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Heathers
A girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics: by killing the popular kids.
1989 · Directed by Michael Lehmann · 103 min · Comedy · Crime · Screenplay in the scene database · 17 frames
Tagline
Best friends, social trends and occasional murder.
Plot
At Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio, Veronica Sawyer is part of a popular-but-feared clique that includes three wealthy and beautiful girls with the same first name: Heather Duke, Heather McNamara, and the ruthless queen bee, Heather Chandler. Tired of the clique abusing its power, Veronica longs for her old life with her kinder but less popular friends. She becomes fascinated with new student Jason "J.D." Dean after he pulls out a gun and fires blanks to scare football-player bullies, Kurt and Ram. Outsider J.D., whose mother committed suicide, has a strained relationship with his explosives-obsessed demolition mogul father.
Veronica goes with Chandler to a frat party at Remington University, where she refuses to have sex with one member, unlike Chandler, who is coerced into performing oral sex. When Veronica drunkenly vomits on Chandler, Chandler vows to destroy Veronica's reputation in retaliation. Later, J.D. breaks into Veronica's house through her bedroom window, and they have sex. They express to each other their mutual hatred of Chandler's tyranny.
The next morning, Veronica and J.D. break into Chandler's house, planning revenge by using a fake hangover cure to make Chandler vomit. Veronica mixes orange juice and milk into a mug, but J.D. pours a mug full of drain cleaner, which Veronica accidentally grabs, mistakenly killing her. Veronica is horrified by the accident, but J.D. urges her to forge a dramatic suicide note in Chandler's handwriting. The community regards Chandler's apparent suicide as a tragic decision made by a troubled teenager, making her even more worshipped in death than in life. Duke uses the attention surrounding Chandler's death to gain popularity by going to many different news stations, feeling the need to be the clique's new leader.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Daniel Waters
- Cinematography: Francis Kenny
- Edited by: Norman Hollyn
- Music: David Newman
- Production design: Jon Hutman
- Produced by: Denise Di Novi
Cast
- Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer
- Christian Slater as Jason 'J.D.' Dean
- Shannen Doherty as Heather Duke
- Lisanne Falk as Heather McNamara
- Kim Walker as Heather Chandler
- Penelope Milford as Pauline Fleming
- Glenn Shadix as Father Ripper
- Lance Fenton as Kurt Kelly
- Jennifer Rhodes as Veronica's Mom
- Jeremy Applegate as Peter Dawson
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: New World Pictures, Cinemarque Entertainment, Trans Atlantic Entertainment
- Budget: $3,000,000
- Box office: $1,166,207
- Themes: high school, friendship, adolescence, suicide, diary, dark comedy, bully, teen movie, death, clique
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