Hidden Gem: Fright Night Part II

I've discussed Fright Night before. At least, I've discussed the character of Evil Ed before. But Fright Night is one of my favorite horror movies of all time. It's smart, it's sleek, it brought the vampire genre back in a way that it really should get credit for. Every actor in it does a damn fine job and writer/director Tom Holland is at his best, even topping his work on Child's Play. Fright Night is my favorite vampire movie, and the ultimate self-referencial mix of humor and horror before Scream came along.

We're here to discuss its sequel. Thing is, a lot of horror fans know Fright Night is a gem, including the people just now meeting it for the first time, or who will rediscover it when the remake hits this August. It's got a crappy DVD out, but it's not very hidden. The sequel, however, has been out of print for years, but even when the DVD (even more crappy) was available, it wasn't the most well known or well respected of films. And I guess that's understandable. If Fright Night is Scream, this is surely not Scream 2.

Why, then, do I dare to call Fright Night II a hidden gem? Because I love the original so much, and once I got over Evil Ed not being in the movie, I really started to see what this sequel has going for it. We do have original characters returning. Both boy next door Charley Brewster and washed-up horror host Peter Vincent return from the original and their exchanges are priceless. There's more humor in this one, but for the most part (vampire bowling is the other part) it works. I dare even say Roddy McDowell's performance as Peter tops his great performance in the original. The effects are good too, though they certainly don't come close to topping the first.

There are references to the original film that are nice, and with the accompanying Brad Fiedel score, the sequel is simply a must for every fan of the first. The plot is an interesting twist too, in that while the first film was mostly circumstance, in Fright Night II the vampire (Regine Dandridge) is out to destroy our main characters, making her at least close to as scary as Jerry Dandridge was in the original. The back-and-forth between who believes and who doesn't is also hilarious. Yes, this was supposed to be Evil Ed's time to shine, but it does alright without him.

Now, this is not a review, I'll add. It's a hidden gem feature. That means this movie is out there, but you're not allowed to have it. Maybe it's on youtube. But maybe you're so intrigued now that we can wait together and hope that the new remake means a decent (or any) DVD release of this movie.

Because I, for one, can't wait to be sat down and welcomed to Fright Night again.

The 25 Greatest Horror Movies of 2000-2009 (Part 2)

Continuing on. Obviously, read the first part first.









13. Trick 'R Treat (2009)

This film is really, really great. And fun. And the best movie about Halloween since, well, Halloween. A pretty major cast, all of whom does a good job, great script from the writer of X-Men 2, and great direction. Also, it brings anthology horror movies back in a big way and does things with time like I've never seen before. On top of that, little Sam is just too damn adorable. And frightening.

12. Dread (2009)

Another movie based on a Clive Barker short story. Much more small-scale than Midnight Meat Train, which really suits the movie. It's not just gritty... this film is very intimate. It's personal. And that's exactly what the story is about, exposing people's deepest dread. In a movie like this, the characters have to be very complex to see them broken, as they do get. And they are. All the major points of Barker's story are there, and this is just as unnerving.

11. The Devil's Backbone (2001)

Okay. Pretty much everyone is in love with Guillermo del Toro now and every movie he even thinks of making. But listen, honey. He was mine first. I saw this ghost story (which, like Pan's Labyrinth, is set during the Spanish Civil War) before his Hellboy was even a thing. It remains one of the flat-out scariest movies I have ever seen. And it manages to scare equally on both the supernatural and realistic level, which I've rarely seen done.

10. Hard Candy (2007).

Like Dread, this is a very intimate film... only, intimate in the sense that the entire movie is basically a dialogue between two characters. A very traumatized girl and the (possible) sex-offender who invited her over to his house, without so much as an Ackbar to shout "It's a trap!" to either of them. And even though we know throughout the movie that this girl is in the right, she terrifies us. That's only a small part of what makes the movie incredible.

09. Martyrs (2009). And the award for "most disturbing film of the decade" goes to... but seriously. It's all kinds of fucked up. The film deals with people who want to study the afterlife by examing (and by examining I mean orchestrating) the deaths of young teenage girls to try and record what they see as they die. In addition, the one girl that got away brutally murders an entire family at their breakfast table because one of them probably had something to do with what happened to her. Even though she's right... holy shit.

