Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

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.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is a movie that was made for the teen mallrat crowd. It's light, fluffy and makes very little demands of its audience. But it works for me, and mostly because of the cast. Rutger Hauer, Paul Reubens (who has one of my favorite movie death scenes), Donald Sutherland and even Luke Perry seem to fit like just-right puzzle pieces, while Stephen Root easily steals all of his scenes. Much of this movie's charm lies in its lead. Kristy Swanson has the valley girl teen down to a T. She's game for the role's physicality and brings a likability to her vapid one-liners. Smoking hot, too, let's not forget that.I didn't expect much going into this; it's a very '90s movie (not my thing) right down to its soundtrack. But I did like the vapidity of its sense of humor, very much dig the star, and it made for a good time. Certainly laughed more than I'd expected to, and it never took itself too seriously. It also helps that it's more accessible to me than the TV series. 7/10

I mean it when I say it in the title, of all the crushed visions from writers that I've seen. This one is easily the best.This film is in the shadow of it's remake, the TV show that everyone loves SO much. Joss Whedon also admitted he hated the end result of this film and the director changed his vision, a lot of material was altered to make it a campy teen comedy. In spite of ALL of this, I still managed to enjoy it.The acting is okay, well sort of. Kirsty Swanson will ALWAYS be compared to Sarah Michelle Gellar and unfortunately for her, SMG does portray the character better. However Swanson led the role with a certain finesse about her that was still well done. Donald Sutherland also does a good "pre-Giles" watcher.I do think this film is okay, it has its moments - I compare the guidance counselor with some of my other teachers when he says(during the final battle) "I've got detention slips, and I'm not afraid to use them." On that note as well, expect that sort of humor. If you thought that sounded like crap or "too corny" for your taste I suggest watching the show.If you watch this THEN the show(or for most people, the other way around), you will find many inconsistencies with the source material. For example the ending is that Buffy defeats the Vampires, dances with Pike in the school hall and they both ride away on a motorcycle together. In the show Buffy apparently burned the school hall down in an effort to stop the vampires (which is why she got expelled) and she moves to Sunnydale with her mom only. The main reason this happens is because of Whedon's last draft, he apparently left the project midway through production and never came back. I look at this film as something COMPLETELY separate to the show for this reason.Overall this is seen as the "ugly sister" to its TV counterpart. Even though this film as MANY weaknesses, its not too bad for a watch or two.

Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Rutger Hauer and Luke Perry star in this 1992 horror comedy. A high school cheerleader is chosen to slay the undead. Buffy (Swanson) is a high school cheerleader who lives in California. She's been having dreams of being someone else in another life and facing vampires led by Lothos (Hauer). Soon, she meets Merrick (Sutherland), an old vampire hunter who reveals her birthright and helps her fight against the undead. Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman) plays Amilyn, the right hand man of Lothos and Perry plays Pike, a mechanic who gets close with Buffy. David Arquette (Scream) is also featured as Pike's buddy, Benny who becomes a vampire. I've always enjoyed this film and Kristy is so cute. I recommend this good horror comedy.