Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

I've seen this movie a bunch of times but I feel like I haven't actually watched it from start to finish in one sitting before, so I caught a lot of things I hadn't the other times it was my television screen. Joss Whedon's first big writing job, Buffy the Vampire Slayer incorporates elements of horror, combat, and satirical comedy to tell the first story of teenage cheerleader-turned-vampire-killer Buffy (Kristy Swanson). She's vapid, privileged, popular, and carefree; most of her conversations revolve around fashion and planning the upcoming school dance. After some suspicious disappearances in the area involving bloodsucking, a strange man named Merrick (Donald Sutherland) appears to Buffy, explaining that the time has come for her to claim her birthright and start killing some vampires already.

She reluctantly believes him after witnessing the horror for herself, and begins hardcore training in a fighting montage. She loses interest in her old friends, boyfriend, and cheerleading as she becomes embroiled in defeating the deadly leader vampire Lothos (Rutger Hauer). She befriends outcast Pike (Luke Perry), who had seen his best friend Benny (David Arquette) being vampirey and is now committed to helping the slayer out. Maybe a romance will also form. It all culminates at the big dance, with Buffy attempting to maintain some semblance of normal teenage life until of course her night is ruined by vampires trying to take over the school. We know she'll win, since she continued to do her thing for like seven years on the small screen.

This is one of those rare instances in which a television spin off of a movie is way better than the source material. I like this movie, but it really pales in comparison. One of the problems for me is definitely Kristy Swanson, who just doesn't seem to own the role as much as Sarah Michelle Gellar did. She just falls flat in many scenes. There are a lot of great smaller performances though, including Paul Ruebens as Lothos' wise-cracking sidekick and Stephen Root as the silly principal. An uncredited Ben Affleck and young Hilary Swank are inexplicably there too for brief periods. Add in David Arquette and it's like hey, how many careers did this help launch?

Buffy is fun and imaginative, with a cool premise and a lot of great dialogue playing around with "teen speak", but it's hard for me to have an opinion that doesn't hold it up against the tv show. According to IMDb, a lot of changes were made to lighten up the original script, and Joss Whedon eventually disowned the project. I can definitely see that being true based on certain plot points. It's interesting to see how the concept developed from the movie to the show, but not a particularly great film. It's the kind of thing I'll watch whenever it's on though, just because, why not?

3.5/5