Movies-TV

Movies that DON'T SUCK

The transfer and audio on this DVD are acceptable, haven't managed to watch any of the DVD extras, but screened this movie for several people who haven't seen it in ages, and some people who hadn't been born yet when the movie came out... everyone agrees, this movie doesn't suck!

A classic movie, it had a huge influence on many movies that came later and a pop culture phenomenon... A must see if you like watching movies.

"Eskimo"

DARK AND OFTEN BIZARRE, BUT DAZZLING IN EVERY WAY

What a superbly crafted black comedy with an insider's view of highschool powerplays, teenage angst, clueless parents, twerpy faculty, etc etc. Could have easily gone down the beaten path and become one of the countless teen movies, but this is undoubtedly an under-rated gem!

As some reviewers lament, be prepared for parts that are dark and disturbing, but the film is also hilarious for the most part, and whatever your emotional reaction, the dialogue is never off-target. In fact the film's script and visual style are so clever that laughing at murder does not seem much of a guilty pleasure.

For all the talk of suicide, the underlying theme couches a universal and heartening meaning: that all people are created equal, the "in crowd" as well as the nerds.

You need your sense of humor in the right place, and if you've got it there, this movie comes highly recommended from me!

Swatch Dogs and Diet Coke Heads

Heather's is a cult classic! I was only 5 years old when Heather's hit the big screen. But thanks to channels like TNT I have been fortunate to catch Heather's on late night cable. This movie makes you laugh one second and shudder the next at how cruel and viscious high school students can be at times. It's not your regular 80's teen flick. It's more then that. I recommend that if you haven't seen Heather's that you rent it today!

F*** me gently with a chainsaw!

This was a MOVIE, and that deserves to be in all capital letters. Before there was Heathers, there was nothing even remotely close to this. There were movies about high school, to be sure, but they featured nothing but beautiful people in the midst of adolescent crushes and breaking down social taboos. There was nothing that implied that any of them were anything but vain, none of them were genuinly evil. But man, these gals were absolutely positivly EVIL.

Chocked full of great quotes (ex. "What's your damage, Heather?"), hilariously funny scenes which should otherwise be depressing around suicide / murder scenes, and misguided high school mentality, this took the high school experience to a new high and new low. Veronica, played by Wynona Ryder in her first major break through role, is one of the Heathers. She wanted to get into the most powerful clique in school, a group of arrogant, evil girls who all the boys want to screw and all the girls might hate but secretly want to be. She finds that being with them is not all it's cracked up to be. She's conned into the note trick, going out to parties she otherwise doesn't want to be at, and hanging around with people she otherwise doesn't like. It's lonely at the top, as they say. One day she meets a handsome stranger, JD, a young Christian Slater who made girls squeal before he turned into a burned out Hollywood celebrity who does little but skirt chase and get nosebleeds, and is smitten in teen lust for him. The Heathers don't approve of him, as he's not their type of material, but he wins Veronica over with his bad boy charms and soon the two are an item. When Veronica accidentally kills the most evil Heather of them all when she serves her a hot cup of liquid Drano, they decide to cover it up with a suicide note. Soon, teenage suicide takes on a whole new spin. Suicide victims are glorified, a new Heather rises to the occation, JD goes on a new rampage to rid the world of other social degenerates, and all hell breaks loose.

There is so much genius in a dark comedy like this. From the subtilies of their slang, the silent prayers of the other kids at the funerals, the attitudes of the teachers, to the other, lesser characters in school, eveyone had something terrible to say about how rotten it is to be a teenager. And somehow Veronica had heart about her. She is the snotty popular girl who was accepted in the clique, but she still longs for her more geniune friends (Betty). What keeps her from going with the really good people and back to the bad ones (the Heathers and JD) is that she's weak. Like one of the other Heathers, it's easier just to be a follower than to stand up to the stronger ones or shun them completely.

