Fatal Games

With Heathers, director Lehmann has done more than create a movie. He has successfully created an escape for any student not deemed popular by their local school scene. Although the clothes and hair can be linked to a certain era in history, the truths explored within 'Heathers' are universal, and transcend time. A film that treats high school students as capable, intelligent beings who recognize a copy of 'The Bell Jar' lying on the ground in the same breath it treats them as moronic jocks who think with their . well not their brains, is destined for controversy. If controversy was what Lehmann and writer Daniel Waters were looking for, they found it in spades. Not only was it unconventional, showing the demise of the 'popular' kids, but it dealt with teen suicide in a comical way. Not something America was ready for at the time of release, causing many problems initially with simply getting the film shown in theaters. Luckily it has found its niche market now, and is now starting to be recognized as the powerful film that it is. Almost any store rents this movie, so there's no excuse for you to not watch it. Next time you're at the store pick this one off the shelf and give it a spin, even if you don't understand it fully you will be treated to a fantasy that almost every 'unpopular' kid has had at one time. Rating: 33/40

from the moment it begins with the three heathers playing croquet, you know that you will be in for an odd, cruel, and un-john hughes alike teen film. It's black as coal, and as sour as lemons. Although Christian Slater is jack nicholson with a facelift, it's still the most memorable performance in the movie. And winona ryder is also appealing as the lost and complex veronica. Some fantastically witty lines, humurously sick set pieces, and some truly great/cack 80's music make this a classic, more of a classic cult movie.

"Heathers" is a dark, hip comedy that will emerge as one of the best remembered films of its' decade. Alternately hilarious and disturbing, the film details the exploits of a young couple knee deep in high school politics and murder. Slater's Nicholson persona originated here and only adds to the offbeat charm. Smart and filled with more heart than anyone ever gave it credit for. It's like a CBS Afterschool special as directed by Wes Craven.

I first saw "Heathers" when it was first released in 1989 and to this day I remember most of the lines and scenes which cause me to laugh at all the wrong times.

I went to see the film because the hot actor of the time was Winona Ryder and I was in love with her after seeing her in "Lucas" and "Beetlejuice" and "1969". In each movie she played a version of a Goth chick - very smart, very pretty, but with a monotone delivery and moody attitude.

I also wanted to catch Christian Slater. I remembered him from his role as Binx in "The Legend of Billie Jean" and in the film "Tucker: The Man and His Dream"

"Heathers" is great satire of teen life back in the 1980's. It picks apart every teen angst and cliche and spins it in a goofy plot of rebellion and revenge gone amuck.

Ryder, playing Veronica, is on the fringe of the popular clic run by 3 girls names Heather. Each Heather is abusive, dumb, and pretty. For any teen who wanted to fit in the popular crowd but couldn't make it completely will identify with Veronica.

She meets a new student, J.D., played by Slater who is the complete opposite of the popular crowd. He wants nothing to do with them or the school. Veronica finds this interesting and soon she falls under the expert manipulation of J.D. Due to what starts as an accidental death, the two start a chain of events that looks like a teen suicide epidemic that was the common fear of adults back then.

Slater steals the movie from Ryder with his sly Jack Nicholson line delivery and James Dean attitude. Ryder is good but she can't stop Slater from chewing up the scenes.

The adults in the movie are classic clueless parental units that teen movies seem to always need. The best one is the guidance counselor that says "Whether or not a teenager decides to kill themselves is the biggest decision of their life. "

Watching this movie I kept saying to myself "They just did not do that?" or "They just did not say that?" I never laughed so hard in my life at that time.

A special treat was the Heather played by Shannen Doherty. Besides Ryder and Slater, she was the only other actor that I knew (except for Patrick Labyorteaux, who played the jock "Ram" who can now be seen on JAG as Ens. Roberts). Before Heathers, Shannen had played good girl roles and had just ended a series called "Our House" where she wanted to become a pilot. Her role became more interesting after finding out she turned out like her "Heather" character in real life.

The only thing that bothers me about this film today is that it could never be made today. The suicide epidemics (that still happen from time to time) has been replaced by killing one's classmates at school. I just don't think the studios would have the guts to film a satire like "Heathers" today.

As a side note: I read some of the previous comments from users who have only seen this movie on TV. All I can say is see the uncut version either on a movie channel or rent the DVD. The language and satire will only work in its uncensored format.

Daniel Waters wrote one of the best satires ever in "Heathers", a dark comedy that ranks right up there with "Dr. Strangelove" and "Network". Certainly it's the best teen comedy ever made. Why? Because in spite of its highly stylized depiction of teenagers, it caught the truest essence of what high school is actually like in America. Not only that, it trashed the entire genre and-- in a feat of sheer genius-- even the *reaction* to the genre by outside observers (namely parents). Terry Southern could have done no better.

"Westerburg high school self-destructed not *because* of society but because Westerburg High School *was* society" was restated, to near-universal praise, by Michael Moore in "Bowling For Columbine", but Waters said it before him, said it better, and frankly he's got a lot more credibility ("Hudson Hawk" notwithstanding). The cast is brilliant, even if, strangely, some of them don't seem to get what the whole movie was about. You half expect that most of the cast and crew, like the kids who sign a petition to bring Big Fun to the school for a gig, made a movie they didn't know they were making. But the key figures nailed it-- Ryder and Slater were never better.

"Heathers" is one of the best films of the Eighties-- put the lid on the Eighties, as it were. It has suffered criminal neglect, probably because it may have required an "indie auteur" to really knock the cinematic elements out of the park. The direction is competent but unspectacular. Still, the star is the writing, and Waters deserved an Oscar for this script. Unsentimental, vicious, and above all hilariously funny, he drove a stake through the heart of those oh-so-precious John Hughes films and, at the same time, set the stage for Kevin Williamson and all the rest. He did it with a perfect ear for dialogue combined with a Swiftian vision of social structures, and did it all as an argument *against* ironic detachment, for which this film and its messages needs to be revisited now more than ever. Simply incredible.