MovieChat Forums > Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) Discussion > Is the movie as bad as everybody says it...

Is the movie as bad as everybody says it is?


Hi. Just to let you know, that I never seen the Buffy movie. Only the TV show. But I did hear some negative comments about it, And I just want to ask, is it really that bad? Do you recommend it? Do you just hate because there is no Sarah Michelle Gellar? And btw, I heard some characters mention that Buffy actually set the gymnasium on fire before moving to Sunnydale. Did this actually happen in the movie? Sorry. I know we are all entitled to our opinion, but I don't want to start watching it and be all like "this movie sucks!"

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To speak completely objectively, no, it's not really all that good. That doesn't mean it's worthless, though. But you'll enjoy it a lot more if you don't even try to compare it to the TV series and just take it in as a bit of escapist entertainment from the early 1990s.

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Okay, thanks!

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The movie has some redemption--if you know what to look for.

During the early 1990's the Anita Hill Senate hearings-year of the woman was going on. And the early grunge artists were encouraging women's rights on/off stage.

So it's really signifigant the 'low budget' film shows:

*Buffy has dreams about women's history before becoming the slayer, vs. just killing the vampires herself in the present day/time. Women's history is important/weird for teen girls to take interest in.

*Buffy starts dressing 'grungy' immediately after assuming her calling in this movie. She does not do this in the TV series--even when having to work on things which will not then 'vannish'.

The movie would suck if remade because they would not be able to recapture the 'moment'. It was made at just the right time.


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This movie is NOT bad; it has some of the best one liners of any comedy. However, if you don't have a basic sense of humor, this movie will go right over your head. This isn't Woody Allen, you know.

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Joss whedonmakes good weird; this was crap weird.

You can tell jw lost control of the project.

The movie kinda ruins the series.

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Wrong! This movie is silly, but not worthless! Someone else made a good point, in that it's actually better than the series as a whole, because it doesn't get bogged down in taking itself seriously.

The TV show had its positives (Spike), but on the whole it was utter nonsense that tried to impart some social relevance. If I had to watch either today, the movie or an episode of the show, I'd watch the movie.

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The Buffy movie better than the series? Seriously?

You know it's the drama and the serious moments that make the TV show so relatable to the majority of it's viewers. If it was all stupid camp like in this movie, it would never have become the beloved TV series it is.

And the show didn't take itself too seriously. It just usually knew when was the right time to be serious. Overall it had a fantastic combination of drama, comedy, horror, action and wit. You had some episodes that were completely comedic and you had some that were flat out depressing (like "The Body" ). It all balanced out in the end.


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I like it. Doesn't take itself serious. Just fun.

The TV series was so dramatic and boring.

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I personally think that the television series is far superior to the movie.

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I enjoyed the movie. It's no masterpiece, but quite enjoyable in my opinion. I think the main reason the movie has such a negative stigma is because Joss Whedon disapproved of it.

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Ahoy there, fancy pants

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[deleted]

Some of us actually saw the movie way before the TV show was even created and don't have a snobby outlook on it.


That's what it really comes down to. I saw this movie when it premiered and I loved it. Just watched it again for the first time since 1992 and it still made me crack up. I never bothered with TV series and probably never will since I now know all of the good fun is taken out of it.

I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ-Gandhi

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I'm also a fan of the movie and saw it when it first came out, it's one of those movies my best friend and I watched over and over and knew every line to. I wasn't sure when I heard a series was coming out and really thought it would flop due to the cheesy nature of the movie, but I loved it. You should give the series a chance, there is some great funny dialogue, sure it gets too serious later one but that was bound to happen, there is still some of that great Whedon humor in every episode, Spike added a lot to the series and had some of the best lines.

I've decided to drop out of society and wear live animals as hats

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Don't know if you still want opinions, but I'm going to give mine anyway. Maybe it will help someone...

Hi. Just to let you know, that I never seen the Buffy movie. Only the TV show. But I did hear some negative comments about it, And I just want to ask, is it really that bad? Do you recommend it? Do you just hate because there is no Sarah Michelle Gellar? And btw, I heard some characters mention that Buffy actually set the gymnasium on fire before moving to Sunnydale. Did this actually happen in the movie? Sorry. I know we are all entitled to our opinion, but I don't want to start watching it and be all like "this movie sucks!"


I saw this movie when it first came out. I didn't know anything about the original script or Joss's vision for the character. I went into the movie completely "cold". I thought it was stupid and that it sucked.

Then the TV show came out and I loved it. I re-watched the movie a few years after the show and it wasn't as bad as I remembered. However...

Having watched the show, put the movie in perspective for me. Even though the movie doesn't completely work, you can see what Joss was trying to do with it. Knowledge of the TV show kind of fills in the blanks in the movie, and smooths over some of its shortcomings. A scene that seems dumb in the movie makes more sense when you imagine how the same scene would have played out if it had been done for the series.

I hope that makes sense.


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I think that the movie is better than the series. There are humungous differences between the two versions, though. And, I wouldn't hold them up together as one.