Those teachers with all their academic, elitist yet flake mentalities are a scream. The cruel and aweful treatment of Martha DumpTruck (way before political correctness told us not to make fun of people with sizest disabilities) make you cry as much as they make you laugh. I even knew a gal in high school who had the same relationship with her parents that Veronica did with hers which made it all the more funny ("Want some pate?"), and she was one of the clique. And she was a dingbat. If she only knew how funny it really was looking back.

This also paved the way for many movies to come. Take away the 80s fashions and it transends the ages. Extreme violence movies, modern day toils about high school antics of the popular girls making others' lives bad (ex. Mean Girls), and even the somewhat raunchier sitcoms (ex. Sex In The City) all had roots here in Heathers. Unfortunately, there are some very dark roots in Heathers, as this was made long before kids were bringing guns to school, detonating bombs, and destroying everyone around them. Enjoy it for what it is, a fest of evil, self serving meanness. And it's deep too.

First Came "Heathers," Then Came Columbine.

Watching "The Truth About Cats and Dogs" director Michael Lehmann's audaciously abrasive comedy "Heathers" with Winona Ryder and Christian Slater is like spiking your morning orange juice with Drano. Although the unsavory shenanigans of Ryder and Slater are rather morbid and mean-spirited, the victims of their pranks fully deserve the consequences. No, audiences who adored John Hughes' delightful teen angst comedies would probably find it a supreme challenge to sit through this trenchant, traumatic tale. The same applies for uptight religious fanatics and self-conscious prudes without a sick sense of humor. Anybody that has ever suffered at the hands of snobbish people or bullies will relish this film thoroughly and ultimately want to add it to their film collection. Generally, most critics cite the Leonardo DiCaprio drama "The Basketball Diaries" as the stimulus for the dreadful Columbine high school massacre. In retrospect, "Heathers" surpasses "The Basketball Diaries" as a most likely candidate for the movie that triggered the shooting rampage that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold launched back in April 1999 as a result of the social cliques, subcultures, and bullying that pervaded their Colorado-based high school.

"Heathers" takes place at Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio, where fashion-minded Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder of "Lost Souls") tries to fit in with three vain and vicious vixens all of whom share the same first name Heather: Heather Chandler (Kim Walker of "Say Anything"), Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty of "Mall Rats") and Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk of "Suicide Kings"), that reserve nothing but venom for all that cross their paths. Veronica comes from a well-to-do but rather dysfunctional family, too. When her father (William Cort) wonders aloud why he reads spy novels and smokes cigarettes, Veronica reminds him that he is an "idiot." Strangely, while she lacks the cruelty that drives the Heathers, Veronica has a conscience and a kind word for most people, so she seems rather out-of-place with this terrible triumvirate. Indeed, she seems like a considerate Nazi that follows orders. The Heathers are grooming her and they use her uncanny ability to forge letters. For their first prank, Chandler coerces Veronica into forging a note from a jock to a Martha 'Dumptruck' Dunnstock (Carrie Lynn of "Disturbed"), a short, fat, ugly girl. While the Heathers and Veronica are up to these antics, Jason J.D. Dean (Christian Slater of "True Romance") watches this spectacle from the corner of the lunchroom. Dressed in a long, black coat, J.D. wears a squinty-eyed expression and delivers each line with a Jack Nicholson-esquire accent. Not only does J.D. attract Veronica's interest, but he also draws the attention of two letter-jacketed jocks, Ram Sweeney (Patrick Labyorteaux of "Ghoulies III") and Peter Dawson (Jeremy Applegate of "The Cable Guy"), who try to harass him. J.D. rises and pulls a pistol and shoots them. Later, we learn that he had loaded blanks in his gun.

