The Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie hit theaters when I was only 4-years-old, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” debuted on WB11 when I was 8-years-old. I’m 26-years-old now and Joss Whedon’s biggest television hit is still my favorite franchise of all time. Since the show ended its seven season run in 2003 I’ve been scrambling for anything new in relation to the series. This has led me to discover the short film Fluffy the English Vampire Slayer, short film Forgotten Memories, and a third short film, Lurked, which is currently in post production. Even with these three unofficial continuations and Joss Whedon’s official continuations – comic books Buffy Season 8, 9, 10 & Angel and Faith – there is still a big whole left in my heart. It can never be filled unless Whedon continues the show as another movie (please?), but with the feature film Die Jägerin things are a little less painful.
Die Jägerin is an independent fan film made by a bunch of talented folks out in Germany. It takes place ten years after the final showdown in Sunnydale and follows four slayers – Lilli, Magdalena, Miriam, and Robin – a watcher, and two side-kicks as they investigate a rash of sudden disappearances in the area. Only after their investigation starts do they realize they’ll dealing with an evil force much more powerful than vampires…and he’s even familiar to “Buffy” viewers. Together they must work together to stop the rising darkness and save the world, but are they in over their heads?
Being that this is a fan film directly related to the franchise fronted by Kristy Swanson and Sarah Michelle Gellar, I should clarify that it is intended as a direct relative to the television series. The writer made a wise decision by not attempting to cast other actors to play the likes of Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Angel, or Faith. Instead, the writer decided to use objects that are beloved pieces of nostalgia, ones that take on a character of their own in the minds of fans. These returning “characters” include Spike’s leather jacket, Doyle’s psychic visions, the smoky essence of the slayer, the slayer scythe, and a spell that closely mirrors one performed by Willow Rosenberg in season seven. It was very cool to see these things on screen again, although, putting Spike’s leather jacket on a non-muscular human doesn’t really fit. Yal remember he won that jacket by killing a slayer, Nikki Wood, right?
For an independent feature, Die Jägerin surprisingly has a very high production quality. It has lots of cool angles, very professional dollys, an obvious prop and special effects budget, and overall good acting. The acting is hard to gage because I watched it in German with English subtitles, so it was hard to tell who was under or over acting, but I think everyone pulled in a pretty decent performance. I have to give a lot of credit to whoever was in charge of the visual effects, most notably the CGI vampire dustings. There’s one scene in particular halfway through the movie that features about a bakers dozen of dusted vampires. I can only imagine how hard that must have been to do correctly; and they looked great for such a small budget. Die Jägerin also features a ton of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” scores and background music that really helps bring it all to life. Sure, some scores didn’t really fit the mood of their scenes, but the music coupled with the plot and the props made this feel very nostalgic and it felt like it was in the same universe. Almost like an unaired, under-budget Germany pilot episode for season eight.
Now, this doesn’t mean that Die Jägerin is perfect. I mean, 75% of the fight scenes are just…they’re just horrible. No wonder it takes two slayers to beat one vampire. A real stunt choreographer, even working with cast members for a day, could have really improved the fight scenes and not made them so laughable. Jesus, I felt like I could beat all four slayers at once with those skills. Also, I was able to spot a number of goofs and errors including one of the slayers kicking a wooden leg off a chair twice, measly thin chains holding down slayers, a grave that isn’t big enough unless you’re burying a dog, and my favorite – “there’s more vampires outside now,” and then they manage to walk to another destination scott free to fight them all. Yeah. What?
Probably my favorite thing about Die Jägerin, which I know is going to sound stupid, is that the big bad in the movie looks a lot like the douchbag prison guard played by Doug Hutchison in The Green Mile. It made it so easy to hate him. A great casting choice!
Anyway… I’m going to give this one an 8 out of 10. It has a lot of superb qualities to it, but it also has a lot of mistakes and underwhelming pieces to it, too. The reason I’m rating it so high is because of its ability to cross language barriers. I watched the film twice: once when it came out on Youtube without subtitles, and then again a few weeks later when it had subtitles in English added. I was able to fully understand what was going on even though my first viewing was in a foreign language I don’t speak. And that says something. If you truly love “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” you’re going to want to watch this independent fan film. I think you’re going to like it as much as I did. Worse case scenario? It makes you laugh.
Spoiler Alert: Incase you don’t feel like watching the hour and two minute video on Youtube, I’ll put everything here for you. CAUTION: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! Basically we learn The First Evil has commissioned the capturing of slayers to try and find the strongest one. Once he finds the strongest one, he plans to super charge her with the essence of the first slayer and then possess and control her body much like he did with killer preacher, Caleb. We find out that after the big Slayer Army vs. Uber-vamp Army battle, the scythe did not go to Buffy or Faith and was put into hiding being that much more could be done with it than originally thought, including the reversal of the spell used to activate the potential slayers. This voids out Whedon’s canon comic book continuations, but it is a nice set up for spin-off comic book series, Fray, a story about the only slayer left in existence hundreds of years from now.
