Movie Review: Heathers (1988)

★★★★★

Heathers is wild in the best way. It’s dark, funny, and totally different from your usual high school movie. I didn’t expect to love it this much, but I did.

Wendy E.

New York

When people talk about teen movies of the late ‘80s, they usually bring up The Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. But Heathers is the twisted cousin those films would never invite to family dinners, sharp, cynical, and gleefully subversive.

I revisited it recently for BoxReview.com, and while I remembered the quotable lines and shocking plot turns, what stood out this time was just how fearless it is. Heathers doesn’t just poke fun at high school cliques, it straps explosives to them.

The Premise: Popularity at a Deadly Price

Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is part of the most powerful clique in school, the Heathers, three girls who share the same name, a ruthless sense of social hierarchy, and an obsession with their own image.

When Veronica meets the mysterious new student J.D. (Christian Slater), she starts questioning the toxic world she’s part of. Unfortunately, her rebellion takes a deadly turn when she and J.D. accidentally (and then intentionally) start “removing” certain students from the social food chain.

What follows is part murder spree, part satirical takedown of how high school (and society) treats status, tragedy, and identity.

Winona Ryder as Veronica: The Reluctant Antihero

Ryder nails the balancing act of making Veronica likable while still complicit in some pretty awful behavior. She’s not a pure hero; she benefits from the popularity system even as she starts to hate it.

What doesn’t get enough credit is how Ryder plays Veronica’s growing moral panic. Beneath the dark comedy, you can see the genuine discomfort of someone realizing they’ve crossed a line they can’t uncross.

Christian Slater as J.D.: The Charismatic Bomb Waiting to Go Off

Slater’s J.D. is one of the great teen movie wild cards. He’s part James Dean rebel, part anarchist, and part… well, sociopath. His Jack Nicholson-inspired delivery could have been gimmicky, but it works because it makes J.D. feel both magnetic and dangerous.

What’s often overlooked is how Heathers hints at J.D.’s broken home life and deep cynicism, not to excuse him, but to show how his darkness was forged long before he walked into Westerburg High.

The Three Heathers: A Ruthless Trinity

• Heather Chandler (Kim Walker): The alpha Heather, delivering lines like “Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?” with venomous perfection.

• Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk): The bubbly cheerleader whose insecurities hide under layers of perkiness.

• Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty): The most socially ambitious, waiting for her chance to dethrone Chandler.

Individually, they’re memorable. Together, they’re an unshakable power structure until Veronica and J.D. start knocking it down.

The Dialogue: Unreal but Perfect

One of the first things people notice about Heathers is the language. Nobody in real life talks like this: “What’s your damage?” and “Lick it up, baby. Lick. It. Up.” are pure cinematic inventions.

But that’s the point. The heightened dialogue makes the world feel just removed enough from reality to make the dark comedy work. You’re not watching your high school; you’re watching an exaggerated, stylized version where cruelty is poetry.

Satire That Still Stings

What doesn’t get discussed enough is how Heathers skewers more than just high school politics. It goes after:

• Media sensationalism — The way student deaths are framed as tragic learning moments, regardless of the truth.

• Performative mourning — How grief becomes another popularity contest.

• Authority figures — Teachers and parents are either clueless, self-absorbed, or just as corrupt as the kids.

Watching it today, the satire feels even sharper because the culture it’s mocking hasn’t gone away; if anything, it’s gotten worse.

Visual Style and Tone

Director Michael Lehmann gives Heathers a candy-colored, almost dreamlike look that contrasts with the darkness of the plot. Bright primary colors pop against the cynical story, making the film feel like a twisted fairy tale.

The result is that the violence and cruelty hit harder because they’re happening in a world that looks harmless.

The Soundtrack: Understated but Effective

The score by David Newman uses light, almost whimsical melodies in moments that should be tense, which creates a jarring but brilliant contrast. It’s a reminder that Heathers is never going for realism; it’s going for maximum satirical impact.

The Ending: Defiance with a Cigarette

Without spoiling too much for anyone who hasn’t seen it, Heathers sticks the landing. Veronica’s final act is both a rejection of J.D.’s chaos and a symbolic dethroning of the high school hierarchy.

That last shot, cigarette smoke curling as she takes back control, is one of the most quietly powerful images in teen cinema.

Why Heathers Still Works

Unlike many teen comedies from the ‘80s, Heathers doesn’t rely on nostalgia to stay relevant. The cruelty, power games, and performative empathy it mocks are still alive and well, only now they’ve moved onto social media.

It’s also a film that trusts the audience to handle morally messy characters. Veronica isn’t perfect, and the movie doesn’t pretend she is. That complexity is part of what makes Heathers endure.

Final Thoughts

Heathers is not a “feel-good” teen movie. It’s a jet-black comedy with a satirical edge that cuts deeper than most films of its era dared to. If you want something glossy and sweet, this isn’t it. But if you want a smart, funny, and slightly uncomfortable takedown of high school politics, it’s a masterpiece.

It’s the movie that made me realize teen films could be dangerous — and that danger could be a good thing.