"Heathers" was scenarist Daniel Waters' first screenplay. He went on to write "Hudson Hawk," "Demolition Man," and "Batman Returns." Waters' script drips with sarcasm galore. Look at the "Heathers" home page on IMDb.COM for these memorable barbs. Anyway, Lehmann and he skewer themes like teen suicide and peer pressure without a qualm. Audiences that cringe at the frequent usage of the F-word and the S-word are hereby warned. Eventually, Veronica joins forces with J.D., a loner who has spent his life moving around wherever his father's jobs take him in the construction industry. Like Veronica, J.D. enjoys a witty, irreverent relationship with his dad. Revealing anything else about this absolutely brilliant but politically incorrect chronicle would dilute its impact. Prepare yourself to be entertained and enlightened by one of the more clever example of the 1980s. Sadly, the careers of both Winona Ryder and Christian Slater lost them impact in the late 1999s. She got into trouble for shoplifting, while Slater repeatedly chose bad movies and eventually found himself in straight-to-video schlock with occasional exceptions like John Woo's "Windtalkers." Director Michael Lehmann helmed a couple of winners like "The Truth About Cats and Dogs" and the goofy "Airheads," but he has confined himself since to television. Nevertheless, "Heathers" remains a groundbreaking film that can be watch repeatedly.


Of course, the dark side of this film is that could be charged with creating the kind of moronic, anti-social imbeciles who engineered the Columbine massacre. And you know in our society, we always have to find a scapegoat--like a great movie--to blame what went wrong rather than the parents, administrators, and students that forged those monster.

One very socially important movie

This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I think it reflects our High School society as well as it did back in 88', for the record, I am NOT promoting killing those who don't like you, I am saying that this is what has High School has come to, no one can be accepted if they are not in a certain "Clique", and I think that is very sad, I think this movie might help wake up society to the absurdities of their social segregation, and help them to hear that not everyone is going to be good looking, or popular or rich, the best thing they can be is human, I think Dan Waters wrote a fantastic script and it was funny and serious at the same time, Winona Ryder and Christian Slater really had chemistry, and Michael Lehmann directed it to almost perfection, I think this movie, tells a message without slamming it in your face, and it also it DOES NOT promote violence in schools, if thats what you right wings are thinking, I think it shows it as a useless option, I just hope that after people see this that they will think about whats going on, I certainly did.

"Heathers." Enough said.

"Heathers" is one of my all time favorite movies! I recommend buying it for anyone who loves the darker side of the teen years, and also for anyone who loves some great one-liners. This movie defines the high school experience by subconsciously fulfilling the need for every teenager to be rid of that oh-so-annoying clique of snobs that is present in any high school in America. But besides that, "Heathers". Enough said.

Amazing Film

I love this movie. It was a favourite in my youth.

The Ultimate Teenage Fantasy Gone Awry

Imagine a school free of homophobic jocks, ...cliques, and snobs? It might seem like a dream come true, but in reality it is an idea that seems too far fetched. In "Heathers," we get to live the dream in a comedic masterpiece that has become a cult classic.

Veronica (Ryder) is a member of the most popular clique at Westerburg High. The clique consisting of three girls all named Heather, rule the school with fear, and no one dares to rain on their parade, until a dark knight named Jason Dean or J.D. for short (Slater) moves into town. After a miserable social debut at Remington University, Veronica is banished from the clique by Heather No. 1(Lisannne Falk).

The day after, and probably by accident on Veronica's fault (but J.D. knew about it), Heather No. 1 is killed by a cup of liquid drainer and Westerburg is pulled into an emotional outpouring of hypocrisy following the death of Heather No. 1. After the planned murders of the two homophobic football jocks, Veronica realizes that the most hated kids at school have become more popular in death. After breaking up with J.D., Veronica now must stop him from committing the ultimate act of high school social sanitization--blowing up the entire school with kids and all.

Considered by many as being one of her greatest performances, Ryder carries the film with witty, sarcastic language. J.D. is excellent as a Jack Nicholson-esque rebel bent out uniting all social classes in the only place where they are equal, heaven. The late Kim Walker (she passed away in March 2001 of a brain tumor ironically, since one of her famous lines in the film was "Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?") was amazing as the ever-difficult Heather Chandler, leader of the notorious clique.

