Heathers (1989)
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Source: JustWatch
Physical Media
It was his first screenplay and he had exactly one director in mind. Only Stanley Kubrick could pull off a three-hour black comedy about a string of teen tragedies.
Writer Daniel Waters even claimed the introductory cafeteria scene was an homage to Full Metal Jacket. He chased Kubrick, got nowhere, and finally gave the script to friend-of-a-friend Michael Lehmann.
HEATHERS (1988) stars 16-year-old Winona Ryder as Veronica, the reluctant fourth member of a ruling clique of girls otherwise named Heather. Christian Slater is JD, the outsider who seduces her into a killing spree staged to look like an epidemic of self-destruction.
New World Pictures didn’t know how to sell a comedy this dark, and it flopped, earning about a third of its budget. Then cable and video found it, and a box-office failure became one of the most quoted films of its generation - not to mention a hit off-Broadway musical.
There was a darker, much longer version that never got made. In the original script, JD’s homicidal machinations cause the deaths of hundreds of Westerburg High students. All meet again at an afterlife prom, punch bowls full of drain cleaner, Martha Dunnstock providing musical entertainment.
About the Film
Best friends, social trends and occasional murder.
- Directed By
- Michael Lehmann
- Runtime
- 103 minutes
- Released
- March 31, 1989
- Certification
- R
- Country
- United States of America
- Starring
- Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker
More Credits
- Genres
- Comedy, Crime
- Language
- English
- Origin
- US
- Studios
- New World Pictures, Cinemarque Entertainment, Trans Atlantic Entertainment
- Written By
- Daniel Waters
- Produced By
- Denise Di Novi, Christopher Webster
- Cinematography
- Francis Kenny
- Music
- David Newman
- Also Starring
- Penelope Milford, Glenn Shadix, Lance Fenton, Jennifer Rhodes, Jeremy Applegate
- Budget
- $3,000,000
- Box Office
- $1,166,207
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Fuck me gently with a chainsaw! One of my fave films of all time.
Brandon Romero literally the BEST quote!
Brandon Romero She delivers it so well.
Brandon Romero transfer to Washington. Transfer to Jefferson.
Noone at Westerberg is gonna play your reindeer games.
Wade Stein hhhhhhhhh. You were nothing before you met me. You were a bluebird. You were a brownie. You were a girl scout cookie.
I never watched this movie when I was younger because I always thought it was a teen rom-com.
But when stranger things came out I was like, Let me watch this film. I had no idea that it was such a violent movie. I love this film! It’s a great film.
Eric RV It’s not NOT a teen rom-com. 😁
Paul McKinnon It is kind of an obscure movie where I grew up. And of course looking at the poster you would never know.
So when the movie came out in theaters in the ’80s. Apparently the same thing happened. Many went to go see what they thought would have been a teen rom-com and it sure wasn’t.
Some schools have even banned it this movie
Paul McKinnon I mean, it is and it isn’t. “Our love is god”
Bill Henderson Fair enough.
Eric RV it was a teen age rom comedy, with a darker edge, thats why it worked for back then, come on it had a pre 9021 Shannon Doherty in it as one of the Heathers in it.
What’s your damage Heather? Corn nuts! I love my dead gay son! Eminently quotable.
Michael Wharton “….life can SUCK!” is still part of my vocabulary. Nobody ever recognizes it anymore.
Michael Wharton seriously!!
Michael Wharton “Es-ki-mo”
i always loved that scene. and the way she said “BBQ” instead of barbeque. it made me hate them a lot more.
Michael Wharton F me gently with a chainsaw has been with me my entire life.
“I say we go with ‘Big Blue’ here!”, “That’s because you’re an idiot.”, “Say you like to suck big **cks!”
Great pate, but I gotta motor if I’m gonna be ready for that funeral.
Michael Wharton Came here to mention your first quote!
I saw this in the theater along with about 15 others on Sunday matinee. I was the only one laughing my ass off. Love this movie. ❤️
Saw this when it came out …loved it
I found it on YouTube.
WINONA FOREVER
I remember Siskel and Ebert giving it two thumbs up.
You two……
I worked most days on this film. Was a joy, great memory.
I still love this movie
Anyone know if that original screenplay is available to read???
Alan Horkan That’s the shooting script, not the original draft.
Save your speeches for Malcolm X… I just wanna get LAID!
Also watch Massacre at Central High. Very similar plot lines.
https://youtu.be/NA8SPHck8Jk?is=djwQMbVO29_lPzIh
Matthew Benuska
I was wondering how far through the comments I’d have scroll before someone pointed it out. Has Daniel Waters ever acknowledged the (obvious) influence of MACH?
My teen angst bullshit now has a body count. Are we going to prom or to hell.
Brian Murphy I’ll have to send my SAT scores to San Quentin
I saw it with my sister and she said that she and my mom were worried that I’d bring home a guy like JD. I was like I wish
Arlene Gholston Long homicidal maniac disguised as the brooding proto-goth?
Your goals were… Perhaps misguided.
How very.
Well lick it up baby. LICK. IT. UP
Spawned one of the best musicals of all time.
One of my very favorites. I loved the Breakfast Club, to be sure, but Heathers nailed it. That was my jam. I watched it over and over and over and over again.
“I have a speech I give to my suitors when they want more than I’m prepared to give them: ‘Gee, blank, I had a really nice time…”
“Save the speeches for Malcom X. I just wanna get laaaaaaid.”
