Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992)

Starring - Kristy Swanson; Donald Sutherland; Paul Reubens; Rutger Hauer & Luke Perry Director - Fran Rubel Kuzui MPAA - PG-13 Buffy The Vampire Slayer is the film that spawned the successful television series of the same name. While Buffy's creator Joss Whedon, who is probably one of the most talented men in Hollywood, wrote both the TV series and the movie, the lead actress is different. Buffy was first played by Kristy Swanson in this movie, as opposed to Sarah Michelle Gellar who plays the vampire killing babe on TV. Buffy is cheesy. And it is meant to be (at least I hope that they meant it to be). My first piece of advice is if you watch this film expecting anything other than a campy, fun little film, you are in for a big disappointment. Apparently vampires roam the Earth. On top of this disturbing fact, there is only one person that can stop them - the vampire slayer. Now there is only one slayer at a time, and each time one gets killed a new one is chosen to replace her. Well, in present day Los Angeles its air-head cheerleader Buffy (Kristy Swanson) that gets the nod to be the next slayer. When she gets approached by Merrick (Donald Sutherland), her watcher (the guy that trains her), she is not exactly interested in the job. But soon becomes convinced that LA has more than its share of vampire activity. The vamps are headed up by Lothos, played by Rutger Hauer in one of his usual villain rolls. The interesting casting choice comes in Lothos' sidekick, Amilyn, played by none other than Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman). Now I don't want to give anything away, but when Pee Wee's fate is decided at the end of the movie it is one of my favorite scenes in a movie of all time. I won't say any more but the movie is almost worth it for that one scene alone. Almost, but not quite. As a horror film -- it isn't scary. As a comedy -- it isn't that funny. So I'm not really sure what Buffy The Vampire Slayer is trying to be. As I said, I think Buffy's writer Joss Whedon is one of the most talented men in Hollywood, but I get the impression that this one of his earliest efforts, and I must say that his skills have improved significantly since this movie. Kristy Swanson shines in this movie if only because she is just so darn cute. The fact that other than Pee Wee, she seems to get most of the best lines on the movie doesn't hurt either. Donald Sutherland and Rutger Hauer are good in their roles but one has to wonder just how bad their careers were at the time to take these roles. Luke Perry also shows up as pike, Buffy love interest. Not being a big Luke Perry fan, I was surprisingly impressed at the job that he did. In Summary, Buffy is cheesy, campy, and not a particularly great movie, although worth a look if you are just interested in a little bit of fun without having to think too much. 5/10 - Good for a few laughs, but not much else. Reviewed June 13, 1998 by Joe Chamberlain