This film has provided Generation X with probably more catch phrases than any other film in recent history. Phrases like "...me gently with a chainsaw," "Do I look like Mother Teresa?," and "You're Beautiful," have all becomed part of the modern lexicon in America. New terms such as "Swatch dogs," "Diet Coke-heads," and even the name of a character in the movie ("Martha Dumptruck") have all become popular words in the average Gen-Xer's vocabulary.

Things to look out here are a pre-Beverly Hills, 90210 Shannen Doherty playing Heather no. 3. Veronica's best friend in her pre-Heathers day, played by is Betty Finn (get it? Betty and Veronica, as from the Archie comics) and the school was named in honor Paul Westerburg, the popular musician. By the way, Betty Finn is played by Renee Estevez, sister of both Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen...

"Is this as good for you as it is for me?"

Probably. I'm beginning to love Winona Ryder now because of this movie. It talks a whole lot about suicide with high schoolers and homosexuals and comedy all in one. Look at BEETLEJUICE this way because that was almost similar and with dark humor, this is good. Even though some of it is just plain silly, what would you expect when suicide and romance and all that other stuff wreaks havoc??

A Classic of Dark Comedy

The great thing about Heathers is that it never backs down. There are occasions recently where a movie is billed as a "block comedy", but refuses to take that extra step over the cliff to make it truly dark or memorable. Heathers fears not what people think.

No subject goes too far for Heathers - suicide, murder, eating disorders, sex, whatever. It take equal aim at all of these, as well as people, our educational system, and many aspects of society. It does so in such a viscious and in-your-face way that it is impossible not to look on, even if in a rubber-necking at a car accident way.

Very early in the film, we are treated to a scene that is thematic of the experience. Christian Slater, in the role that cemented his comparisons as a "Little Jack Nicholson", is sitting in the cafeteria getting harrassed by two jocks from the same school. Instead of fretting, he calmly raises a large firearm and fires two shots directly at their faces. Blanks, of course, but Jason Dean (his character) gets more viscious very quickly.

One wonders how much longer even independent filmmakers will be able to make movies with content approaching Heathers. As the PC police march in and demand that certain subject be treated with kid gloves, it makes me want to sit and watch Heathers again and again until I feel properly dark.

Definite Cult Classic

It's hard to believe that Christian Slater's breakout role as Jason "J.D." Dean in Heathers was almost 15 years ago. It's also amazing how well he pulled off his take on Jack Nicholson and psycho characters. Of course, when you look around, Christian Slater has all but fallen off the face of the earth. I haven't seen him since his two-minute cameo as a Starfleet officer reporting to George Takei's Captain Sulu in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and that was in the early 90's. I can't remember if Murder in the First was before or after that little spot.

As to the movie itself, it definitely falls under the category of cult classic. Very 80's, very much a cross between social commentary and satire about that commentary with plenty of comedy and surrealism thrown in for good measure. An interesting feature from the DVD of Heathers is a screenplay of the original ending where Winona Ryder's Veronica kills J.D. in the boiler room, then takes his bomb and blows herself up outside the school. The original ending finishes with what seems like a dream-like school prom where all the cliques of the school break out of their molds and dance and mingle with each other. This includes all the characters who died during the movie. Apparently, the powers that be felt this ending would have been too dark for the teen audience of the time. I'd actually have to agree, although it would have fit in with the strangeness of the movie in general.

Another little tidbit: Shannon Doherty as one of the Heather characters BEFORE she hit it big with 90210.

Good Movie

I remember watching this movie a few years back. I thought it was decent overall. But my biggest question is if Jason hated the world so much, why didn't he blow himself up inside the gym?

Truly Late '80's High School Film Noir

This is an hysterical satire/comedy about the "In Kids" demise at the fictional Westerberg High (the story was inspired by the author's own experiences at Worthington High School in Columbus, Ohio). It has a Rapier's wit, suspense, drama, and classic movie lines that immortalize this movie. Wheather you were in the "In Crowd" or a "Geek" in high school, you should get lots of laughs out of this dark comedy!

"I love my dead gay son!"

