Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit theaters in 1992 and, looking back, boasts an impressive cast of well-known actors. The film arrived riding a vampire movie revival wave that was spurred by ‘80s classics like Fright Night and The Lost Boys, and arguably peaked with another film from 1992, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. While Francis Ford Coppola’s stylish film emerged as a dark, brooding epic, Buffy took a lighter approach, mixing sunny high-school comedy with an old-fashioned, somewhat campy take on vampires (much to the dismay of its writer Joss Whedon, who wanted something darker).