08. The Descent (2006).

Remember Dog Soldiers, and it's director, Neil Marshall? Remember how I said he got even better? This is that better. In this one, he works with an all-female cast (directly opposed to the all-male cast of Dog Soldiers) and focuses on a woman coming back from the brink of losing her husband and child on a cave-diving trip with her friends. There are things in that cave. Things that eat. From there, the title comes through on multiple levels. The American theatrical release bastardized the hopeless ending, and that bastardization sadly led to an even more monumentous bastardization of a sequel.

07. May (2002)

Talk about an original film. May is the debut of the terrific Lucky McKee (as far as I know, totally his real name) and Angela Bettis, who has already gone on to become a genre star. May is a girl who is a little weird, and all she wants is a friend. As her mother always said, if you can't find a friend, make one. So she does, taking all the best parts from the best people she knows. Grotesque and funny where it shouldn't be.

06. The Devil's Rejects (2005).

Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses really set the standard for movies in this decade, and almost made the list... but the sequel is just so much fucking better. In the first one, the sick and twisted Firefly family torture and kill a group of students making a documentary on roadside attractions. It's a very Texas Chainsaw style movie, and that's the intent. In the sequel, all of a sudden the monsters become the protagonists. They're on the run for their crimes and we're all, "oh no! Run, Captain Spaulding!" even though they all totally, totally deserve to die.

05. Let the Right One In (2008).

This Swedish film is a really beautiful study of a boy who wants to kill the bullies that are mean to him, and the little girl who tells him it's okay, and she can show him how. She (?) is a vampire, and he may not know it, being eleven, but he is a killer. Together, they're still really cute. Very quiet, almost peaceful-feeling movie, even though it's terribly violent and unnerving. There's still something beautiful about it. I still have yet to see the American remake, but I hear good things.

04. High Tension (2004).

And the French strike again, this time leaving a nice, scarring impact. Two friends are on a trip, staying at one's house. A maniac comes, kills the whole family in minutes, and kidnaps one of the girls. All of a sudden, it's all on the other girl to track him down. The film is great retro-exploitation all the way to the shocking ending, where it's revealed what the film is really about, which makes it that much better.

03. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2007).

I've put up a full review of this on the blog before. So I'll just say that this tongue-in-cheek movie is an incredible breakdown of the slasher film. It does everything Scream attempted, and does it even better. It's funny and really unsettling, in all the right places. The script, acting, documentary-style and direction are all spot on in a pretty much near perfect film.

02. Funny Games (2007).

Funny Games takes this spot for being where many of the other films on this list were, and taking the extra step. Going just a little further. Not in terms of violence, per se, but in terms of horror. The entire film is a descent. It goes further and further into darkness for this family, terrorized by two yuppy teenagers who look like a couple of pricks, but otherwise completely harmless. It literally gets worse for the family with each passing second, and while it FEELS like it's very hard to watch... well, you're still not looking away.

01. 28 Days Later (2002).

Think about how many times you've heard about zombies this week. Alright. Think about how many times you've heard about zombies today. You may not think that's a big deal, but if you were in the '90's, you may remember that zombies weren't. They took to comedy in the late 80's and totally fizzled out... until this British horror from director Danny Boyle changed everything. Now, the people in this film are infected by rage and are not true zombies, but it's the same genre, and this movie singlehandedly revived that genre in a big way. It harkens back to the best days of Romero in that this movie is not just about the infected cannibals, or even survival in a post-apocalyptic world. It is, in particular, about the survival of the human spirit. About keeping your humanity when everyone around you has lost theirs. It succeeds admirably as the best horror movie of the decade.


Honorable mentions: 28 Weeks Later, House of 1,000 Corpses, Jenifer, Bubba-HoTep, Dawn of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland. And a lot of others. It was a damn good decade, and I can only hope this decade will hold a candle.

