I’ve Been Rewatching Buffy For Over 20 Years & I Nonetheless Have To Shut My Eyes For This Terrifying Scene

Within the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6 episode “After Life,” a really disturbing scene unfolds – Anya, with white eyes, laughs whereas chopping her personal face. This second is especially surprising as a result of the episode initially leads viewers to imagine a horror adopted Buffy again from the useless. After Buffy’s resurrection, unusual issues occur – creepy skulls seem in images, and Buffy is not performing like herself.

It seems a “hitchhiker” got here again with Buffy, a consequence of the magic used to revive her. This entity begins taking up the Scooby Gang’s our bodies to torment the others in terrifying Buffy scenes. This raises the terrifying query of whether or not bringing Buffy again was sensible in any case, which Willow is in denial about, foreshadowing the darkish Willow storyline. Anya turns into one of many possessed, resulting in the horrifying scene with Xander.

Anya Chopping Up Her Face Is The Most Terrifying Picture In Buffy Historical past

Anya’s Physique Will get Hijacked In A Horrifying Scene

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6 episode “After Life”, provides audiences the expectation {that a} horror has adopted Buffy again to Earth, however Anya’s horrifying scene is completely sudden. On this episode, Buffy has simply been introduced again to life, however every thing is unquestionably not okay. Buffy begins seeing creepy skulls in her household and mates’ images, and he or she is gloomy, quiet, and simply not Buffy.

It’s finally revealed that a “hitchhiker” adopted Buffy again once they resurrected her following her dying in Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 5. It’s a part of the magical steadiness – one thing unhealthy has to counteract the great of getting Buffy again on this planet. The hitchhiker takes over the Scoobies’ our bodies and torment the others, making it terrifying as a result of it alludes to the potential for the resurrection being a grave mistake. Anya is among the characters whose physique will get hijacked to frighten the gang.

The Anya Scene Is So Disturbing As a result of Buffy Is Messing With Horror Story Construction

Anya’s Scare Occurs On A Downswing

The rationale Anya’s hijacker scene is especially horrifying is that it occurs in a scene the place the scary occasion has already seemingly occurred, messing with the commonly accepted movement of horror pacing. It occurs when Buffy appears to have dreamwalked to intimidate Willow and Tara and name them “reckless bitches” for what they did. After this occurs, Willow calls Xander to inform him what occurred. In a traditional horror construction, this could be the down beat – the quiet aftermath after the scare.

As an alternative, the scare isn’t accomplished in any case. With vacant white eyes, Anya approaches Xander, a chilling chortle accompanying the self-inflicted cuts on her face. Abruptly, she collapses, the injuries inexplicably gone, leaving her unhurt however the state of affairs deeply disturbing. A wierd, lumpy entity then detaches from Anya, oozing by the ground and out of the room. Beforehand, it’s thought that one thing is flawed with Buffy, so that is the place the viewer’s consideration is directed – it’s a horrifying shock to see it affecting the opposite characters concerned within the resurrection spell.

Buffy’s Whole Premise Is A Sendup Of A Horror Trope

Shocking And Delighting The Viewer Is Key To BtVS’s Attraction

Joss Whedon hardly invented the surprisingly highly effective blonde, however he did take the subversion a lot additional than his predecessors. The slasher increase of the Eighties established the seemingly susceptible blonde teenage woman possessed a hidden, inexplicable energy. Motion pictures like A Nightmare on Elm Avenue 3: The Dream Warriors launched Kirsten, a blonde with dream-manipulation skills tied to her lineage. Equally, Friday the thirteenth Half VII: The New Blood featured Tina, a telekinetic blonde whose powers stemmed from trauma. Whereas reveling within the stalk-and-slash system, these movies incessantly imbued these fair-haired heroines with latent skills, though with arbitrary explanations.

The core of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is difficult horror tropes with a feminist slant.

The character of Buffy Summers, in distinction, has a key future which she grapples with for seven seasons. The core of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is difficult horror tropes with a feminist slant. This begins within the very first scene of BtVS, with Darla posing because the frightened blonde woman, solely to develop into the predator. This units up the expectation that accepted tropes can be turned on their head within the iconic sequence. This solely will get higher when Buffy is launched to Sunnydale.

Buffy Summers was a seemingly bizarre cheerleader burdened with the very actual, historic accountability in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her energy and talents weren’t arbitrary in any respect – they have been the results of an extended lineage. Buffy flipped the script on the 80s trope, presenting a blonde teenager whose energy wasn’t a handy plot machine however an intrinsic a part of her id and a heavy weight she needed to bear, all whereas navigating the relatable horrors of highschool. “After Life” equally flips expectations on their head, making it the other of a Buffy consolation episode.