Before directing the big picture The Avengers or the botched Justice League, Joss Whedon directed a brilliant teen drama called Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The sitcom featured the exploits of a young and beautiful girl from Sunnydale, a small American town.
She was chosen to be The Slayer, a supernatural person with superpowers and other abilities who hunts, fights, and destroys supernatural beings such as demons, vampires, and other dark entities. Buffy, like past slayers, had a Watcher who helped her by guiding, training, and teaching her.
Buffy initially desired to live the mundane life of a small-town girl, but she eventually grew to appreciate the responsibilities she was given. Teen dramas came and went in the 1990s, but from 1997 through 2003, this show had the benefit of a large fan base. Whedon had complete creative authority over the production, and his inventive imagination is visible throughout the seven seasons.
Despite the fact that he did not direct all of the episodes, his influence can be seen in each one. It’s a well-known fact that a film or television show is only as good as its antagonist, and boy! There were some spectacular and memorable villains in this one.
Demons that force you to reveal your secrets through songs, sentient entities that exist solely on the darkness hidden in the depths of your heart, German demons that feed on deformed children, and monsters that ate the skin of living humans are just some of the creatures you’ll encounter.
As rumours about Buffy’s return circulate, we decided to compile a list of some of the most iconic and terrifying monsters who have plagued the murky and grim town of Sunnydale. Buffy fought and killed some of these monsters, exploded others, and missed others. So grab your Glove Of Myhnegon and your antique Scythe, for this is going to be a fantastic and creepy adventure.
Der Kindestod from Episode 18 Season 2, Killed By Death
Buffy is admitted to the hospital after contracting the illness in this episode. She had developed a fear of hospitals when she was eight years old after witnessing her cousin Celia die in one.
Years later, Buffy finds herself in need of treatment, but she is up against something more than her anxiety. The hospital’s doctor appears to be conducting insane experiments on the children at first, but his death reveals that the facility is actually afflicted by a demonic creature known as Der Kindestod, which translates to “child’s death.”
Kindestod would arrive in the dead of night to suffocate diseased children and disguise the killings as natural deaths. Buffy learns that even her cousin Celia was a victim of Kindestod and that she didn’t succumb to her disease.Buffy must eliminate this evil child killer and save the hospital from its sickening wrath.
Kindestodwill remain one of the sickest demons to have roamed Sunnydale. It’s not just his horribly grotesque appearance that brings him the negative claim to fame but also his nauseating diet.
The demon preys on sickly children by sucking their life through tentacle-like protrusions coming out of his eye sockets. Adults and healthy children can not see him, and he does not target them. Naturally, Buffy had to reinfect herself after she got well, so that she could see the monster.
Der Kindestod is a German name, and the creature resembles a few bad guys from German folklore, but his modus operandi and victims suggest that he is most similar to the German legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The Pied Piper also wreaked havoc on a town’s children by taking them away, and they were never heard from again.
Many historians believe that this demonic musician was the symbol of a plague that ravaged German towns in the twelfth and thirteenth century. Kindestod, like the Pied Piper, preys on sick youngsters. Aside from the legend, Kindestod has a striking similarity to Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street anthology.
Freddy was a child killer as well, and only those who feared him could see him. While Freddy chose his victims based on mental flaws, Kindest chose victims based on physical flaws.
The Gentlemen From Episode 10 Season 4
Our young slayer and her pals are confronted with an unusual challenge in the shape of a bunch of demons who steal people’s voices in this instalment. The responsible creatures, known only as The Gentlemen, travel from town to town in pursuit of seven human hearts to devour.
The Gentlemen descend in the middle of the night, as the citizens of Sunnydale slumber quietly, and steal their voices. The next day is a shambles since no one can speak. The work of ghoul-like skeletal beings, Buffy and her friends realised. Seven people will lose their hearts, as well as their lives, if they are not stopped.
This episode, titled Hush, is considered one of the best episodes of the entire show. For one thing, Joss Whedon himself directed and wrote the episode, and secondly, it has got a rating of 9.7 on IMDb.