The 25 Greatest Horror Movies of 2000-2009 (Part 1)

Well, it's been awhile off, but here I am again with one of the hardest lists I've ever had to come up with for this thing. There's a bit of backstory here too. This list was spawned when I overheard people talking about how they hoped horror movies would be better in this next decade, because this previous one was terrible and we got nothing but remakes. There was no originality anymore, they said. I'm sure you've heard it all before. So here I am to prove them (and frankly the majority of the internet) wrong. I believe this previous decade was horror's best since the 1970's and I'm here to tell you why. I wanna show you that not only were there some damn original horror flicks, but some amongst them were some of the most original of all time. So here we go.

25. Hatchet (2006)

This movie certainly had its flaws, but it was fun. And that was really all it tried to be. It advertised as a fun, throwback slasher romp (including an impressive cast of genre stars like Robert Englund, Kane Hodder and Tony Todd) to bring a little of that old-fashioned 80's slasher feel back to screens. And it did exactly that. Good humor, grotesque and gratuitous violence, and Victor Crowley is nice contender for a new horror icon. Can't wait to check out Hatchet II (starring Danielle Harris) when it finally hits DVD/Blu-Ray.

24. Saw (2004)

Okay, you all knew this had to be on here somewhere. In fact, I'm guessing a lot of people thought it would even be in the top spot. If this was a list of the most successful horror movies of the decade, it would no doubt take the cake. But most of the movies on this list are very small, independent pictures that flew under the radar, and this movie serves as a good explanation as to why. None of the other movies got the exposure Saw did to spawn six sequels. I'm sure they would have if they were put in the same situation. But very few of those movies needed a sequel, and that includes this one. It just suffered from overexposure. Nonetheless, this is a great psychological horror if left to its own merit.

23. Dog Soldiers (2002)

A Scottish movie about troops on a routine training exercise who run into a pack of werewolves. The plot is simple, but the film is superbly done, especially for a debut and a film as small as this one. Neil Marshall has gone on to prove himself again and again as a director (as you'll see later on in this list) and this exciting, fast-paced, and brutal film remains one of the best werewolf movies in a very long time.

22. The House of the Devil (2009)

The decade seemed filled with movies trying to recapture the feel of older horror films, mostly following on the heels of Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses. But whereas those films tried... this one succeeded. Completely. Shot on '80's cameras, scored with '80's synthesizers. Even reused a couple of 80's actors. The tone and the script nailed an early 80's thriller, and the special edition DVD case was even designed to look like an old VHS box. If you flipped by this movie on the TV you would have no idea it wasn't made in 1985. It's the first time I've felt nostalgia watching something completley new. All that, and it's pretty spooky to boot.

21. The Mist (2007)

Frank Darabont scored big with his two previous Stephen King adaptions (Shawshank Redemption and the Green Mile) but The Mist was his first attempt at adapting some of King's actual horror and by God he pulled it off. This is a very tense, very scary film made all the more scary by the shockingly realistic characters. Overall, the film about a group of people locked in a store fighting off legions of unkown beings is very faithful to King's novella, save for the dismal ending, which even the King himself admitted was better.

20. Ginger Snaps (2000)

Another werewolf movie, and it couldn't be more different than Dog Soldiers. Ginger and Bridgitte are two young sisters, teenagers who are fascinated with death and want nothing to do with any of the other kids. Blossoming isn't even in their vocabulary. So enter the werewolf, which in this film is a thinly-veiled yet brilliant metaphor for a girl's, er, coming of age. The tagline even reads "They don't call it the curse for nothing..." Both of the girls do a remarkable job of acting, Katharine Isabelle as the transforming Ginger, and Emily Perkins as the quiet Bridgitte. Followed by a good sequel and... odd prequel.

19. The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

In stark contrast to Saw, this movie--based on a short story by Clive Barker--was criminally underexposed. It was pulled days before its theatrical release because the name sounded like a porn. Instead of changing or telling people to grow the fuck up, the movie was pulled from release altogether and slapped onto DVD. Which is really too bad, because this is a brooding, psychological, very brutal and well-acted film that absolutely deserved to be seen.

