Buffy Summers appears in a film.
Buffy Anne Summers is the titular character from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise . She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name . Buffy was portrayed by Kristy Swanson in the film , and later by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the television series . In the film , she is a high school cheerleader who learns that she is the Slayer ( a Chosen One gifted with the strength and skills to fight vampires , demons , and the forces of darkness ) . Joyce Summers is a fictional character in the action-horror television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer ( 1997 -- 2003 ) .