Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"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.

Buffy (Kristy Swanson) is the quintessential valley girl cheerleader. She and her friends are all clueless. She is approached by Merrick (Donald Sutherland) and told that she is the Slayer. There are vampires in the world, and there is a slayer who fights them. When one slayer falls, another one takes her place. It is Buffy's turn to be the Slayer. She is joined by a slacker outcast Pike (Luke Perry) in a fight against the powerful Lothos (Rutger Hauer).

This is most notable for who wrote the script, Joss Whedon. Although he definitely has disowned this with all the changes to his script. It has a funny co-starring role from Paul Reubens. The style is lacking. Kristy Swanson has the looks but not quite the attitude of the valley girl exactly. She always seems a bit too bright and too serious for the clueless role. It is definitely a very light sarcastic take on the vampire movie.

I can't believe other reviewers called this moving "boring and idiotic". Um...hello...what were they expecting, a serious, contemplative piece of cinema? It's completely silly, as it's supposed to be. If it wasn't good, would it have inspired a (far inferior, in my opinion) television spin off? Watch it with no expectations. You'll be impressed. Kirsty Swanson does that Alicia Silverstone in "Clueless" thing perfectly. My friends and I have made it a ritual to watch this movie every couple months with a bottle of wine and a big bowl of popcorn. Nothing better on a rainy night. Don't listen to the bozos who said this isn't worth seeing. It's hilarious, trust me.

Kristy Swanson is an underrated actress.

This was a fun romp Hanging with your friends in the Mall food court eating good junk food Bring back the 90s!

First off I have to say my review of this movie may be somewhat coloured by my adoration of the television series. Despite sharing a few superficial elements - a character called Buffy who slays vampires and who has a watcher - the two are quite distinctive (even if Joss Whedon penned them both).

"Buffy" here is very much played with a tongue-in-cheek. It's Clueless meets Dracula. Buffy and her cohorts are shallower than an evaporated puddle and Buffy can only learn to grow up when heaped with the responsibility of being the Chosen One, destined to slay vampires. The vampires in question are just people with white faces played up in quite a camp manner and bare little resemblance to the sharp, wise, smart vampires favored by both the TV series and other movies.

There's no acting of any note and the plot is wet-paper thin. The direction isn't memorable... so what stops the movie getting a 0 or a 1? The humour. The movie is played for laughs, taking a bit of a dig at pop culture and vampire lore. There's some great lines in it - particularly the "kill him A LOT!" line. Watch the coach at the basketball game for similar humour, and there is an unforgettable vampire staking towards the movie end that's very amusing.

The movie looks like it was shot on a shoe-string budget (adding to the camp tongue-in-cheek parody feel) and has none of the production values we'd see Whedon employ later on. What it does have is a sometimes very amusing line in black humour offset somewhat by an irritating need to follow the "Clueless" mould of teenagers (which was, admittedly, the trend at the time). It's not an awfully bad movie but it's not really all that good. In the end it's a 5.5/10 from me.