18. The Girl Next Door (2007)

Based on the equally heartbreaking novel by Jack Ketchum, The Girl Next Door is a fictionalized account of one of the worst crimes in American history. One one level, it is the account of a girl who was so brutalized and tortured by her aunt (who in turn, let all the neighborhood kids torture her as well) that she eventually died. On another level, it is a study of '50's culture, how people could turn a blind eye to anything, and how children will literally do anything with an adult's permission. Deeply unsettling. Another film made at the same time, An American Crime, is based more on what actually happened, but does not go as far in showing the horror.

17. Wolf Creek (2005)

Australia is a really scary place. It's not just enough that every animal is designed to kill you, but, well... then there's Mick. While it starts off feeling like an Australian version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this quickly turns into a very unconventional film with a really scary bad guy, played brilliantly by John Jarrat. I liked the film from the beginning, but it won me over when Jarrat repeated the infamous line "you call that a knife? THIS is a knife" with a terrible new meaning.

16. Teeth (2008)

Remember how I said some of these movies were among the most original ever? Well, here she is, folks. This tongue-in-cheek feminist study of a horror film depicts a girl who--as she burgeons into womanhood, discovers she has teeth in her vagina. During her first sexual encounter, it saves her from rape. And then again. And again. With every other man she meets, who also tries to rape her, until the wonderfully vomit-inducing...uh... climax of the movie where she uses it as a tool. Or possibly a superpower.

15. Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

And again with the originality. And brilliance. And song and dance and blood and guts. Really, Repo is the story of the distance between a father and daughter, the family dynamic, and how secrets can destroy each other's lives. More than that, it's about how far people will go to be considered beautiful, inside and outside. Also, this girl's father repossesses people's designer internal organs. So that destroys lives too. Oh, and it's a gothic rock opera. And Paris Hilton's face falls off.

14. Paranormal Activity (2009)

This film is on the list for a couple of reasons. It's effectively, pants-shittingly scary, for one. Two, it does everything that The Blair Witch Project set out to do (and completely failed at doing) and does it right. But the winning thing about this movie is that it was made for literally nothing. Most syfy channel original movies have three times the budget of this movie. But it took what it had and used it like I have just never seen before. I don't know what the hell the ending means in either version of this, but I did scream like a little girl.

Top 20 Episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Part 2)

Continuing on, promoting season eight, with a countdown of Buffy's best episodes ever. Here, we have reached the top ten.

10. Chosen (Season 7, episode 22)

Here we have what was (until very recently) the series finale, and even if it isn't it marks the end of an era. It's an episode about changing the world, achieving a mission statement, and it pulls it off beautifully. The First Evil has amassed its forces and Buffy and the gang must prepare for war. Hatching a plan to defeat the first, Buffy has Willow perform a spell that results in every potential slayer worldwide becoming a slayer. Spike, given an amulet by Buffy, reaches a peak of his hero's journey when he sacrifices himself to close the Hellmouth and save the world. As far as series finales went, it was one of the best, and most touching, ever. With an eighth season now, it still holds up as one of the series' best.

Best quote: "Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?"-Buffy

9. The Gift (Season 5, episode 22)

While "Chosen" tried to be the end of the series, "The Gift" was designed to feel like it could be the end of the series. Buffy finally reaches the meaning of the first slayer's cryptic message "death is your gift" and comes to reach the peak of her own heroism. Glory is going to use Dawn's blood to open the portal and destroy dimensions. Dawn's blood is the only way to close the portal too. But Buffy will let everyone die before anyone touches her sister. Her love for Dawn finally shows, and we see that she actually trusts Spike with Dawn's life... an improvement for them. But seeing Buffy sacrificing herself to save the world is a powerful, powerful image, bested only by Giles killing an "innocent" man because he can do what Buffy cannot.

Best quote: "Tell Giles... I understand now. And I'm okay. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be strong. Live. For me." -Buffy

8. "Becoming, Parts 1 and 2" (Season 2, episode 21 & 22)

Ending the season that kicked the show into high gear, Buffy is finally ready to put Angel down, while we see glimpses of where he came from, and how he came to be. In one night, Buffy is stripped of everything. She is expelled from school, kicked out of her house, and has to kill her boyfriend to save the world. It's one of the series most heartbreaking episodes, as proven by the Mutant Enemy, who proclaims at the end "I need a hug."

