (or rather just her hometown to start with!). Once you've invested your time in the TV show, it's hard to watch the film without trying to relate it back to the ongoing series. I see this as a kind of 'prequel' as it deals with Buffy learning of her heritage and being taught the ways of the Force (or slaying vamps – whatever). And, for that, it does almost work when looked at in conjunction with the TV show. Yes, there are always going to be some continuity errors that don't really match up, but, seeing as the two mediums don't occupy the same 'shared universe,' this can only be expected.It's hard to recommend the film really, as fans of the genre will undoubtedly be so into the TV show that they refuse to except this as part of the lore. However, if you're someone who can appreciate the 'evolution' of the character and wants to take a sneak peek into an alternate universe where Sarah Michelle Gellar doesn't reign supreme, give this one a go. Yes, it's daft and yes, it's cheesy, but wasn't the TV show all that, too? This isn't a film for everyone, but it is one that does still have an audience out there, even if it's getting smaller by the day as more and more people only ever remember the TV show as the 'real' Buffy. But this one could be a lot worse (especially seeing as we've never got a new series from Joss Whedon!).

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" follows sassy and unsuspecting cheerleader Buffy (Kristy Swanson), a simple L.A. girl who spends her free time shopping and socializing in the mall food court. But when she finds herself responsible with the taking down bloodsucking demons from hell under the eye of a newfound guardian (Donald Sutherland), her extracurricular activities take a serious hit.Something of a cult film today, and the launching pad for a series of actors (including lead Kristy Swanson, and co-stars Hilary Swank and David Arquette)—as well as birthing the wildly popular series—"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is a heady brew of teen comedy and vampire splatter-lite. I'll make it clear: this is definitely a corny flick, and Joss Whedon's script takes place in an alternate reality where vampires and Valley Girls can and do co-exist. In a lot of ways, it feels like an eighties movie, akin to something "Fright Night" but far less sinister. Whedon's script is humorous in the right places, and Swanson plays the spunky titular character with an appropriate pep. A young Luke Perry is the high school bad boy/hunk and looks the part probably more than he plays it, but his performance is fine. The presence of Paul Reubens and Donald Sutherland lend the film more credibility than it probably deserves, although Sutherland does feel somewhat out of place here; regardless, you can't knock a film for having Donald Sutherland as a part of its cast.All in all, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is a fun and energetic offering of late eighties teen comedy with a splash of vampire blood and some fantastic one-liners; it's a ridiculous, alternate world fantasy, but a fun one at that. It does a fantastic job at meeting the crosshairs of horror and comedy without steering itself into too serious territory. 7/10.

Skip this movie and go watch the series! I knew going in that it would be a bad one, I mean look at the reviews.. 5.5 stars out of TEN? That's a bad movie. I love the Buffy series and thought why not watch the movie to see the whole story. There's good actors in this movie, like Donald Sutherland, Luke Perry, Hilary Swank and David Arquette, but even they didn't do a particularly good job. Joss Whedon is a genius when it comes to many series/films, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Agents of Shield - but this movie was among the worst I've seen. Good idea, but bad lines and bad acting makes a bad movie. I can't really say so many positive things about it, more than without it there might've not have been a TV-show.