Post-Columbine, it's doubtful that a dark comedy about a trenchcoat wearing maladjust who takes it upon himself to rid his high school of jock bullies and mean, popular girls could ever be made. Which is a shame, because "Heathers" is even more relevant now than it was back in 1989.

This is not the typical '80's teen movie Cinderella story about an awkward, unpopular kid who somehow wins the affections of an attractive person way out of their league. Nor does it glorify violence as a solution to problems. It's a hilarious and unsparing look at the high school social hierarchy, well-meaning but out-of-touch adults, and how the news media drools like a dirty old man anytime the flame of youth is extinguished in an especially appaling manner. Anyone who remembers their own wonder years as being less than wonderful should be able to relate.

pretty darned good

Only a couple thoughts: the only reason anyone still takes Nona Ryder seriously is this movie. Virtually everything else she has been in has either been forgettable or an embarrassment. For that, and to see why an entire generation of young talented actors have proposed to her, you should see the movie.

And, it can't be avoided. This is the trenchcoat mafia in the movies. It's such a good film, such an amazingly good film, and yet its legacy is pretty undeniably Columbine. Destruction for its own sake. The joke isn't, alas, as funny as it was.

The ultimate teen film of the 80's

We all remember those cliques in high school, you know the snobby kids who had it all and made those outside suffer and of course we always wanted in. Heather's came upon the scene and opened up the doors of dark comedy to a whole new generation of MTV vidiots. The film is very morbid and the subject matter is quite shocking but the direction of Michael Lehmann is well played and the portrayals of the students involved come across most effectively. This film really does speak out to so many of us who went to school and felt left out. A film that really does end in a bang!

One of my absolute favorites

I watched this movie for the first time when I was in high school. I have easily watched this movie 100 times since and can't help but quote from it all the time. It's a tragedy that a movie like this can never be made again in this insanely politically correct, post-Columbine world...

Glass half empty? No, glass half full.

It is true that this new edition of Heathers only contains one new, additional documentary. But is that a bad thing? Especially when one considers that Heathers is bar-none one of the greatest black comedies and that the last DVD release came out 7 years ago.. frankly, i am pleased. In an age where many DVDs are being re-released with new packaging and no new features, i congratulate Anchor Bay for going one step further. Anchor Bay pulled the same thing last month with Dario Argento's Tenebre and Phenomena by adding approx. 20 minute documentaries to each of them, yet no one seemed to complain. I am also very happy that Anchor Bay decided to use the original poster art instead of the blah and boring individual closeup covers that graced the last release. The big time fans like myself will double dip for completest sake anyway.

So for people who own the previous release, i say weigh in on how much of a fan you are before dipping. For all else, buy NOW.

*sings*Teenage Suiciiiiide...DON'T DO IT! :)

'Heathers' is one of those movies that could probably not be made in this current day of age; most likely being deemed to insensitive or too dark. To an extent this was also the case in 1988, but thankfully near-bankrupt New World Entertainment decided to stick their necks out and do the piece. Revolving around the high school popularity and the inherent cliques that come from it, to murder and teenage suicide, 'Heathers' is undeniably one of the best dark comedy/teen movie ever made.


'Heathers' tells the story of a power and callous clique of `Heathers,' and the entry of Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) into this group. We get an ultra-satiric glimpse of high school (set in the 1980s); from the geeks to the jocks, along with the war like activities high school students unleash on each other... here, to the ultimate of extents. After Veronica begins to despise her supposed friends, she meets up with Jason Dean, played by the young "Jack Nicholson-esque" Christian Slater, whom helps to escalate this hatred for the Heathers (and some others... ). As the body count begins to rise Veronica tries to break free from her and J.D.'s doings; dark comedy and great satire flow like water.


'Heathers' is one of those cult classics that one will either love or walk away sickened and disturbed wondering what the hell the writers and producers were thinking. I am of the first group of course. If you just look at 'Heathers' on the surface, and do not try to look any deeper into the underlying meaning, then you have missed the point. If you haven't seen it yet, you really should; it's an 1980s classic and shouldn't be missed.