You beat me to it, Paige. I was just going to mention "The Body" (season 5). I don't think it's as creepy or scary as "Hush," but it is by far one of the most emotionally powerful pieces of film-making I've ever seen. And it has no score! It has so much intense, raw emotion in it, but no music to back it up. In fact, it's probably an example of a rare instance in which music would rob it of its power. Truly amazing.
"Hush" also has one of my favorite comedic moments in the series (and there are many): Buffy inadvertently making the "jerk off" motion when trying to mime the act of stabbing with a stake. Brilliant episode. Funny that it's in one of the weakest seasons (IMO).
For those of you who haven't seen Buffy, I
very highly recommend it. It truly was one of the most intelligently written shows on television. And if you don't believe me, watch "Hush." Even better, watch season 2 and wait until you get to the last episode ("Becoming, Part 2"). Gut-wrenching, beautiful writing. So few people have the guts to write anything that good for television, and fewer still have the guts to air it.
And while the movie is kind of amusing, don't make the mistake of thinking the two have much in common, or that the TV series is just more of the movie. Joss Whedon more or less had control of the film taken from him, and it ended up being much more light-hearted and less dark than he intended it. When the TV series sounds like it's referencing events from the film, it's actually not. It's referencing the comic book version, which is what the movie was originally meant to be. In terms of style and tone, the series is the way to go.
Speaking for myself, I got hooked when I was away on a business trip. I had to take classes during the day and stay in a motel room all night with nothing to do. USA Network had just started showing Buffy in syndication that week, so I started with the very first episode. It was pretty good, so of course I
had to see what happened next, and... I was completely hooked by the end of the week. It got so bad that by season 7 I was downloading copies of the show off of newsgroups the day before they even aired just so I could see them early (or at all; the show would often be preempted by baseball on my local station). Man, I had it bad.
I'm recovering now, though. Really.
Blake