LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

classicsoncall Interestingly, there are some films that were wildly popular at the time they were released, but today seem like they should never have been made in the first place. Such a movie is "Heathers", when viewed within the context of massive school shootings and rampant suicide by disaffected members of society. I really couldn't get into the spirit of this picture, if spirit is even the right word. Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) seemed like the only responsible girl in her clique of multiple Heathers, yet succumbed to the fake charm of outsider Jason Dean (Christian Slater). That J.D.'s last name was Dean ought to give one an indication that in matters of high school decorum, he truly was a rebel without a cause.As a satire and parody of teenage disaffection the story has some merit, but when the principal characters take it to it's ultimate extreme, it ceases to be funny. So much so, that it's easy to come away with the impression that J.D. and Veronica wound up killing all three Heathers when in fact it was only Heather Red (Kim Walker) that got the Drano treatment. Heather Green (Shannen Doherty) surfaced to take her place as Westerburg High's resident queen bee, while Heather Yellow (Lisanne Falk) was ignominiously dumped from the script following her bathroom meltdown attended by a supportive Veronica.Besides the understated James Dean connection, I also had to do a quick double take when the story line introduced Veronica's former best friend. Taking place in the fictional town of Sherwood, Ohio, I was quite expecting Archie, Reggie and Jughead to show up from nearby Riverdale, because when all was said and done, why else would you introduce a couple of your principal characters as Betty and Veronica?

Wuchak RELEASED IN 1989 and directed by Michael Lehmann, "Heathers" stars Winona Ryder as Veronica, a high school student in Ohio who has sold herself out to join the popular clique of three girls, all coincidently named Heather (Kim Walker, Lisanne Falk & Shannen Doherty). The more she spends time with them, however, the more she discovers she can't stand them. Enter mysterious new kid, JD (Christian Slater), who has a macabre solution to Veronica's conundrum. This is an oddball teen movie that tries to be edgy and amusing with its black humor and overt cussing. Future movies were influenced by it, like "Jawbreaker" (1999) and maybe even "Mean Girls" (2004). The commentary on peer pressure, teen suicide and the maiming destructiveness of cliques is potent. Teens can be misled by the "popular" students, yes, but they can also be misled by the outcasts. Slater stands out as a sorta dark Fonz of the late 80s, easily one of his best roles ever. Ryder is surprisingly good as the protagonist. I say "surprisingly" because I was never big on her (although I didn't dislike her either). The first act is quite good, but the story gets humdrum in the middle; thankfully, the last 20 minutes perk up. The late 80's ambiance is to die for.I'm not going to give it away, but the original ending was way more morbid. They had an alternative ending that they didn't go with either. Apparently the studio pressured the writer/director to go with the theatrical ending, which I approve. It's a story of redemption. Being misled by corrupt people for a season doesn't define a person forever. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hours & 43 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles (the high school) and surrounding area (Santa Monica, Tujunga and Pasadena). WRITER: Daniel Waters.GRADE: B-/C+

John Brooks So it really is actually funny. Its completely caricatured representation of particular profiles, how it escalates blatantly fast and how complacently it gets out of hand... it's really funny stuff for an hour. Ryder, constantly criticized for her 'terrible acting', does very well here. Slater is good too as the totally icy sociopath.The film actually does well in giving body to its characters, we get to see why they are a particular way, they're not just randomly insane. But past that hour mark, it becomes too self-indulgent and when the laughs no longer happen we're left with an ending a bit too cute.The social commentary on the late 80's teenager condition can be appreciated, but this film seems to not pick a side: if you're giving the public an outrageous, very dark humored comedy for the whole two thirds of a film, you can't just stick that with a pseudo-deep final act in the end, especially when it's only half-convincing at all.

Red-Barracuda 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.