Best quote: Angel: "Take that away and what's left?" Buffy: "Me."

7. Conversations With Dead People (Season 7, episode 7)

A truly great episode, and again one of those episodes that sets up the entire season. It's also one of the scariest, especially when Dawn is visited by the possible ghost of her mother. This episode, is literally as the title states. Basically five interconnected short stories. Buffy awkwardly discusses her issues with a vampire psych major, Willow talks to The First as Cassie, who claims to have a message from Tara. Spike picks up a girl in a bar, and in a nice play on words, doesn't actually say anything the entire episode. Andrew is talking to the First as Warren, who convinces him to kill Jonathan, a character reoccuring since the first season. Great piece of storytelling, feels almost like a separate artwork unto itself.

Best quote: "I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to everyday, and I miss the people who never knew I existed. I miss 'em all. I want to talk to them, you know? I want to find out what's going on in their lives."-Jonathan

6. Restless (Season 4, Episode 22)

Buffy's such a deep show, there have been many books and essays written on it. Restless is the only episode that has an entire book written on it. You can watch this episode over and over and over again, and never see everything that's there. The episode also uses TV's four act structure brilliantly, dividing it up into four parts, and the whole thing takes place in each character's (Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles) dream. On the surface, they're being stalked by the first slayer, but beneath that, they're facing their own fears, their own nerves, and Willow is facing the stangest performance of "Death of a Salesman" ever.

Best quote: "I showed up early so I got to be cowboy guy." -Riley

5. Passion (Season 2, Episode 17)

Though Angel had gone bad in "Innocence" and it had been bad, but he hadn't really done anything truly evil yet. This episode was written to fix that. Giles and Jenny are repairing their relationship after he learns her backstory and her role in Angel's fate. She desperately wants to make everything right with him, so she makes a move to restore Angel's soul. And we almost think it will work. Until Angel shows up and chases her through the high school, snapping her neck, in a truly terrifying scene. But what's really scary is also maybe the most beautifully choreographed shot in TV history. Giles comes home with a sweetly written note saying "upstairs" and a rose petal on each step, and disovers Jenny's body sprawled out on the bed. And then Angel's smile at Giles's call to Buffy and Willow to tell them what happened. And we understand that Buffy's boyfriend is gone.

Best quote: "Without passion, we'd be truly dead." -Angel

4. Who Are You (Season 4, Episode 16)

The second half of a two parter in which Faith wakes up from the coma Buffy put her in at the end of "Graduation Day". She has found the Mayor's final gift to her... a gift that allows her to switch bodies with Buffy, giving Faith what she always really wanted... Buffy's life. It takes the usual 'body swapping' plot and makes it so much more than that. Sarah Michelle Gellar playing Faith playing Buffy is a truly stellar performance. And Faith's repeating of the line "because it's wrong" finally meaning it the last time, is a huge step toward the character's redemption.

Best quote: "I could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckle and your eyes pop. And you know why I don't? (mocks Buffy) because it's wrong."

3. Hush (Season 4, Episode 10)

We're getting into obvious territory here, as Hush is probably the most revered and critically acclaimed episode of "Buffy". It's proven by its Emmy nomination for "Best Writing for a Drama Series" in 2000. And it's worth every acclaim. Whedon apparently heard that his series was only successful due to its witty banter and created this: an episode with 23 whole minutes of silence. On top of that, it is easily the scariest episode of "Buffy" ever, with the scariest villains in the form of the Gentlemen. Most people say to start the series with this episode. I say don't. You have to earn your way to this one.

Best quote: "When I kiss you, it'll make the sun go down." -Riley

2. Once More, With Feeling (Season 6, Episode 7)

There's nothing to say about this episode that hasn't already been said. Like Buffy at its best, it is groundbreaking television. But this breaks more ground than any other single episode of a television series. TV's done musicals before, with disastrous results. Joss taught himself how to compose music to come up with this musical episode (also one of the only musicals ever to acknowledge the singing and dancing is out of the ordinary). There's the perfect, Whedon twist in that the characters are singing everything that they don't want to say to each other. The things they can't express in words are coming out in song. It is, ironically, the polar opposite of "Hush". As with many of the greats, this is one of the most touching, saddest, and funniest episodes of the series all at once, and maybe one of the best musicals in general in a long, long time.