Hush was the only episode from the show to be nominated for an Emmy. Many factors contributed to this achievement, one of them beingthe famous creature actor and mime artist Doug Jones , who played the role of the tallest of The Gentlemen. The monsters are well-groomed demons in black suits who wore a constant grin on their metallic teeth. Instead of walking, they floated gracefully above the ground.
As their name suggests, these are probably the most well-mannered demons, as can be seen in their gestures and hand movements. Not surprisingly, these pale-skinned and bald beasts seem to hate any sort of noise, but their greatest weakness is the human voice.
That’s why they take everyone’s voices and lock them away in a strange box. The similarities between The Gentlemen and Pinhead from the Hellraiser anthology, as well as the titular vampire from the 1922 film Nosferatu, are easy to discern. It’s enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine with that potent mix.
Gnarl from Season 7 Episode 3
Buffy and her friends travel to the airport to pick up a buddy, but she is nowhere to be found. It turns out she’s up against Gnarl, a skin-eating demon. The devil also kills a little boy who was writing graffiti on a wall but had no idea it would be his last act of vandalism.
The Scooby Gang quickly realises that something is wrong, and they search for both their companion and the demon. They arrive at Gnarl’s lair, which turns out to be a cave, and stop him from eating his skinny delicacy. Buffy uses her brains and fists to defeat the demon and save her companion, who has been crippled by Gnarl.
Camden Toy played Gnarl. He also played other monsters from the Buffy universe, such as one of The Gentlemen, and an ubervamp calledTurok-Han. As mentioned earlier, Gnarl’s appetite consisted of human skin, but in order to eat it, he had to ensure that his victims were not moving or struggling.
And why not! We wouldn’t enjoy eating a beef steak if it was constantly trying to run away from our forks and knives. Gnarl would paralyze his victims through a secretion that came out of his talon-shaped fingernails, and they would only be cured of the paralysis once Gnarl was dead.
These long and sharp talons also helped him skin his victim’s bodies strip by strip. Yes, his victims would be alive while being eaten, ensuring that the skin was as fresh as possible. The sequence in which he tears off Willow’s skin and eats it is terrifying and disgusting.
Interestingly, this skin-gorging, hideous, and horrible creature was immune to magic. His fear factor was also heightened by his proclivity for speaking in rhymes in a somewhat melodious and melodic tone. To summarise, Gnarl was a skin-eating, sing-songy demon who enjoyed lulling you to eternal sleep.
Angelus
Angelus is undoubtedly one of Buffy’s most prominent and dangerous foes. He was born in the year 1727 in Ireland as Liam and lived the life of a spoiled brat. His father scolded him when he reached maturity for living a luxurious and immoral life. Soon after, he met Darla, a woman who promised to empower him and show him the wonders of life.
She was, however, a vampire, and the only way she could give Liam the time of his life was to convert him to be like her. Liam wrought havoc in his hometown of Galway after his conversion, killing his family.
Liam soon adopted the name Angelus. Together, he and Darla visited various towns and cities to convert and kill people, and they built up a reputation as the deadliest vampires in the world. However, in 1898, Angelus killed the daughter of a gypsy tribe’s leader. The entire tribe cursed Angelus to live a human’s life, and that’s when Angelus got his soul back.
The curse would be broken only after Angelus felt one moment of true happiness. He started repenting the murders he committed in the past, and in order to redeem himself, he started killing murderers, rapists, and other criminals. It was these quests that led him to meet Buffy in Sunnydale. The two eventually ended up having sex, and Angelus felt true happiness, which ultimately broke his curse, allowing him to regain his vampirish self.
Angelus, as a vampire, possesses superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and regeneration. What makes him particularly dangerous is that he combines his athletic prowess with a fondness for psychological and bodily pain. Once upon a time, he attacked her family and friends and drove a mentally sound girl insane.
To him, it’s no great problem to turn even the closest of friends against each other. He possesses other talents as a result of his lengthy existence, such as telepathic links with his victim, photographic memory, and massive knowledge of the occult and demonology.
All of this is accompanied by his endearing demeanour and charisma. Interestingly, Buffy and Angelus’ relationship was just like a fairytale, with the mortal enemies finding love for each other. However, as soon as Buffy had sex with him, he changed into a completely new person and became distant and mean.
