Heathers (Heathers (DVD))

Member Name: lady_natalie

Product:	Heathers (DVD)
Date:	03/09/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great cast, unusual story line

Disadvantages: not at all believable

Westerberg High school has something other schools don't, 'Heathers'. They are a clique of the most popular girls in school who all happen to be called Heather. Veronica is their newest recruit, although for various reasons, including not being called Heather, she feels as though she doesn't exactly fit in. The Heathers use Veronica as a kind of dogs body, getting her to run around and do their bidding. Every dinner time the Heathers conduct a lunch time poll in the school cafeteria, and here new boy JD catches Veronica's eye. The two meet up after school and then start seeing each other, much to the disgust of head Heather, Heather Chandler, who has a bit of a falling out with Veronica after a disastrous party. To make amends, Veronica takes JD with her to go and see Heather in the morning, where she pours some orange juice to take her when she wakes her up. JD jokingly pours some drain cleaner and suggests that as Heathers wake up drink instead. Not looking what she's doing, Veronica picks up the drain cleaner and gives in to Heather, which she drinks in one go, dying seconds later. JD urges Veronica to use her talent of copying people hand writing to forge a suicide note, which she begrudgingly does. The next Heather, Heather Duke, immediately takes over as head Heather, and it's like nothing much has changed. The temps JD to lead Veronica on a bit of a killing spree, starting with the schools two most stupid jocks, and moving onto the rest of the school. Veronica wants to opt out of this sinister plan, but in JDs opinion, she's got to see it through to the end, and the two have to try to outwit each other, which will determine the fate of the school.

CAST

Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer
Christian Slater as Jason "JD" Dean
Shannen Doherty as Heather Duke
Kim Walker as Heather Chandler
Lisanne Falk as Heather McNamara

As you can see, the cast of Heathers is pretty good. Christian Slater plays the perfect slightly insane bad boy. He's different from the other boys in school, and of course he's good looking, it's easy to see why Veronica would fall for someone who can shake up her boring life a little bit. Christian and Winona Ryder do have great chemistry; apparently this went on for a while off screen too, at the time of filming. Winona plays a convincing wannabe Heather, you feel sorry for her being pushed about, and it's good to see her stand up for herself (to a degree). And I love the Heathers, they're complete bitches, and absolute professionals at being spoilt brats that always get what they want.

This film was kind of controversial at the time it was released, as it coincided with a bout of suicides in America, and with all the murders being passed off as suicide in this film, it kind of gives the impression that suicide was a fashion, all the cool kids were doing it. But I think this is a genius story line. I don't think there could be many boys that could pressure their girlfriends into murdering their friends and then making it come off as a suicide. Oh the powers of Christian Slater! Although the plot of this film is quite sinister, the way it's done is really funny. JD comes up with some really inventive ways of getting rid of his classmates. I'm not sure how Veronica can remain so clueless, but it's great when she takes a stand and starts to fight against JD, it's exciting to see who will win in the end.

Heathers isn't for anyone who wants to watch an easy going teen movie, it does have a darker side, of course one of the main themes of the film is murder! And it also contains some sex, so this film isn't for kids. However, it is a really funny, classic film from the 80s. I can't believe it when I come across people who haven't already seen this; I consider it an essential to my DVD collection!

Summary: black comedy from the 80s