Name: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)

Anne Billson

From 1997 to 2003, Buffy the Vampire Slayer single-handedly reinvented the high-school genre, splicing it with action, comedy and the supernatural. Series by series, Anne Billson unravels the magic of Buffy, examining the antecedents, influences and the new twist on the age-old story of the struggle between Good and Evil.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

An exciting new series of great writing on television from the BFI. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is sure to be a hit.

Tim Pendry

This is one of a series from the British Film Institute, providing 'critical readings' of TV series. The series follows similar and generally excellent guides to important movies. Unfortunately, the editorial guidelines have encourage the authors to see these series in the context of their 'personal response', a dangerous licence to self-indulgence especially as the film-related booklets benefited from offering in-depth research on their subjects, albeit from different perspectives, without constant use of the 'I' word. Anne Billson is not too bad in her judgements. Given the iconic status of Buffy in promoting contemporary 'girl power', it is useful to have a woman outline her responses to the series as it unfolded. She can be tiresome every now and then (especially in her opinionated position on one or two of the supporting cast) but it usually reads right if unimaginatively. Unfortunately, given the amount of space devoted to recapping the series Season by Season and reminding us of key moments and personalities, the 'experiential' aspect of the book crowds out the information that we might have had on its cultural context and the broader public response. For Buffy fans, it is a good value 'aide memoire' with a useful selection of websites at the back but, in the end, it is not much more than that.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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