My Review of Heathers (1988)

 

Written by Daniel Waters

Directed by Michael Lehmann 

Veronica: "I just killed my best friend."

J.D.: "And your worst enemy."

Veronica: "Same difference."

I fancied a bit of a black comedy and I went with this one from the late 1980s. It's been on my list to watch for a bit now and honestly, I do wish I had watched it earlier.

To say that Heathers wouldn't go on to influence the likes of Mean Girls and Scream Queens would be an understatement. Everything you like about those, this movie did it first and a tiny bit better. Notably with the title itself.

Yes, you've got Heathers - three of them in fact. These included the leader, Chandler (Kim Walker) and her put upon sidekicks Duke (Shannen Doherty) and McNamara (Lisanne Falk). The three of them set the tone at their highschool and in the mix was a Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder), who's become increasingly disillusioned with the callous tone set by the Heathers at school.

Meeting with the somewhat psychotic J.D. aka Jason Dean (Christian Slater) saw Veronica getting corrupted by his influence and it wasn't long before Heather Chandler ended up being the first victim. Veronica did feel a bit bad for killing her best "friend" but J.D.'s bloodlust became a massive problem as the movie progressed.

Veronica might not have approved of her boyfriend's action but J.D. definitely had no problem in making two idiotic football players, Ram (Patrick Labyorteaux) and Kurt (Lance Fenton) look like a suicidal gay couple. Then there was the murderous pair turning on each other to boot. All because Veronica developed a conscience. 

As the remaining Heathers went opposite ways in character development, suicide became a teen trend and then there was both Veronica and J.D. in one explosive showdown. Let's just say the prom didn't get cancelled and Veronica found alternative means to spend her time.

- The suicidal passages were from The Bell Jar and Moby Dick as they couldn't use The Catcher In The Rye.

- There was an idea for a sequel involving a President Heather and yeah, I wish that had happened.

- Standout music: The uses of Que Sera, Sera by Syd Straw (start of movie) and Sly And The Family Stone (end of movie) as well as Teenage Suicide (Dont Do It) by Big Fun.

- Chronology: The movie is set in Ohio during the 1980s.

Heathers certainly set a tone to some later dark teen comedies and TV shows and it's a delightfully macabre look into the corruption of youth. Genuinely biting lines, funny scenes, great performances and so on, I had immense fun with this.

Rating: 8 out of 10