Best quote: "They Got. The Mustard. OOOOUUUUUUUT!!!" -Mustard Guy

1. The Body (Season 5, Episode 16)

"The Body" is a masterpiece in every since of the word. In terms of directing, writing, and acting, it is the single most well-crafted episode of television to appear before or after it. Everything fits. And everything is heartbreaking, because everything feels so real. The show, despite its demons, always feels real... but in this episode, in which Buffy discovers her mother's dead body on the couch and goes through the motions of the immediate way to deal with death, it feels as though it's happening to you. It's tough. And it's powerful. And it is, in every since of the word, remarkable.

Best quote: "I don't understand how this all happens, how we go through this, I mean I knew her and then she's... there's just a body, I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead, it's stupid. It's mortal and stupid and Xander's crying and not talking and I was having fruit punch and I thought that Joyce would never have any more fruit punch and she'll never have eggs, or yawn, or brush her hair, not ever, and no one will explain to me why." - Anya

Top 20 Episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Part 1)

This is, possibly, the hardest list I've written on this blog. To provide a simple answer, "Buffy" is one of the best shows that's ever been on television, certainly the best genre show, and there's never been a bad episode. Certainly, the first season and first half of the second season comprise many "less memorable" episodes, but a bad one? Never.

So, after great turmoil (inner and outer, as is only fitting) I present the top 20 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (20-11).

20. Dopplegangland (Season 3, Episode 16)

After a wish that created an alternate reality (see #19, The Wish) in which Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, the vengeance demon Anyanka, or "Anya", is searching for the necklace she lost in that dimension and recruits Willow to help her. Willow, who is feeling less than needed, agrees and accidentally releases that reality's version of her into her world. It allows for a wonderful performance from Alyson Hannigan as both the normal reality's Willow and her evil, bisexual, vampire doppleganger. The gang's reaction to Willow's death (and then the fact that she's alive) is a hilarious, yet somehow touching moment.

Best quote: "That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil... and skanky. And I think I'm kinda gay."-Willow

19. The Wish (Season 3, Episode 9)

Cordelia, having broken up with Xander after discovering him kissing Willow, makes a wish to the vengeance demon Anyanka that Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale. It creates a grim alternate reality where Xander and Willow are vampires, The Master was never defeated and controls the entire town, Angel is his tortured pet, Giles, Oz and Larry are the only ones trying (rather unsuccessfully) to make a difference. And Buffy is stripped of her friends, her family and a good portion of her humanity, making her very similar to Faith.

Best quote: Giles: "I have to believe in a better world." Buffy: "Go ahead. I have to live in this one."

18. Normal Again (Season 6, Episode 17)

Buffy gets infected by a demon and begins to have visions of a world where she is in a mental institution, and her mother and father are still together. In that world, her doctor tells her that Sunnydale is all an elaborate fantasy created in her mind, and that if she wants to be normal again, she has to destroy the things tying her down there (i.e. her friends and her sister, Dawn). The episode plays brilliantly with Buffy's own troubled psyche of this season, and with the fact that it never overtly states that this other world isn't the real one.

Best quote: "Buffy's delusion is multi-layered. She believes she's some sort of hero." -Doctor

17. Prophecy Girl (Season 1, Episode 12)

Giles reads a prophecy that states clearly that if Buffy is to face The Master when he rises, she will die. Buffy is terrified by the news and says that she quits, but after Willow and Cordelia discover two students killed by The Master's vampires, Buffy goes down into the underground church to face him. He overpowers her, proclaiming that the true prophecy reads that the slayer is the one to set him free, and without her he cannot rise. Having said this, he leaves her in the water to drown. Xander and Angel discover her at the last minute and Xander performs CPR, bringing Buffy back to life. Re-energized, Buffy kills The Master and stops the Hellmouth from rising. All in time for the dance.

