Not too long ago, I got to watch pretty much all the episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Sure, it got goofy sometimes, but a lot of it was also really, really cool. However, it’s taken decades for me to see the movie, which was pretty ubiquitous when I was in high school. I remember seeing the movie poster on the wall at our local video stores, First Run and Video World, as well as hearing some snickering at the title character being named Buffy. Not too much, though–there was a girl in my class named Buffy. She’s now a California state Assemblywoman. Buffy was also the name of my dog.
So yeah, I hadn’t watched the 1992 movie until now, and honestly, it was kind of an eye-opener.
The movie starts off at a pep rally, where Buffy (Kristy Swanson) is leading her fellow cheerleaders in a dance routine while the other students cheer them on. Buffy’s boyfriend, basketball player Jeffrey (Randall Batinkoff) watches from the stands. Buffy is a very normal teenager, going to the mall with her friends and looking forward to prom, not to mention graduation. Oh, and wincing at a guy named Pike (Luke Perry) and his friend, Benny (David Arquette), who keep hanging around and annoying everyone. Benny in particular is not the brightest fella.
Then Buffy starts seeing this older guy who’s seemingly stalking her. She’s creeped out at first, and who wouldn’t be? When the guy, whose name is Merrick (Donald Sutherland), tells her she’s a Slayer and destined to kill vampires, Buffy is naturally skeptical and indifferent because slaying vampires isn’t much fun. It gets in the way of cheerleading and working on the dance committee with her friends. When Merrick tells Buffy he knows about a recurring dream she’s been having, though, Buffy is intrigued.
From then on, Merrick becomes Yoda to Buffy’s Luke Skywalker, having her train at school during her free period. Lots of kickboxing, acrobatics, and practice staking. Buffy gets good really fast, but her knowledge is still mostly academic.
Things don’t stay in the classroom for very long, because vampires start cropping up in town, including Benny, who floats outside Pike’s window and freaks him out, plus Buffy’s friend, Grueller (Sasha Jenson) turns out to be a vampire, one who is somehow able to move about freely in the daytime with no problems. The whole school is shocked when Grueller suddenly exhibits godlike prowess on the basketball court, and even more shocked at his newly freaky face.
And just to prove Merrick’s point even further, the chief vampires, who are named Lothos (Rutger Hauer) and Amilyn (Paul Reubens) respectively, go after Buffy. Lothos tries to hypnotize Buffy and Merrick rescues her, but (spoiler alert) loses his life in the process.
Naturally, Buffy’s friends don’t want anything to do with her new Slayer abilities, and Buffy isn’t too broken up about leaving them behind. She’s got better things to do.
There’s going to be a big showdown, of course, at the school dance, in more ways than one. Jeffrey. who’s an absolute heel, breaks up with Buffy via answering machine and Pike is now very much an ally, plus he and Buffy hit the dance floor and sparks fly. Oh, and Lothos and Amilyn show up, of course.
Buffy has a great cast. Donald Sutherland, who’s honestly too good for Merrick. Kristy Swanson. Stephen Root. Hillary Swank. Paul Reubens, who’s almost unrecognizable as Amilyn. Luke Perry. David Arquette. Natasha Gregson Wagner. All cylinders were firing here.
That said, I have to be honest: These characters start out really irritating. They’re incredibly silly and grating. Buffy’s a mall rat and she and her friends talk like Valley Girls. Pike and Benny are absolute dopes, although Pike redeems himself. Jeffrey is the stereotypical jock. Ugh. Giles, where art thou? Xander? Willow? Cordelia? Angel? Spike? Anyone? Anyone?
I kinda prefer having Buffy as a loner and an outcast the way she starts out in the TV series, because her awkwardness helps make the character the dark horse that she is. An already confident, and quite frankly, slightly arrogant Buffy doesn’t have as far to go–her moxie simply comes from a different angle once she becomes a Slayer.
The movie also has some clumsy spots; namely, some bits go on for way too long when they shouldn’t and it feels like padding. Like the cheerleading routine at the beginning–it goes on and on and on for at least three minutes, belaboring the easily obvious point that Buffy is head cheerleader and can dance like nobody’s business. In its favor, though, the song is quintessential 90s pop, complete with rap break, so it gets points for nostalgia. Anywhoo…
Things get better after Buffy starts slaying, although we don’t see vampires crumbling to dust. They just kinda die. The beginning of Buffy lore is easily recognizable, though-she’s got great reflexes, she kicks tail, she heals quickly, and she’s great with quips, which, as some have pointed out, are edgier since Movie Buffy is unrestrained by FCC regulations. Buffy’s got a Watcher, she’s got a friend named Pike, she hangs out in graveyards waiting for vampires to claw their way out of the dirt. We aren’t in Sunnydale yet, but that’s only a matter of time.
It’s been said that if this movie had been done in the way we think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we wouldn’t have the TV series, and I don’t know about that. It feels as if Joss Whedon was experimenting with the Buffy idea to see if it would even work and not knowing if it would go anywhere. As it turned out, the movie became almost a pilot for the TV series. Too bad it wasn’t better as a film, but Buffy had to start somewhere.
A new “During World War Two” post is on the way tomorrow. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon. It is also streaming on Prime.
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