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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
USA 1992
produced by Kaz Kuzui, Howard Rosenman, Carol Baum (executive), Sandy Gallin (executive), Fran Rubel Kuzui (executive) for Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar, 20th Century Fox
directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui
starring Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Rutger Hauer, Luke Perry, Michele Abrams, Hilary Swank, Paris Vaughan, David Arquette, Randall Batinkoff, Andrew Lowery, Sasha Jenson, Stephen Root, Natasha Gregson Warner, Mark DeCarlo, Thomas Jane, Candy Clark, James Paradise, David Sherrill, Liz Smith, Paul M.Lane, Toby Holguin, Eurlyne Epper, Andre Warren, Bob 'Swanie' Swanson, Erika Dittner, J.T.Cole, Michael Kopelow, Ricky Dean Logan, Bobby Aldridge, Amanda Anka, Chino Binamo, Al Goto, Terry Jackson, Mike Johnson, Sarah Lee Jones, Kim Robert Koscki, Clint Lilley, Chi Muoi Lo, Jimmy N.Roberts, David Rowden, Kenny Sacha, Ben Scott, Kurtis Epper, Sharon Schaffer, Lincoln Simonds, Ben Affleck, Bryan Goeres, Ricki Lake, Paul Pesco
written by Joss Whedon, music by Carter Burwell, special effects by Joseph P.Mercurio, visual effects by Ted Rae
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Highschool student Buffy (Kristy Swanson) and her friends (Michele
Abrams, Hilary Swank, Paris Vaughan), are the epitomy of shallow,
worrying about nothing but cheerleading, fashion and the next school dance
- even though kids start disappearing in their school. Then though Buffy
meets Merrick (Donald Sutherland), a weird stranger whom she thinks to be
a bum, and he tells her she's the chosen one who has to fight the vampires
who try to take over the town ... and eventually, he even convinces her,
and from now on, she changes her life, starts working out and honing her
vampire slaying skills, and she saves the life of a guy, Pike (Luke
Perry), the yound rebel, whom she quickly falls in love with - without
admitting it to herself of course. Eventually, she has the first
confrontation with Lothos (Rutger Hauer), the local head vampire though,
and during this, Merrick, who has become an important part of her life,
dies saving her ... and this seems to break her, now she doesn't want to
be a vampire slayer anymore, wants to go back to her old life and forget
everything about the vampire threat. She even shuts Pike out of her life. At
the highschool dance though, she has to realize that the new life
she lived until a few days ago has alienated her from all her old friends,
and even Jeff (Randall Batinkoff), whom she thought to be her boyfriend,
has dumped her via the answering machine to date her best friend ... enter
Pike, who just cannot let her go, and at the dance, he proves to be her
perfect date ... until the vampires led by Lothos arrive, and everything
ends in utter chaos ... but together, Buffy and Pike manage to put a stop
to the vampire hordes and even kill Lothos for good ...
Granted, my synopsis for Buffy the Vampire Slayer sounds
slightly interesting, something like a weird mix of comedy and horror, but
the film as a whole is nothing but a big big failure. The main blame has
to be put on director Fran Rubel Kuzui, who treats this one - a theatrical
release - like just a below average TV-movie stylewise, and doesn't put
the least bit of effort into creating something even resembling an
atmosphere or at least grasping the comedic aspects of the script. Add to
this Kristy Swanson, whose Buffy is as bland when she has found a meaning
in life as she is when she's just a bland teenager, and Luke Perry, whose
performance makes his Dylan in the then immensely popular TV-series Beverly
Hills 90210 Oscar-worthy, and you're at a point where even
veterans like Rutger Hauer and Donald Sutherland can't save anything
anymore. A truly bad film (and not of the so-bad-it's-good-variety
either), and it's nothing short of a miracle that this one would serve as
the template of one of the better TV-series of the late 1990's - also
titled Buffy
the Vampire Slayer of course.
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