Best quote: "I may be dead. But I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you." -Buffy

16. Band Candy (Season 3, Episode 6)

Principal Snyder awards Buffy and the gang the dubious honor of selling "Band Candy", chocolate bars to support the school's marching band. The candy, however, is being produced by Giles's old nemesis, Ethan Rayne. The candy reverts all of the town's adults back into teenagers. It's the best straightforward comedy episode of the series, and also an interesting character study revealing what Snyder, Joyce and especially Giles were like as teenagers.

Best quote: "Whoa, Summers! You drive like a spaz!" -Principal Snyder

15. Lover's Walk (Season 3, Episode 8)

Spike returns to Sunnydale after Drusilla breaks up with him. A husk of the villainous vampire he was in the previous season, he is drunk off his ass and kidnaps Willow and Xander, forcing Willow to do a love spell to make Dru want him again. Instead, he runs into Buffy while Willow and Xander hide in the factory, assuming they're going to die. They give into passion and kiss...right as Oz and Cordelia appear to rescue them. The real treat of the episode is James Marsters who has never been in better form as Spike. Psychotic, sympathetic, and outright hilarious, all in one episode.

Best quote: "Love isn't brains, children, it's blood. Blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it." -Spike

14. Earshot (Season 3, Episode 18)

After being scratched by a demon, Buffy is informed by Giles that she will gain "an aspect of the demon", which turns out to be telepathy. It's a wonderful character study figuring out what each character is thinking (Willow's nervous Buffy will know Oz better than she does, Oz is geniusly philosophical, Xander really can't stop thinking about sex, and Cordelia really is that shallow) except for Angel, as it seems vampires are immune to telepathy. The plot thickens when Buffy hears someone say they're going to kill everyone in the school. Even with a hilarious twist at the end, it becomes a very serious episode about school violence and the angst of high school has never been covered better.

Best quote: "You think it's quiet down there. It's not. It's deafening." -Buffy

13. Bad Girls (Season 3, Episode 14)

Season 3 kicks into high-gear with this episode, which introduces Buffy and Faith's new watcher, the more-Giles-than-Giles Wesley Whyndam Price. Faith seduces Buffy into her way of thinking, that slayers are above the law. They steal weapons, fight more vamps than they can handle, and Buffy is starting to really love it...until Faith accidentally stakes the deputy mayor, a human. Faith's road to the dark side starts here with her dumping the body, brushing it off like it never happened, and threatening Buffy if she tells anyone.

Best quote: Buffy: "Faith, you don't get it. You killed a man." Faith: "No. You don't get it. I don't care."

12. Innocence (Season 2, Episode 14)

Some may, with good reason, consider this episode the true beginning of the series. This is the episode where Buffy went from being a "very good" show to a "good goddamn phenomenal" one. Picking up on the cliffhanger of surprise where Buffy and Angel have sex, then Angel stumbles into the street in immense pain, it is revealed that part of Angel's curse is that if he ever has a moment of true happiness, he will lose his soul. We see Angelus for the first time, and see what a tremendous bastard he is. The scene where Buffy and Angel meet up for the first time after having sex is heartbreaking, as is (to a lesser extent) Willow finding Xander and Cordelia kissing.

Best quote: "I'll call you."-Angelus

11. Fool For Love (Season 5, Episode 7)

In this episode (actually my personal favorite episode) we get to see Spike's past, and after so many "Angel flashback" episodes, it's great to balance it out. Buffy gets nearly killed by a single vampire and she wants to know how the other slayers have died, so she goes to the only vampires who has ever killed two: Spike. He gives her the rundown of his past, from London 1880, to China 1900, to New York, 1977, to Brazil 1998. There's hilarious stuff here, full of in-jokes, poking at continuity for all it's worth... but there's a beautiful piece of narrative television here, focusing on one of the most complex characters in all of television history.

Best quote: "Every slayer has a death wish. Even you." -Spike

Review of Buffy episode 801 "The Long Way Home, Part 1"

It's here. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is back on the screen (computer screen, for now, but with DVD release in the Fall). As an avid fan of the show and avid reader of the season 8 comic series, I was awaiting this release pretty heavily. And I was not disappointed.

