Valley-Girl Buffy (Kristy Swanson) is the chosen one, the vampire slayer, except she doesn’t know it and instead spends her time shopping and cheerleading. Then her “watcher” (Donald Sutherland) comes to town to train her before the master vampire, Lothos (Rutger Hauer) kills her. Teaming up with rebel-teen, Pike (Luke Perry), Buffy attempts to stop the vampire horde from killing everyone at the school dance.
Overshadowed by the TV series, it’s easy to forget how funny and touching the film was. Swanson is an excellent Buffy, playing a complete flake who turns into a troubled and dedicated hero with the proper degree of humor and sentiment. It’s a hard role to pull off. The supporting cast is also good (which points to good direction from Fran Rubel Kuzui) with the exception of Hauer, who was poorly cast. Paul Reubens is the lead clown, giving the world the now classic line “kill him a lot.” But it’s Swanson’s movie. She gets a majority of the best lines and gives the film its heart.
It occasionally stumbles integrating its drama and comedy. Lothos never lands on either side and so, never comes off as a character. He is the greatest flaw in the film, also lacking the sex appeal needed to attract the young vampire hunter. Most of the humor comes from the characters, but there’s an elaborate, over-the-top slapstick death that is quite funny, but belongs in a different movie.
It’s an ideal film for playing “spot the stars before they were stars.” Hilary Swank and David Arquette are supporting teens, and an unaccredited Ben Affleck appears briefly on the basketball court.