Halloween is right around the corner. It’s the time of year when we’re naturally drawn to spooky, eerie, and thrilling experiences, making the season perfect for horror movie releases. The same applies to horror video games, though if you really want to be scared, we suggest playing the Robbing the Cradle mission from 2004’s Thief: Deadly Shadows — it’s a masterpiece of horror. Television and streaming shows, on the other hand, usually air their Halloween specials, many of which have become tradition.
The Simpsons have their Treehouse of Horror, which has been an annual tradition since the show’s second season; Brooklyn Nine-Nine has Halloween Heist episodes; and How I Met Your Mother has the notorious pumpkin episode that later became the recurring plot point throughout the series. And then there’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer — the iconic series about Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Vampire Slayer battling vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness. However, its own unique twist on Halloween and everything supernatural that takes place during All Hallows Eve.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran from 1997 to 2003, and during that time, the narrative peaked and dipped in quality throughout the series. Despite that, Buffy was continuously inventive with its story, the bulk of which focused on a central “Big Bad” of each season that would threaten the Scooby Gang. However, offshoot episodes that centered on smaller threats were equally exciting, and Buffy Halloween episodes weren’t an exception — though they had an interesting twist, we’re here to discuss.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer had only three Halloween episodes, which is really surprising considering that the show’s mythology was deeply influenced by classical horror elements. Just like offshoot episodes, these specials didn’t tie into the main narrative of the season or its central antagonist, but they did reinvent familiar horror tropes in interesting ways and even turned some of them inside out and on their heads. In fact, Halloween is apparently the safest time of the year to leave your doors unlocked in the fictional Sunnydale, despite it sitting on top of a Hellmouth portal that spews all kinds of evil.
Unlike typical horror stories, where Halloween is fraught with danger of the supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer cleverly flips the trope, emphasizing that nothing of significance happens on this traditionally spooky night. Halloween is simply depicted as a night when supernatural activity takes a backseat and a night off from terrorizing humans. In the series’ first Halloween episode, aptly titled “Halloween,” Giles explains that Halloween is actually a quiet night for the Scooby Gang, and for the most hilarious of reasons.
Apparently, demons and vampires find the human obsession with dressing up in costumes trivial and beneath their dignity. In other words, the forces of evil think that Halloween and its traditions are tacky and decide to stay in for the night. Had the show aired today, it’s pretty certain that a vampire would crack a “My culture is not a costume” joke, and it would set social media on fire — particularly among the vampire-rights activists on X, formerly known as Twitter.
All jokes aside, this subversion cleverly flips the all-too-familiar Halloween trope that associates the seasonal holiday with horror and danger. The flip injects a layer of dramatic irony into a show that’s usually filled with horror elements, such as vampires, demons, and Drusilla‘s “Do you love my insides? The parts you can’t see?” It also allowed writers to explore different types of threats, like the chaos caused by costumes that transform their wearers into their disguises, which happened in the aforementioned Halloween episode. Â
For example, Buffy’s 18th-century costume turns her into a damsel-in-distress, which contrasts with her role as both a Vampire Slayer (a role that’s inherently dangerous) and the antithesis to stereotypically regressive female roles that are associated with horror fiction. Xander’s military costume gives him the military know-how and the confidence that would define him going forward in the series after initially being portrayed as goofy and shallow. Willow’s ghost costume makes her invisible, though she does later develop the ability to walk through walls.
Later specials had stories of their own. In “Fear Itself,” the Scooby Gang is invited to a frat party for Halloween, but the residents of Alpha Delta house accidentally summon a demon that feasts on its victims’ fears. The third Halloween special, “All the Way,” follows Buffy’s younger sister as she leans into the same leadership role her sister has. This particular episode might stand out a bit since the vampires do devour the elderly recluse Kaltenbach — who, against all horror cliches, isn’t harboring a dark secret and simply falls prey to two vampires.
In the end, the subversion of typical Halloween horror tropes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a series that’s filled with all sorts of horrors, turned out to be a rather clever way of surprising and entertaining the audiences. So, if you’re looking for something to watch during a night that’s a given for scary entertainment, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Halloween episodes are a must.