Heathers

Heathers, released thirty years ago this weekend, was not a box office hit, but managed to make a mark on the genre of the high school film, which it turned upside down. It could not be made today in a post-Columbine world. I watched it last night and it still holds up, though the generational differences are stark.

A commentary on the social cliques in high school, Heathers is sort of a twisted version of a John Hughes film. Directed by Michael Lehmann, from a script by Daniel Waters, Heathers takes place in a candy-colored world, where the most popular girls at Westerberg High are all named Heather, and enjoy playing croquet. The leader (Kim Walker) is a tyrant, and in one of the areas I think the film gets high school wrong, she is the most popular girl in school while at the same time being hated by everyone, which doesn't make sense. In my days at high school, the most popular girl was liked by everyone.

Anyway, Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is intrigued by being part of the Heathers, but also realizes that they are cruel and inane. She is drawn to the new bad boy in school, Christian Slater, who is doing a Jack Nicholson impression. To show how times have changed, he pulls out a gun in the cafeteria and shoots at a couple of football players, but is only suspended for a week. Today he's be thrown in jail.

Slater hates the bourgeoisie of the suburban high school, and while he and Ryder begin a relationship, he brings out the rebel in her. She suggests slipping Walker something to make her vomit, but Slater gives her drain cleaner, which kills her instantly. They forge a suicide note, but much to their chagrin, this only makes Walker more popular in retrospect.

They will go on to kill the two football players, staging their death as a double suicide because they are homosexual lovers. Again this backfires, as they become martyrs. "I love my dead gay son," says a father, standing by his son's coffin, the corpses holding footballs and wearing helmets.

Ryder finally can't take it anymore, and Slater goes off the deep end, attempting to blow up the school. I won't reveal the ending, but suffice it to say it was set up for a sequel that never happened.

The script is biting and vulgar, and was not for kids (Ryder's agent begged her not to do the part, wrongly thinking it would ruin her career). There are a number of blunt but very memorable lines, such as when Walker says, "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw," or Ryder writes in her diary, "My teenage angst bullshit has a body count."

Waters' script is also full of Easter eggs. I'm sure Westerberg is for Paul Westerberg of The Replacements, and two cops are named McCord and Milner (the actors from Adam-12). Veronica's former best friend is named Betty (which will recall Archie comics for those who read them).

The film made Ryder a star, and launched a thirty-year crush for me that is unabated. Slater didn't quite become a movie star, although he has had roles on Broadway and in television that have been well-received. I don't know what happened to Carrie Lynn, who had the unfortunate job of playing Martha "Dumptruck" Dunnstock, an obese girl who is the subject of much of the cruelty in the film. The film does allow her a triumphant moment at the very end, though.

We can now look at Heathers as a black comedy that comes from a much more innocent time, where school shootings seemed outlandish.