The movie that started one tremendous franchise.
Today marks a special occasion as this is my 100th review on this website. To celebrate, I decided to do something a little more personal. The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, the prototype of my favorite tv series of all time.
Buffy Summers (Kristy Swanson) is a ditsy cheerleader who learns that she has a great destiny as the only one who can slay the vampires plaguing LA. With the assistance of her Watcher Merrick (Donald Sutherland) and Pike (Luke Perry), she must battle the vampire king Lothos (Rutger Hauer) and his minion Amilyn (Paul Reubens). Yes, Pee-Wee Herman played a vampire, which makes more sense when you remember that this was right after his arrest for that incident at the adult movie theatre.
Joss Whedon wrote the script for this movie, which you can read online. If you do so, you’ll notice that several changes were made to the final product. Scenes were rewritten, rearranged, or deleted. All the darker and more violent moments were removed. Plot holes were created. The main villain has most of their characterization stripped. Several new scenes were added, in addition to more jokes. The ending was made way more anti-climatic. In other words, everything that Whedon did to Justice League. Ironic, no? There is one major difference, though. For what it is, the Buffy movie is at least watchable.
The thing that happened was Whedon always envisioned Buffy as a tale of female empowerment that was both scary and funny. Instances like this are why I have an entire sub-section called same script on my list of movies that genuinely should be remade. For cases in which you’ll remake a movie by filming the original script before the studio or director stepped in and f****d everything up. Thus far, I have Buffy, Deadly Friend (which also starred Swanson), and Natural Born Killers.
As to be expected, there are numerous changes between this and the later series. The big one that stands out to me is how in the movie, Buffy gets cramps in the presence of vampires. In case your wondering, yes, Buffy did have PMS as a superpower in the original script. The idea is to link vampire slaying to femininity directly. Or at least early nineties femininity, which is rather limitedly tied to maternity. The other change that stands out the most to me is the vampires not crumbling to dust after they die. Yes, I know that seems silly, but I can’t help but think ‘so, you’re going to leave a dead body impaled with a stake that no doubt has your fingerprints all over it. That seems like a perfectly good way to get arrested.’
Everything about this movie pales in comparison to the series. The acting, the writing, the comedy, the pathos, everything. Yet, the film has this charm that is enjoyable and makes it impossible for me to hate. It’s deserving of its cult classic status and worth a watch. Though I am glad that Whedon created the series to bring his original vision to life. Why? Because I loved Joss Whedon.
Whedon’s work was funny, dramatic, multilayered, and full of great plot twists. I once snatched a copy of Entertainment Weekly with Whedon on the cover out of my mother’s hand because she held it in a way that would have crinkled it. As an aspiring writer, He and Stephen King were my idols when it came to storytelling. All my standards from what constitutes good writing and good characters come from them. And then I, like the rest of the world, learned the truth about Whedon.
Confession time, I had an ulterior motive for reviewing this film. I mainly wanted an excuse to talk about this. So, Whedon’s downfall came about thanks to many different stages. The first chink in the armor came when Whedon’s Wonder Woman script leaked online. If you squint, you can see signs of some potential, but the whole thing is very cringy. The tip of the iceberg is how he spends an entire paragraph detailing how attractive the title character is. Then came the expose by his ex-wife Kai Cole, which outlines how he cheated on and gaslight her for years while simultaneously preaching feminist ideals.
Then came Ray Fisher’s accusations of racist, abusive, and unprofessional mistreatment during the Justice League reshoots. The latest thing to come out is the gaslighting that occurred when he was encouraged to share his opinions about his character portrayal openly, only to get his head bit off upon saying something Whedon didn’t like. Gal Gadot likewise came to Whedon with critiques over how her character was portrayed, only for him to more or less tell her he was the one in charge. That’s probably something that every director has had to do at some point in their career. Except Whedon took it a step further by not only being condescending but threatening to sabotage Gadot’s performance and badmouth Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins.
Fisher’s allegations prompted people who worked on Buffy to come forward with stories. Such as a disturbing incident when Whedon backed James Marsters against a wall and yelled at him. I remember thinking that was damning, which just seems funny now. The final stage was when Charisma Carpenter opened up to a greater extent about her mistreatment, like how after she got pregnant during season 4 of Angel, he asked if she was going to keep it, attacked her character, mocked her religious beliefs, accuse her of sabotaging the show, and then fired her. This is what finally opened up the floodgates, prompting several more actors and crew members who have worked with Whedon to come forward in support of Carpenter or with their own stories.
Then there those who chose to give a very politician-like response. Where they say a whole lot without really saying anything. I don’t feel comfortable naming names, but suffice to say that such reactions are very disappointing in the wake of such credible allegations. With so many people having come forward with similar stories, it’s all but impossible to dismiss it as untrue.
One of the other things to come out against Whedon was his casual cruelty against his writing staff. Jose Molina, a writer on Firefly, said that he once boasted that he had made a writer cry twice in one meeting. Much like in Whiplash, that must have worked because Buffy and Firefly both went on to become cultural phenomenons. Hahaha NO. As I said, I’m a writer, so I’ve been on both sides of the note-giving session. I feel confident telling you that while artists should be pushed to do better, constructive criticism can be provided without being a d**k.
According to insider Daniel Richtman, Whedon has been blacklisted from Hollywood. Yeah, even before I read that, I had a feeling that his career was over. Whedon stepped down from being the showrunner of his new show, The Nevers, citing the challenges in working during these unprecedented times, but who is that fooling? Then again, Mel Gibson, Roman Polanski, and Woody Allen have all done some awful things, and they’re still working.
In the wake of all of this, Whedon has chosen not to comment on any of the allegations, which I find surprising. The unspoken rule of celebrity scandal was to shut up and wait for the problem to go away. Except in the wake of Kevin Spacey, Roseanne Barr (NSFW), and J.K. Rowling (NSFW), it seems like the new rule is double down.
So, now what? Are we never supposed to watch Buffy, Angel, Firefly, The Avengers, or anything else he’s been involved with ever again? I’m someone who believes in separating the art from the artist. For instance, I still listen to Michael Jackson’s music despite–you know. That said, if you’re unable to compartmentalize like that, then that’s fine too. I also want to make it clear that while as a fan I’m crushed, I understand that pales in comparison to how anyone who’s suffered under Whedon must feel. They have my utmost sympathy because they should not have had to go through any of that just for the sake of anyone’s entertainment.
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