Review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) by Kobus P — 24 Dec 2009

Halloween is once again upon us, and it's time for another look at crappy horror/comedies. This is a prime example.

Buffy is your typical valley girl. She hangs around with her trendy empty-headed popular crowd, until one day she is approached by a man named Merrick, claiming that she is the newest in a centuries-old line of vampire slayers. So Buffy is forced to abandon her preppy cheerleader lifestyle to do battle with the forces of evil.

Oh yeah, the premise sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Well it is. But the movie isn't. The first 1/3 of the movie actually plays out quite well. Decent acting from Donald Sutherland in probably his most limited role. And Buffy is represented well by Kristy Swanson, making a nice easy change from cheerleader to monster slayer. The mythos of the slayers is filled in satisfyingly. The vampires are typical rude teenagers with big teeth and pointy ears. The action scenes are actually pretty decent, although a bit too short. There is a certain amount of okay chuckle-worthy comedy, but many of the scenes are too stupid to be funny. And Rutger Hauer may be a good actor, but the villain Lothos was simply awful. Everything goes down hill after the training sequences. The story goes completely out the window, and ends with a very unsatisfying climax typical of the crappiest of independent movies, rather than a Hollywood budget-muncher. Overall it's an okay watch with a decent runtime, okay action, & a good female lead. Give it a look if you've never heard of the movie or the series before. The series is far too good to even compare to this. I give "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" 4 wooden stakes out of 10.