It’s almost like relationships in present times: couples have sex, and then one of them shows their true colors. So you see, Angelus is not just a blood-sucking vampire from the movies or shows. He’s an extremely sadistic, brutal, intelligent, and manipulative vampire. So, if his fists don’t do the trick, he has his wits at his disposal.
Queller Demon from Season 5 Episode 9
The Queller Demon is one of the Buffy universe’s many extraterrestrial demons. It’s a disgusting slug-like humanoid demon summoned to Earth whenever chaos reigns. It eats the brains of insane people and chokes them with a slimy material.
The Queller Demon is an extraterrestrial creature that lives in space on meteorites and hatches when it arrives on Earth. Joyce, Buffy’s mother, suffers a brain tumour and requires surgery in this episode. Initially, she is confined in the hospital, but the doctor agrees when Buffy insists on being allowed to go home.
However, the demon attaches itself to the bottom of their car and travels to Buffy’s house, where it assaults Joyce, unbeknownst to everybody. Throughout history, and especially in the Middle Ages, the Queller Demon has been summoned various times, and this time it was Ben who called it to take care of the insane.
The creature showcased grotesque eating habits, and looked hideous and slimy. Most of the scenes showed it climbing walls or latching on roofs. It’s no surprise that this dysfunctional demon hada certaindexterity for discovering the demented.
The Ugly Man From Season 1 Episode 10
This episode, like the one with The Gentlemen, has a strange but compelling plot. Buffy and her friends begin to encounter strange and unusual events, such as Buffy’s father accusing her of being responsible for her parents’ divorce, one character losing all of his clothes but his boxers, and Buffy herself being buried and turned into a vampire when unearthed. The characters quickly discover that these are their own nightmares coming true. And it’s all because of a young boy named Billy, who is in a coma.
Young Billy’s coach thrashed him so severely that he went into a coma. The beating was obviously too much for the child, both mentally and physically. Therefore, his fears took the form of The Ugly Man, who haunted Buffy and her friends. He even attacked one of Buffy’s acquaintances named Laura.
He was a hideous monster with a burnt and deformed face. Instead of hands, he had two long and fleshy clubs with which he attacked people. The episode depicted astral projections for the first time and had a strange antagonist. It was hailed widely for the unique storyline and cinematization, but the underwhelming performances by a few cast members somewhat took away from the episode’s brilliance.
The Master
The Master was the most powerful and oldest vampire of all time, having been transformed into a vampire by the demon lord Archaeus himself. Archaeus established his own vampire bloodline, with The Master as his most devoted follower.
The Master wanted to open Hellmouth, a doorway that would let demons from Hell to roam on Earth and destroy all humans, soon after his conversion. The ceremony began, but an anomaly caused a large earthquake that devastated most of Sunnydale and trapped him for millennia beneath the ruins.
During this period, he enlisted the aid of many of his subordinates in an attempt to acquire enough power to break free from his natural prison, but he failed miserably every time. It was much later that he managed to trick Buffy herself and drink a little of her blood. The blood of a slayer gave him the necessary power, and he escaped, but his freedom was extremely short-lived.
The Master was the most peculiar of all the vampires who appeared on the show. For starters, he believed in the cause more than he cared for himself or anyone else. Despite being the leader of the Order of Aurelius , he believed that his minions were his children instead of his slaves or disciples.
However, nepotism was not alien to his so-called family, and he certainly showed preferential treatment to Darla and the Anointed One. The Master was the most ancient of vampires and this magnified his powers to great extents.
Despite spending more than sixty years in a pool of blood underneath the surface, he survived long enough to break out of it. He gained control over his inclinations and fears, allowing him to be more resilient in the face of the cross.
His hand emitted smoke when he touched it, yet the weapon did no significant damage to him. His mature and elderly intellect was capable of hypnotising everybody and everyone. It was so strong that even Buffy couldn’t stand up to it and was struck motionless with just a wave of his hand.
When wounded in the heart, most vampires disintegrate to dust, but The Master turned into a skeleton. This way, he had another opportunity to seek resurrection. All we have to say is that he’s aptly been named as the Master, and Mark Metcalf did an efficient job at playing the six centuries old Master Vampire. It would be awesome to see him in a live-action film, where he would take on Buffy and her Scooby gang.
