Review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) by Edward B — 28 Oct 2009

It's amazing how we now have two interpretations of the same material and can look back at how phenomenal the TV show and awful the movie still are. BtVS the film covers the same material as the show about a popular, superficial cheerleader who is chosen to defend the world against vampires.

But its attempts at tongue in cheek humour are way too forced. The vampires' make up and costumes are cringe-worthy bad. Even the sound is terrible as some scenes have a noticeable echo in the dialogue despite the characters being in a car with the windows rolled up.

No actor seems connected to the material. It was clearly a paycheck for Donald Sutherland and Luke Perry where Kristy Swanson and her co-stars seem happy that they're in a movie. The themes of an ordinary girl changing under extraordinary circumstances or the metaphor of the vampires as symbolic of teenage anxieties are there but left unexplored.

There is nothing good about the BtVS film and anyone curious about it should stay far away less it taint their perception of the TV series.