It's four years after the show. After they changed the world by turning every potential slayer into a slayer and destroying Sunnydale. The new base of operations is in Scotland, operated by Buffy and Xander. Buffy and her squad of slayers (including new characters Satsu, Rowena and Renee) find a corpse with a mysterious symbol on its chest. Meanwhile, a military group investigates the Sunnydale crater and finds its only two survivors...

The story's adapted nicely from the comic. A few lines are taken out, a few lines are added and it's an acceptable balance. The animation actually flows quite nicely compared to many motion comics. It brings a lot to the new format, especially the action sequences, which are pulled off very well. Another bonus is the music. Having the theme back really brought this home as season eight.

Things that may take getting used to: the voice acting is obviously jarring at first because I'm so used to the cast, but you'd be surpised how quickly you get over it. The short format only leaves you wanting more, which is probably not a bad thing, especially with season eight being twice as long as every other season. The biggest thing that takes getting used to is the fact that the character's mouths don't move. With how well the rest is animated, you'd think they'd be able to do something about this. Again, this becomes tolerable fairly quickly, but I would like to see them fix it.

Overall, the season, finally in moving-picture format, is off to a good start and gets a solid 8/10 from me.

Five Reasons to Watch the New "Buffy"

Those of us who have read the comic already know what Whedon has in store for the return of the series, which premiers on itunes in about a half hour. For everyone else (those who are illiterate, don't have time, or are against the medium) they will be introduced through this (finally) animated version of Joss Whedon's eighth season. From someone who has read, speaking to those who have not, here are the reasons to look forward to the show:

5. Action and Epicness. One of the goals of turning Buffy into a comic or animated series (which was initially planned before a comic was) was to step up the scale of the action due to not being bound by a TV budget. And the comic did just that. In season 8, you will be treated to action and monsters on a scale the show never touched upon (including the US army vs. an army of slayers. And werewolves). There's some serious Lord of the Rings shit going on in these battles, and the new season will present all of them. It's hailed as Buffy's most epic season, and in terms of actually being an epic, it is... actually being...an epic.

4. The Return of Your Favorite Characters. Joss Whedon is, by standard definitions, the Lord. Defined in that he giveth, and he taketh away. Given his track record, he'll probably giveth back what he taketh, but with Joss, everyone seems to come back eventually (except for a few cases where, as Jud Crandall would say, "shometimes dahd is buttah"). And if you had a favorite character, they'll be back this season. Talking and acting and making sweet, two-dimensional love. But because Joss is a magical man with magical trousers, it will not be forced. Everyone will return when they need to and because they need to. Except Tara, who remains shot in the chest.

3. The music. We get the storytelling, and it was good...and very moving. But Buffy had a one hell of a score through each of its seasons. Stabbing your hunny bunny through the chest is more painful when accompanied by a tragic piano diddy (which, spoiler alert, you will be hearing again).

2. Character development. It was what drove the show. Buffy, with its immaculate writing, had phenomenally crafted characters. They grew so much from season to season. And their may be more growth here than in any one season of the show. In Dawn's case, about 20 ft. There are character relationships/hookups that are the most surprising since Willow and Tara. Characters doing and saying things you would never expect them to, because they are still growing. And some doing exactly what you might expect them to, because, while growing, they're still the same person.

1. Its Immaculate Writing. Buffy was possibly the most well-written show in TV history. The entire writing staff has returned. While it's the one thing we got in the comic, it is still the big thing here. Some may very well say "the thing that makes it good". But the gang is back together. Its Joss Whedon, returning to his baby. Not only that, but this is the longest season of the show (see above: epic) at two volumes that will comprise 40 episodes. It also has the largest cast, because those slayers... there are a lot of them.

Also, if that didn't sell you... the villain's name is Twilight. So, world, let it be known that Buffy will truly and literally be kicking Twilight's ass on a weekly basis.

Trailer premiered but was taken down due to a sound mixup. First episode still scheduled to premiere sometime today.