The First Evil
The First Evil is neither a man nor a woman, nor is it the devil or god. It’s more akin to a sentient form of pure energy with the ability to deceive and trick others. It has existed since before the universe was created, has survived the big bang, and will continue to exist after the cosmos meets its own end.
The First Evil is eternal and immortal in this sense. Naturally, The First can be regarded the very first entity to exist, yet neither its creator nor its source of creation are known. Though The Evil cannot physically touch the living world, it can indirectly do so by shapeshifting into the bodies of individuals who have passed on.
It also has the most intricate knowledge of human psychology and physiology. This gives The First an edge over all beings, able to deceive them by taking various forms. In season 3, episode 10, The First made its debut, and tried to drive Angel insane and trick him into killing Buffy. However, its’ plans failed when Angel decided to sacrifice himself instead. After this, it appeared in fifteen episodes of the seventh season.
Despite being incorporeal and intangible, the First is the embodiment of all the darkness and evil that people have in their hearts. It uses these fallacies and weaknesses to haunt people and drive them crazy or turn them towards committing suicide.
It is omniscient when it comes to knowledge of dark magic, the occult, and rituals. When not disguising as dead humans or monsters, The First looks like a huge cloaked demon, with gigantic talons and horns, making it feel very much like an apparition.
When we consider The First Evil on a larger scale, we see that evil is eternal and ubiquitous. Because it thrives on the evil that exists in people’s hearts, it can never be completely destroyed. And it’s an unwritten rule that people will never be completely good; evil will always lurk in their hearts.
Sweet From Season 6 Episode 7
Sweet was one of the Buffy Universe’s most unique, seductive, and compelling demons. His power came from the fact that he could make people sing songs and convey what was deep inside their souls.
Not only did these musical secrets cause problems between friends and lovers, but they also caused problems between friends and lovers. People would sing for so long and loudly that they would burst into flames. Sweet adhered to certain guidelines, like as marrying the women who brought him to Earth.
He was called by Xander with the use of a talisman in this episode. However, upon his arrival, he saw the talisman in possession of Buffy’s sister Dawn and figured that she was the conjurer.
In a bid to intimidate Sweet and stop him from taking her to his dimension as his wife, Dawn told him that she was the Slayer’s sister. However, the plan backfired as Sweet made Buffy sing and then dance.
She was saved from bursting into flames by Spike but Sweet insisted on taking away Dawn. It was only after he found out that Xander was the one who conjured him that he bent his own rules and left the scene. The episode is arguably the best of the entire show, and the credit goes to the beautiful screenplay.
Sweet is also the funkiest and coolest Buffy Demon of all time! Sweet’s looks is mainly notable for his red skin and exquisite blue and red clothes. He could easily captivate people and make them sing and dance, as well as manufacture background music from anything in the performer’s environment.
The Judge From Season 2 Episode 13
The Judge was a powerful demon who appeared unkillable at first, but Buffy’s fast thinking turned the tables on him. He was huge, slender, and muscular, and he could burn anyone with just his eyes or motions.
Six hundred years before the events in Sunnydale, he was summoned to Earth to assess people depending on their level of humanity. At his judgement, anyone with even a smidgeon of humanity would be burned alive. Soldiers dismembered his body and concealed the bits in various areas of the world after a long struggle.
All of his body parts, on the other hand, were fully cognizant and living, waiting to be reassembled. In the modern day, Spike and his vampire girlfriend finally manage to reintegrate him. Initially, the Judge has trouble using his powers, but as time passes, his powers reach their epitome, and he wreaks havoc at a Sunnydale mall.
The Judge’s demise came as a result of his own ego. He believed that no weapon was powerful enough to kill him, so as Buffy shot a rocket at him, he just kept standing there in harm’s way, beliewing that he would remain unharmed. However, it seems that American rockets are potent demon killers.
The Scooby Gang dismembered the Judge once more, this time ensuring that his body parts did not recombine. Brian Thompson, who has been in films such as Terminator, Lionheart, and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, was cast as the beast.