Buffy - L'ammazzavampiri

"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.

This is an unpretentious and funny high school action movie with vampires. Very beautiful young Kristy Swanson does a good job playing charismatic and initially futile Buffy. Even the most obvious clichés are nice to be seen performed by her: Silverstone-Clueless-style emptiness, martial arts and vampire-slaying practice, cheer-leading for the basketball school team. Both arrogance and tenderness are convincingly portrayed at her pretty face. Quite remarkable was also Donald Sutherland in the role of Buffy's tutor, Merrick. The film gets campy sometimes, but it is not a flaw. It is quite good in what it intends to do (and that is not to frighten or to be serious). Indeed, I laughed a lot! Seeing Hillary Swank in her very first movie playing one of Buffy's best airhead friends is something to be highlighted. The same can be said about having Rutger Hauer as the comic master vampire. My positive review has nothing to do with being a fan of the TV show, as I have never watched it.

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.

I originally saw this one quite a few years ago... back when it was released... and I do remember enjoying it even then. It's a fun bit of garb that I would recommend to anyone.

If you are thinking of watching the series... it may be a good idea to watch this before you start on the many episodes that await you. It'll give you a sort of grounding and deeper understanding of the world that is 'Buffy'... and why there is so much merchandising being thrown at us by bigwig company executives!

Wait for this to come out on the tele... I wouldn't rush out and buy it on DVD... and that's why I give it...

6.5 flaps out of 10

It's a good movie, but it's definitely a water down version of the show. The show is top tier, and this has glimpses of what's to come, mainly in Kristy Swanson. She is very good but everything around her was just off kilter.