HEATHERS TURNS 30
It changed high-school movies forever
Lunchtime cliques, retro synth music, popular girls with massive hair and even bigger shoulder pads – in so many ways, Heathers is the archetypal 1980s teen flick. It’s a portrait of American high school in its most primeval form, before the days of Snapchat, memes and Youtube idols. But unlike its fellow ’80s classics or the teen movies it later inspired, this film is very different – not least because of the heavy body count its leading lady tots up along the way. Seriously: this ain’t no place for nice girls.
A game changer
It’s been 30 years this month since Heathers was released, bulldozing on arrival the squeaky-clean comedies of the time with such unforgettable lines as, “F**k me gently with a chainsaw,” Until 1988, John Hughes ruled the teen-flick market, with his adolescent adventures that may have focused on sex, drink and getting a hot date to the prom, but didn’t go dark. The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Sweet Sixteen – all lovable films with triumphant underdogs and beautiful finale kisses.
Then, along came Winona Ryder – the perfect antidote to stars such as Molly Ringwald, with her dark hair and eerie vibe – and love interest Christian Slater, who later said he based his performance of JD (aka juvenile delinquent) on Jack Nicholson circa The Shining. They may be 16 and in love, but they’re also out to bring down the high-school hierarchy, one killing after another. It’s no wonder Winona’s doe-eyed Veronica asks her beau, “Are we going to prom or to Hell?”
‘There are many reasons why heathers deserves cult status’
A whole New lingo There are many reasons why Heathers deserves its cult status – one being its original and ever-quotable slang. As well as “very” being the epitome of cool (think Mean Girls’ “fetch”), it summed up the drama of being a teenager with the popular greeting, “What’s your damage?” Rather than being an outsider trying to infiltrate the cool squad, which also includes Shannen already a Charmed bona-fide Doherty, ’s Veronica member of is the popular clique – distinguishable because she’s the only one of them not called Heather. She’s also the only one who’s not a self-obsessed bitch, and yet it’s her who ends up going on a killing spree. Good and bad aren’t so clear cut – another reason why the film is just so very. Without Heathers, high-school films could have been very different. Think of
Mean Girls with its more obvious teen themes undercut by racism, homophobia – and (spoiler alert) the fact that the super-bitch gets mown down by a bus at the end. There’s no way the movie’s dark underbelly would have made the cut without Heathers’ ground-breaking influence. Likewise, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which turned high school into a literal hellscape. And who could forget the four Ashleys, those snobby fashionistas who ruled the playground in Disney’s Recess with their choral putdown, “Scandalous!” They’d be nothing without Heather One, Heather Two and Heather Three.
Timeless Appeal
In the end, the beauty of this teen flick satire (which you can watch on Netflix) comes from the fact that it’s extreme yet relatable. When Veronica moans, “She’s my best friend. God, I hate her,” it takes us back to the complexities of teen frenemy-ships. It may be dark, but it’s also warmed up by a killer wardrobe and frothy pink panoramas that make Clueless look dull. In recent times, it’s spawned direct spin-offs, including a musical and an upcoming TV series that again subverts the norm by presenting usually “marginalised characters” as the bitchy cool kids. But we think nothing beats the original, with its winning mix of Winona, Christian, croquet-playing bullies, and that glorious finale, when Veronica saves the day and watches her psychopathic boyfriend accidently blow himself up. When all is said and done, she’s just a teen girl growing up and moving on after a toxic relationship explodes – and who can’t relate to that?