| Buffy the Vampire Slayer | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Fran Rubel Kuzui |
| Written by | Joss Whedon |
| Produced by | Howard Rosenman Kaz Kuzui |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | James Hayman |
| Edited by | Jill Savitt |
| Music by | Carter Burwell |
Production companies | Sandollar Productions Kuzui Enterprises |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7 million[1] |
| Box office | $16.6 million[2] |
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a 1992 Americancomedy horrorvampire film directed byFran Rubel Kuzui and written byJoss Whedon. It starsKristy Swanson as the eponymousBuffy Summers, aValley Girl cheerleader who learns it is her fate tohunt vampires.[3]Donald Sutherland,Paul Reubens,Rutger Hauer andLuke Perry appear in supporting roles, this is also the film debut ofHilary Swank.
The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $16.6 million on a $7 million budget.[4][5][6] It also took a different direction from what Whedon intended, leading him to create atelevision series of the same name with his original plan to critical acclaim.
Buffy Summers is acheerleader at Hemery High School inLos Angeles. Her main concerns are shopping and spending time with her rich, snooty friends and her boyfriend, Jeffrey. While at the mall one day, she is approached by a man who calls himselfMerrick. He informs her that she isThe Slayer, or Chosen One, destined tokill vampires and his duty as her "Watcher" is to guide and train her. Buffy initially rejects his claim, calls him homeless, and leaves.
Soon after, he approaches her at school and convinces Buffy of her birth-right when he vividly describes a recurring dream of hers. She begins exhibiting abilities not known to her, including heightened agility, senses, and strength. These abilities are realized when she tries to reject her new responsibilities by punching Merrick's nose much harder than expected. While he stands by his duty as "Watcher", Buffy repeatedly tries Merrick's patience with her frivolous nature, indifference to slaying, and sharp-tongued remarks. Merrick informs Buffy that her duty is to slay the elder vampire Lothos, who is plotting to expand his brood in Los Angeles with the aid of his loyal acolyte, Amilyn.
Meanwhile, fellow Hemery High seniors, Pike and Benny, are out drinking when they're attacked by Amilyn. Benny is turned, but Pike is saved by Merrick. As a vampire, Benny visits his friend Pike and unsuccessfully tries to turn him. Amilyn also abducts Cassandra, a girl from Buffy's class, and sacrifices her to Lothos.
Pike decides to leave town when he realizes he is no longer safe. His plan is thwarted when he encounters Amilyn and his gang of vampires, and Buffy and Merrick rescue him. After this encounter, Pike insists on helping Buffy and they become friends despite a previous dislike of each other.
Buffy discovers her friend Grueller is a vampire. Shortly after he is dispatched, Buffy encounters Lothos and Amilyn. Lothos easily overcomes Buffy by placing her in a hypnotic trance. Merrick intervenes and breaks the trance but is swiftly killed by Lothos when he attempts to stake him. As Merrick dies, he tells Buffy to do things her own way rather than live by the rules of others.
At school, Buffy attempts to explain things to her friends, but they refuse to listen, being more concerned with an upcoming school dance. Buffy tries to reason with them, but realizes they're too immature and selfish to understand the consequences of a vampire infestation.
Trying to grapple with the responsibilities that have been thrust upon her, Buffy goes shopping to find a dress for the upcoming dance; attempting to reclaim her own ability to be immature and selfish. Pike finds her and tries to convince her that she can't ignore her newfound responsibilities. She tries to maintain her carefree youth, denying her role as Slayer one last time. While Buffy wants to go to the dance, Pike insists that he won't go because it's frivolous.
At the senior dance, Buffy is dismayed to find Jeffrey has dumped her (via a message on her answering machine) and had come to the dance with her friend Jenny. While she grieves, Pike enters the dance. He asks Buffy to dance and they enjoy a romantic moment. Lothos summons his vampire followers to attack the dance (among which is Cassandra, though it is unknown what became of her later). During the attack, students and attendants try to fight off the vampires in the gym. Pike fatally electrocutes Benny after they fight, while Buffy confronts Amilyn and Lothos in the school's basement. She kills Amilyn, but Lothos starts to hypnotize her again. The trance is broken when Buffy is reminded of Merrick's last words, and she defends herself against Lothos.
Buffy returns to the gym, and Lothos suddenly emerges with a sword; the two duel, and Buffy manages to defeat him. The survivors leave; Buffy and Pike share another dance and the couple ride away on a motorcycle.
Appearing in uncredited roles areBen Affleck as a basketball player,Ricki Lake as Charlotte,Seth Green as a vampire, andAlexis Arquette as the vampire DJ.
Writer Whedon sold the film to country singerDolly Parton's production company, Sandollar, in the fall of 1991.[7] Production was limited to five weeks to accommodateLuke Perry'sBeverly Hills, 90210 filming schedule.[8] Whedon was inspired byNight of the Comet for the film's story.[9]
Whedon was involved in an advisory role early in the production but departed after becoming dissatisfied with the direction the film was taking.[8] Executives at20th Century Fox removed many of Whedon's jokes, believing the humor to be too abstract for audiences. They also disliked the darker elements in Whedon's original script, wanting to make it a lighter comedy. Merrick's suicide was replaced with his being killed by Lothos, and Buffy's burning down her high school gym to kill all the vampires was eliminated altogether.
