{"id":1041,"date":"2014-12-25T08:11:58","date_gmt":"2014-12-25T13:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:09:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:09:00","slug":"heathers-1989","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1041","title":{"rendered":"Heathers-1989"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heathers-1989<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Michael Lehman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #207<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"580335\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed December 25, 2014<\/p>\n

Grade: B<\/strong><\/p>\n

My gut tells me that Heathers was quite controversial and influential upon release in 1989 and has sustained a cult following that continues to this day, 2014.<\/p>\n

Having seen the film only once in 2014, I found it good, but it now suffers from a slightly dated look and feel. Still, it is a brave and unique expression of creativity.<\/p>\n

It is a film that sends the message that the popular kids are bad and that the meek shall inherit the earth.<\/p>\n

The uncool kids will rise.<\/p>\n

To summarize the plot, Heathers is told from the perspective of high school student Veronica Sawyer, played by a young Winona Ryder. She is a second-tier popular girl- she is lieutenant to the generals, if you will.<\/p>\n

The school is run by three popular girls named Heather. As popular as they are, they are also despised and feared by the other students, but carry great influence.<\/p>\n

They enjoy playing cruel jokes on other students and ridiculing anyone beneath them.<\/p>\n

A rebellious male student, J.D., played by Christian Slater, befriends Veronica, and they hatch a plan to destroy the popular clique, including another pair of popular jocks.<\/p>\n

Shannon Doherty plays the second-in-command, Heather.<\/p>\n

The tone of Heather’s is surreal and dream-like. For example, in the opening scene, all three Heathers- along with Veronica- are on a perfectly manicured lawn in the suburbs playing croquet.<\/p>\n

The hierarchy is established when Veronica is buried up to her neck and becomes the target of the croquet balls, making her, without question, the lowest of the four girls.<\/p>\n

Whether or not this is a dream or real is unclear.<\/p>\n

The film is well-written and edgy. It reminds me, at times, of The Ice Storm (1997) and American Beauty (1999), which Heathers preceded and are, in my opinion, superior.<\/p>\n

Heathers is a teen angst film and quite dark at times- the various deaths are committed viciously (drain cleaner poisoning, concocting a setup for the jocks to appear to be having a love affair with each other, and then passionately shooting each other), but with sly wit and humor.<\/p>\n

Veronica is, at heart, a good girl, albeit misguided and heavily influenced by J.D., but her intentions of having a fair, just school society are noble. The character is likable.<\/p>\n

All the parents are hilariously portrayed as buffoons and have no idea of the darkness that exists in their kids’ lives- Veronica’s parents in particular.<\/p>\n

Fearing that Veronica has committed or soon will attempt suicide, they fret that it is their fault stemming from childhood negligence; however, their concern has more to do with themselves than with Veronica’s well-being.<\/p>\n

Small gripes about the film are the 1980s-style outfits and hairstyles, which, since they were made in the 1980s, are not a particular fault of the film, though it does contain a slightly dated feel while watching in the present.<\/p>\n

Also, Christian Slater mimicking Jack Nicholson’s voice is odd- was this a decision by the film or by the actor himself? Either way, the imitation is both distracting and confusing. What is the point?<\/p>\n

The ending of the film is a happy and satisfying conclusion- however, different from the dark tone of the rest of the movie- rumor has it that the studio had some influence in toning down the original ending.<\/p>\n

1989 was not a stellar year for film, so Heathers deserves major props for thinking outside the box and doing something dark and creative.<\/p>\n

Brave, inventive, and unique, Heathers is a cult classic worth a look.<\/p>\n

Independent Spirit Award Nominees: 1 win-<\/strong>Best Female Lead-Winona Ryder, Best Screenplay, Best First Feature (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heathers-1989 Director Michael Lehman Starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater Scott’s Review #207 Reviewed December 25, 2014 Grade: B My gut tells me that Heathers was quite controversial and influential upon release in 1989 and has sustained a cult following that continues to this day, 2014. Having seen the film only once in 2014, I found … Continue reading Heathers-1989<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,1651,49,179,41,215,11369,11368,11367,11370,207,1652,1650],"tags":[150,1654,252,180,73,216,11373,11372,11371,11374,208,1655,1653],"class_list":["post-1041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1989-films","category-christian-slater","category-comedies","category-darkcomedies","category-indiefilms","category-indie-comedies","category-kim-walker","category-lisanne-falk","category-michael-lehmann","category-penelope-milford","category-satires","category-shannen-doherty","category-winona-ryder","tag-1989-movie-reviews","tag-christian-slater","tag-comedies","tag-dark-comedies","tag-independent-films","tag-indie-comedies","tag-kim-walker","tag-lisanne-falk","tag-michael-lehmann","tag-penelope-milford","tag-satires","tag-shannen-doherty","tag-winona-ryder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1041"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23235,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions\/23235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}