Every Buffy The Vampire Slayer Holiday Episode Ranked From Worst To Best

Much like season two, Buffy fourth season is replete with humour, pairing every heavier episode with a lighter, more low-stakes counterpart (something season five through seven could learn a lot from).

Fear, Itself is one of the show's three Halloween episodes, and it relishes in fun from beginning to end. A group of college students paint mystical symbols on their frat house floor in preparation for their house of horror party and, lo and behold, the house comes alive, cursing and killing its occupants with living skeletons, swooping bats and disappearing doors.

There is a hefty dollop of humour, plenty of Halloween horrors and some killer action that plays on the Scooby Gang's deepest fears (Willow is unable to control her magic, Xander is invisible to his friends), but it is down to Anya (Emma Caulfield), her iconic pink bunny suit, and a chainsaw-wielding Giles to save the day. The pair bust their way into the frat house and locate the source of everyone's misery: the fear demon, Gachnar.

Gachnar, though, is the episode's final punchline, as, once summoned, we discover his major scares aren't quite matched by his miniature stature. For this, he is mocked by Xander and squished underfoot by Buffy herself.