Thursday, January 26, 2012

100 Movies That Made Me Love Film: 97. Heathers


Every Thursday I list one of the 100 movies that made me love film


97. Heathers


Junior year of high school two things happened at almost the exact same time. I had gotten my first real girlfriend (I had one other girlfriend previously but as that relationship was equal to only a handful of dates over a 2 month period I don’t count it. This would lasted half a year and we hung out quite frequently). Around this same time VH1 began airing shows like I love the 80’s. I was obsessed with the ‘I Love...’ series and that was how I first figured out what Heathers was about. I’d heard of it previously but until then I had no clue it wasn’t an 80’s chick-flick like Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles.


Almost every Friday night my girlfriend (Jeanine) and I would rent movies from Blockbuster and mostly just make-out while they were on. There were a select few films that really truly grabbed our attention so much that make-out sessions completely ceased. Heathers was such a film. We weren’t just drawn in to it’s shocking story (although that’s an element) there were insanely funny moments of dark comedy sparkled throughout this horror-ish story.





Heathers tells the story of Veronica Sawyer who is part of the Heathers, the most powerful cliche in Westerburg High School. Veronica also happens to be the only one in the group not named Heather. They run the school newspaper and create all the newest trends, they’re lead but the evil Heather Chandler.


Veronica meets the rebellious outcast J.D. one day and falls madly in love. He convinces her to get revenge on Heather Chandler but pulling a prank on her. In doing so they “accidentally” kill her, but to cover their tracks they write a fake suicide note. Much like everything else Heather Chandler does, Suicide becomes a trendy thing to do.


J.D. continues his fake suicide killing spree to get back at all the ‘evil’ popular kids in the school. Veronica tries to stop him when she realizes his magnum opus is blowing up the school during a pep rally as a giant group suicide.


One of the best things about this movie is how it could NEVER get made today. The closest we’ve come is Mean Girls which can only be described as Heathers light. In 2009 Wionna Ryder discussed wanting to do a sequel meanwhile Lakeshore Entertainment announced plans to turn the movie into a TV show, Thankfully 3 years later neither of these terrible ideas have actually occurred.


Heathers is a film that represents it’s time, while remaining ageless. Despite it’s poor box office the movie was a festival favorite and cult classic that has stood the test the time better than most films of the 90’s and early 2000’s.



When Matt's not blogging he's writing for Geekscape.net, Tweeting and Producing his podcast The Saint Mort Show. He also recently wrote an article at WragsInk about how to get your blogs noticed.


<---- 98. Re-Animator

96. Ghostbusters ----->

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