Heathers (1989)

I was drawn to this movie after watching Wynona Ryder's role in Stranger Things. I knew nothing about it before watching, assuming it was some sort of John Hughes-ish teen comedy. A few minutes in, I realized it was actually a surprisingly dark, surreal, violent movie. The comical approach to violence and suicide is jarring and a bit weird. I appreciated how it explored the parallels between high school and society at large. I understood that the deaths were symbolic of societal breakdowns representing what it means to be a good human being.Ultimately, taken in the context of recent school shootings, I feel the film has not aged well. It comes across as insensitive, homophobic, and vulgar. The way it seemingly normalized violence left me disgusted. Aside from the acting and cinematography, which I think were subpar, the plot and vibe of the film are just wrong. It straddles the line of comedy and social commentary, never leaning enough to one side and leaving the audience wondering, "are they serious?"

Controversial and a mixed bag of lunacy, Heathers is a story about Veronica, a somewhat socially awkward "good-girl" who desperate for some semblance of affection, teams up with the schools snobby clique headed up by three girls all called Heather.Veronica, fed up of the pressures of teenage life and fitting in being cool at all times, meets a dangerous sociopath named JD, this guy JD has an awesome idea, why not just kill off all the cool kids, including the Heathers.A young Christian Slater portrays JD in one of his earlier roles, immediately through his performance you knew this young lad had some serious talent, personally I could see shades of Jack Nicholson in his acting style, always got to be a winner.Winona Ryder played Veronica, at this point in her fledgling career the actress still carried potential, she could've been one of Hollywood's greats, and this performance in Heathers did her no harm at all in pushing her in that direction.Okay, I don't quite know what to think of Heathers, it contains all the elements needed to be a cult classic, but for me it just wasn't hitting the right notes, I could compare it to a pristine classic car that is so beautiful, but you keep trying and keep trying, but the car just won't start up, and it's not going anywhere.Confusing is another word, and choppy, the editing seemed to be clunky, and the plot was like a spiders web, capable of following as long as you held onto the thin thread, but loose the thread and you lose control of the film and will become somewhat lost. I couldn't understand what croquet had to do with it, the girls were playing croquet in the back garden, is this to demonstrate style and sophistication, it certainly fit well with the girls snobby characters.And one thing that totally bemused me, the opening and end song, Que Sera Sera, made famous by Doris Day..., the usage of this song illustrates how confusing and mashed up Heathers really is, but alas, it worked because it evoked the right emotions, some serene happiness through a calming song to start and end the sheer madness in the middle.Avant-garde anyone? Hmm...? It certainly must be borderline.So I leave Heathers with mixed emotions, the murders hidden under the guise of teenage suicides has left a mark on me, my best advice would be to watch it at least twice, it's absolutely vital you watch it that second time, because it will answer the questions the first viewing asked you.

I actually heard that Stanley Kubrick had originally been tapped to direct. Anyhow, I really can't talk about this movie without revealing some spoilers. If you want the film to be a total surprise than I'll just tell you to see the movie. Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is part of a clique of three beautiful popular girls all conveniently named Heather; stereotypical mean girl Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), pushover Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk), and bookish Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty). The Heathers spend most of their time bullying the overweight Martha "Dumptruck" Dunnstock (Carrie Lynn) while Veronica has her eye for the loner new kid Jason "JD" Dean (Christian Slater). When Veronica brings JD along in a plan to get back at Chandler by making her a drink mix that will make her throw up, JD discreetly pours drain cleaner in it. Needless to say she dies. I should probably stop right there. If you love dark comedies than Heathers is highly recommended. If you were expecting a Mean Girls like story, I'd still recommend it but you have been warned.

Heathers is a decidedly unusual teen movie. While it covers some territory familiar to other films aimed at the same demographic, it does so in a manner that is less obvious and darker. It's essentially a black comedy about two types of malign influences that teenagers find themselves prone to, namely peer pressure from the popular and the appeal of the charismatic outsider. Both types of influence are shown here to have potentially horrendous consequences. Set in the American Midwest in and around a high school, there is a clique compromising of the four most popular girls in school. They are the (three) Heathers and Veronica; they revel in cruelty to those less fortunate than themselves. Things begin to change when Veronica develops a conscience and begins to see the Heathers for what they really are, a situation which is exacerbated by the influence of her new boyfriend, who has a psychotic side to him. Things are about to turn deadly.Heathers is an unusual film in that it doesn't lay out its intentions very clearly and it takes a bit of thought to try and work out the direction it is coming from. In many ways this is one of its strengths in that it is quite original and relatively unpredictable. It's probably also true that its content and tone don't always exactly match up, with the dark undercurrents being somewhat at odds with the pure comedy moments that compromise a large part of the proceedings. For the most part this weird combination essentially works, although I thought it did finally go off the rails by the final act which seemed out of place and a bit banal. Still, on the whole, it was an engagingly odd teen comedy which had the good grace to be actually laugh-out-loud funny on occasions such as the funeral with the football helmets, what a bottle of mineral water signifies in Ohio and a lot of funny dialogue sprinkled throughout. Much of the humour is of a dark kind though with much of it coming from the subject of teenage suicide and its aftermath. The film does explore this issue plus the different kinds of bad influences teenagers encounter very effectively. Also key to the success of the film is a winningly charismatic central performance from Wynona Ryder which helped propel her in to the front rank. Christian Slater also rose to prominence here with what is essentially a Jack Nicholson impersonation; it's a thoroughly punchable-face performance from start to finish. All-in-all, this unusual and somewhat transgressive teen comedy can fairly be considered a cult movie. Its combination of an appealingly colourful look, combined with smart comedy and dark undercurrents makes it one of the more interesting films of its type for sure.