All this led Whedon to finally abandon the production.[8] He has been highly critical of actor Donald Sutherland's behavior on set, describing him as entitled and difficult to work with.[10] Sutherland had a penchant for improvising or altering his lines in the script, which director Rubel Kuzui allowed him to do freely because he was the film's most high-profile star. Whedon, by contrast, felt that this made Merrick's dialogue in the film disjointed and unintelligible.[10][11]
Filming inLos Angeles included the ballroom of thePark Plaza Hotel, where Merrick lives and trains Buffy,John Marshall High School inLos Feliz,[12] and the gymnasium ofUniversity High School inWest Los Angeles, where the high school dance and vampire attack was filmed.[13]
The film debuted at #5 at the North American box office[14] and eventually grossed $16,624,456 against a $7 million production budget.[2]
Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 36%, based on 56 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The consensus reads, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer's supernatural coming of age tale is let down by poor directing and even poorer plotting—though Kristy Swanson's and Paul Reubens' game performances still manage to slay."[4] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[5] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[15]
The film was released onVHS andLaserDisc in the United States in November 1992 and in the United Kingdom in April 1993 byFox Video and re-released in 1995 under the 20th Century Fox Selections banner. It was released onDVD in the United States in 2001 and onBlu-ray in 2011.
The film was taken in a different direction from what one of its writersJoss Whedon intended, and, five years later, he created the darker and acclaimed television seriesof the same name.
Many of the details given in the film differ fromthose of the later television series. For example, Buffy's age and history are dissimilar; she is a senior in high school in the film, but the series starts with her as asophomore. The film does portray who the Buffy of the television series was before she learned of her destiny as the Slayer: a popular but selfish and superficial cheerleader. In the film, her parents are wealthy but negligent socialites who care little for her and spend their time at parties and golf tournaments; in the television series, Buffy has a caring, newly divorced mother namedJoyce. The supernatural abilities of both vampires and the Slayer are depicted differently. The vampires in the film die like humans; in the television series, they turn to dust. Unlike the television series, their faces remain human albeit pale, fanged, and with notched ears, whereas in the television series, they take on a demonic aspect, especially when newly raised. The television series suggests that new vampires must consciously learn to maintain a human appearance. In the film, Merrick has been reincarnated many times, to train many Slayers; in the television series, Watchers are mortal and specially trained for their role and mission. Merrick's British accent and the manner of his death are different when he appears in flashbacks in the television series.
Joss Whedon has expressed his dissatisfaction with the film's interpretation of the script,[16] stating, "I finally sat down and had written it and somebody had made it into a movie, and I felt like—well, that's not quite her. It's a start, but it's not quite the girl."
According to theOfficial Buffy Watcher's Guide, Whedon wrote the pilot to the television series as a sequel to his original script, which is why the television series makes references to events that did not occur in the film. In 1999,Dark Horse Comics released a graphic novel adaptation of Whedon's original script under the titleThe Origin. Whedon stated: "TheOrigin comic, though I have issues with it, CAN pretty much be accepted as canonical. They did a cool job of combining the movie script with the series, that was nice, and using the series Merrick and not a certain OTHER thespian who shall remain hated."[16]
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various | |
| Released | July 28, 1992 |
| Recorded | December 1991 – April 1992 |
| Length | 41:57 |
| Label | Columbia |
| No. | Title | Original artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Keep It Comin' (Dance Till You Can't Dance No More)" | C+C Music Factory featuringDeborah Cooper andQ-Unique | 3:58 |
| 2. | "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" | Dream Warriors | 4:31 |
| 3. | "Silent City" | Matthew Sweet | 2:51 |
| 4. | "We Close Our Eyes" (originally byOingo Boingo) | Susanna Hoffs | 3:54 |
| 5. | "Little Heaven" | Toad the Wet Sprocket | 4:27 |
| 6. | "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" | Divinyls | 4:32 |
| 7. | "Party with the Animals" | Ozzy Osbourne | 4:18 |
| 8. | "Zap City" | The Cult | 5:14 |
| 9. | "I Fought the Law" (originally byThe Crickets) | Mary's Danish | 3:19 |
| 10. | "Light Comes Out of Black" | Pantera andRob Halford | 4:59 |
Other songs featured in the film but not the soundtrack album include: "Everybody Hurts" byR.E.M., "In the Wind" byWar Babies, and "Inner Mind" byEon.
On May 25, 2009,The Hollywood Reporter reported thatRoy Lee and Doug Davison ofVertigo Entertainment were working with Fran Rubel Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui on a re-envisioning or relaunch of theBuffy film for the big screen. The film would not be asequel norprequel to the existing film or television franchise, andJoss Whedon would have no involvement in the project. None of the characters, cast, or crew from the television series would be featured.[17] Television series executive producerMarti Noxon later reflected that this story might have been produced by the studio in order to frighten Whedon into taking the reins of the project.[18] On November 22, 2010,The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Warner Bros. had picked up the movie rights to the remake.[19] The film was set for release sometime in 2012.[20] 20th Century Fox, which usually holds the rights to both theBuffy andAngel television series, would retain merchandising and some distribution rights.[citation needed]
The idea of the remake caused wrath among fans of the TV series, since Whedon was not involved. The project did not have any connection with the show and would not conform to thecontinuity maintained with theBuffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight andSeason Ninecomic book titles. Proposed shooting locations included Black Wood and other areas in rural England, due to budgetary constraints and the potential setting being outside of the city, an unusual change for the franchise.[citation needed]
In December 2011, more than a year after the official reboot announcement, theLos Angeles Times site reported that Whit Anderson, the writer picked for the newBuffy movie, had her script rejected by the producers behind the project, and that a new writer was being sought. Sources also stated that "If you're going to bring it back, you have to do it right. [Anderson] came in with some great ideas and she had reinvented some of the lore and it was pretty cool but in the end there just wasn't enough on the page."[21]
As of July 2018, Joss Whedon announced atSan Diego Comic-Con that he was working on a sequel of the TV series and that it might feature a slayer of color.[22]
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