'Buffy' Fans Show Their Undying Love

by westsider29 | July 24, 2007 at 06:54 am

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Ben Hatton is not, like, the biggest "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fan ever.

Yes, he might
have arrived three hours early to score the first spot in line for "The
Buffy Musical Big Screen Interactive Extravaganza" at the Avalon
Theatre on Friday at midnight. Yes, he might have downloaded all of the
songs to said extravaganza, and he might have memorized them, and his
wife might be sitting on a park bench 20 feet away because she is
embarrassed he made them come so early.But compared with the other 427 wannabe slayers who advance-purchased
their tickets for Friday's sold-out show and formed a queue stretching
around the corner, Hatton swears his fanship is relatively puny. "I
didn't wear a costume or anything," said the stocky 26-year-old video
store clerk. "I'm not going to be that fat dude dressed as Angel."

"The Buffy Extravaganza" is an audience-participatory screening
(think "Rocky Horror Picture Show") of "Once More, With Feeling," a
"Buffy" episode from 2001 in which a demon forces the residents of
Sunnydale to sing and dance out their darkest secrets. The mass-viewing
concept began in 2004 with uber-fan Clinton McClung, 36, mourning the
2003 cancellation of his favorite TV show after a seven-year run.

McClung, a midnight movie programmer at a Boston theater, decided to "geek out" by running "Once More, With Feeling." He prepared for 150 guests. He got 600.