“You don’t deserve my fucking speech.”
…
“I love my dead, gay son!”
God I love that film. Jesus.
I was 15 when this came out, HBO did a surprise showing of it for 1989 New Year’s Eve, months before it was out on video.
They teased the “mystery movie” they’d play that night for weeks, as soon as I saw the first promo I thought and hoped it might be Heathers, and lo and behold!
I couldn’t believe the luck because I’d badly wanted to see it but missed it in theaters, I was over the moon, and it was every bit as good as I’d hoped and then some, instantly became my very favorite movie ever, still probably in the top 3.
Brilliant movie—I enjoyed it a lot as an oddball teenager. But I think it’s just as well that the darker 3 hour version never got made.
26 year old me felt a little icky about thinking Winona Ryder was hot in this…
Scott Keenholts dont feel bad. i think she was timeless. she seemed much older then and younger later. she seemed to disappear from the earth for a while and come back as a “woman of a certain age” which i feel…she does with a certain sex appeal
Scott Keenholts yeah, she was only 15 in this movie
Required viewing for my kids once they got into “Mean Girls.” Had to see the predecessor.
Christine Gritmon kids dont no shit these days, anyway more like Carrie was a predecessor of both.
“Heather, why are you such a bitch?”
“Because I can be.”
Wasn’t the original ending reused for the TV remake?
I got paid in puke!
Michael Charles Brooker lick it up baby, Lick It Up
Michael Charles Brooker Lick it up, baby, lick it up!
Michael Charles Brooker lick it up baby, lick. It. Up.
Transfer to Washington, transfer to Jefferson…
i usually love rydar but i hated her in this movie. she should have been one of the mean ones. shannon should have been the nice one. shannon didnt fit with the mean ones. i did love this movie. i thought i would hate it – but they did a good job with it. they missed on some things such aas the weay her hair looks here in this picture……but i, honestly, dont think they knew it would be the smash that it was.
Terry Too I thought Shannon was a perfect mean girl. Her “Is it pate?” is one of the funniest moments in the film. No one could have delivered that line better IMO.
I love my dead gay son!
In 1989 I rented the VHS from the local convenience store. I rented it 3 more times that week and eventually they let me keep the copy. I must have watched it over 100 times that first year. I was able to quote it word for word, at least that’s what I’d tell people. They never let me prove it for more than a few minutes in, and honestly I never memorized the dialogue past the funeral scene. But it ultimately became my favorite movie.
The screenplay is probably my favorite, mainly due to the amount of dialogue that is not only quotable, but relatable.
Other favorite comedies like Dodgeball, So I married and Axe Murder, Wedding Singer, etc all have quotable dialogue but nothing like Heathers.
It also didn’t hurt that I was the same age as Winona Ryder and she instantly became my high school crush.
Whether or not to commit suicide can be one of the most important decisions a teenager can make!
Kubrick was a stretch. Maybe during the early days when he did Lolita. Fine little cult film, very good for its time no Pretty Maid All in a Row, which what imagine a 60’s or 70’s version of this film would feel like.
“Someone tell me why I smoke these damn things.”
“Cause you’re an idiot.”
“Oh yeah, that’s why.”
A Great Film I watched it a few years ago.
fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
How very
Heathers is pretty fucking dope. Mostly solid af.
Slater channeling Jack Nicholson for sure!!!
Travel Mattaeus Findlaechthat describes his entire early career.
Just like Kansas. You remember f*ing Kansas?
I first saw this movie as a 9 year old in 1989, I went to a neighbor girls sleepover and we watched a double feature from the video store of Heathers and War Of The Roses. My tiny mind was forever changed. 🖤🖤🖤 now as an adult, my kids quote it as much as I do and they adore the musical as well.
“Anorexia is so…1987!”
Our love is God, let’s go get a slushie…… Greetings and Salutations, are you a Heather? No, a Veronica
Top Ten
One of my all-time favorite movies. It’s so funny and contains so much truth about high Schoo.
Saw the musical recently at the Gainesville community playhouse. The cast were amazing. The storyline and music were the cherries on top. Having never seen the movie didn’t matter. This group of artists checked all the boxes.
Why are you such a megabi+c#, Heather?
Always wondered how girls like that got away with being so awful to everyone. My school was huge and if you carried on like they did you would’ve gotten your azz beat sooner or later.
It was a flop?!? Not in my city, it wasn’t.
Dennis Harvey All the sources I’ve seen say it made ~$1m on a ~$3m budget. Seems inconceivable now!
Anywhere But Hollywood I just remember that it was THE movie to see when it opened, at least among people I knew. And then it very quickly became a repeat-watch cult thing.
I still quote this. My favorite: “did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?”
Someone at my high school rented this and it went viral before viral was even a thing. There were massive feral watch parties for two weeks straight, no one slept, but everyone at our school could quote it when the dust settled.
“I’d just slide that wad over to my father, because he’s one of the state’s top brokers.” Perfect delivery. This fictitious school mirrored our Ohio high school way too closely. Pretentious vacuous entitlement.
Saw this when it came out. Loved it. I think the original scripted version would have appealed to me, but I doubt it would have become so widely popular. Which would have been a shame.
Ashley
I saw it in the theater in 1988 and was pleasantly surprised- I loved it!
Dang I had the biggest crush on Winona when I was in high school. This movie poster hung on my wall.
Corn Nuts!