See, Buffy in the movie is a Valley Girl. She is vapid and she hooks up with an outcast/a dude. In the show, Buffy is a little, cool girl who meets up with outcasts--and she is an outcast, herself. Now, the vibes are already different. The series, obviously got into greater detail of the story of Buffy and her Vampire Slaying. But, I think that the movie is short and sweet, funnier and more logical as to the perspective of a valley girl. I guess I associate the name Buffy with Valley Girl.

In the series, I would never peg Buffy as a valley girl--just a girl with a secret. There is a huge disconnect. I love the movie for what it is--a valley girl named Buffy who turns out to be a vampire slayer--Kristy is the best IMO. SMG does not play Buffy as a valley girl as well as Kristy. I think SMG plays a lost girl who is cool, but finds who she really is while making friends with outcasts. I know that it is to be a continuation, like Buffy moved away after the movie, but it still doesn't flow that way to me. Buffy went to the prom in the movie, the only place she would be transferring to, is to college. Anything is possible in programming, but I see two different planes, here. SMG is TOTALLY different as Buffy than KS. I see them as two diff. characters.

As I said before, the movie is more to the point; there is a girl named Buffy who is Valley, and she finds that she has powers leading to danger and adventure, but she is awesome so she wins. The show gets in depth, but there is a little meandering (and the villains, to me, aren't as great).

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I think your major point (Buffy as Valley Girl) was one of Whedon's issues. He did not envision her as vapid and vacuous, but rather, a popular girl who's fate would affect her agenda. Fans have two visions of Buffy: One as directed by Fran Kuzui and the other as directed by Joss Whedon, who is the creator. Its obvious the show is truer to the creator's vision than the movie. After that, its just preference. I suspect one of the reasons the show is more popular is that people find SMG's Buffy more realistic. The Valley Girl (as archetype) is known to most people by reputation. Unless you live in SoCal, you're unlikely to have much experience with the personality. I was born and raised in SoCal and I found the movie's version of the MallBrat kind of mean spirited. Buffy's friends were lacking the joie d'vivre of the adolescents they were depicting. Kind of a New Yorker's version of Southern California teen-agers.

BTW, you suggest that in the TV show Buffy is an outcast. If I may refer you to Season 3 Episode 20, "The Prom" I think a different evaluation can be made. Buffy learns that who she is (The Slayer) is no secret. Buffy is not an outcast, she's more like an extreme version of the Big Girl on Campus. This is why Cordelia (the consummate Popular Girl) eventually joins the Scoobies; Buffy is the true power at Sunnydale High School, so much so that she exists in a place her classmates can only observe.

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I haven's seen it since childhood but I actually liked it as a kid. Which doesn't say much but as far as I recall it was entertaining enough and funny.

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It's really bad...

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I can speak objectively as I saw the film before the TV series aired and It is positively dire. Joss Whedon hated what the studio did to the film. His script was rewritten to make it lighter as opposed to his darker vision. Apparently he became so frustrated with what they were doing with the film that he walked off the set and never returned. I think It's safe to say that he felt vindicated when the film was critically slated and bombed at the box office.

With the TV series he was afforded more creative control and it definitely shows. It's also a testament to the kind of crap that Donald Sutherland and Rutger Hauer were reduced to starring in.

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I have seen much worse movies.

Overall this isn't a good movie, but I watched and now own it because it's part of the Buffy verse it's also a fun look at the early 90's.

The mistake they made was trying to make this a light comedy, and vampire slaying does not really fit in with this.

As long as you don't expect it to be like the show and like bad movies then it will be ok.

I give it a 6 out of ten, which I think is generous. I don't know how they got
Donald Sutherland to stair in it.

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I've not seen much of the TV shows --- but this movie - listed as "comedy" - I presume that is the humor they were intending; I never once laugh DURING the flick. Full of schlock bad jokes - not at all in a cult-cool way. Must have been psychically painful to make this.

After awhile - it's on just to see how long you can put up with it (given nothing else on).

Springfield Sperm Bank "Put your sperm in our hands"

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I like the movie and LOVE the show. The humor of the movie is not well-handled, except in the scenes which I think survived intact from Whedon's script. There were several scenes that I think would have been funnier with better direction. I've watched the movie many times and several scenes come to mind: When Pike talks to Benny (who is floating outside his window), when Merrick throws the knife at Buffy, when Amilyn rams his hand into Pike's van, when Pike throws his jacket to Buffy, all of these scenes suffered from pacing. The joke either takes too long to develop or is allowed to linger ("You're floating," and "You threw a knife...at my head!") are repeated as if we might not have heard it the first time. This is a director not understanding comedic timing. On the other hand, there are some moments that are uniquely hilarious; I love Amilyn's death scene when Paul Ruebens kicks the wall...delicately. And the previously mentioned scene when Pike tosses his jacket to Buffy is brilliantly conceived. Its a surprisingly subtle gag that was probably Whedon's since it is reprised iconically in the TV show (not the toss, but the visual of Buffy in prom dress and leather jacket. Season 1 Ep. 12 "Prophecy Girl"). I have a Buffy action figure with Buffy dressed in this "ensemble."

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