In a 1992 comedy flick, a carefree cheerleader learns about her destiny to hunt down and kill vampires. Although this teenage girl is initially flippant about her burgeoning abilities, a series of events forces her to take vampire-hunting seriously. Amid a botched prom and an antagonistic showdown in the school basement, the girl and her allies emerge victorious, having put an end to the tyranny of vampires hounding Hemery High School. Mostly unserious and wholly slapstick, this Fran Rubel Kuzui-helmed film received a negative to lukewarm reception on release. This comedy was none other than "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

But this isn't the version of Buffy that entered the global pop culture DNA. After all, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the television series we know and love, is remembered through its enduring imagery: Black leather jackets, occult/religious iconography, passionate romance, and gothic architecture, to name just a few. At its...