Heathers

"Best friends, social trends and occasional murder."

1989 1h 43m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

🔥

95%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.1

IMDB

★7.3TMDB · 1,961🍅95%Rotten Tomatoes●72Metacritic★7.1IMDB · 124,746

ComedyCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics: by killing the popular kids.

“Best friends, social trends and occasional murder.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Winona Ryder
Veronica
Christian Slater
J.D.
Kim Walker
Heather (Chandler)
Shannen Doherty
Heather (Duke)
Lisanne Falk
Heather (McNamara)
Aaron Mendelsohn
Nerd in Pauline's Class
Andrew Benne
Fat Cynic
Betty Ramey
Teacher in Conference Room

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Lehmann
Writers: Daniel Waters
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 39% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

37 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Lehmann, shot by Francis Kenny. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Norman Hollyn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Winona Ryder and Christian Slater and Kim Walker carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Best friends, social trends and occasional murder.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Lehmann directs. Francis Kenny behind the camera. David Newman scores. Norman Hollyn cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Earned back only 39% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
337 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Directed by Michael Lehmann, shot by Francis Kenny. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by David Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Norman Hollyn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Winona Ryder and Christian Slater and Kim Walker carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Best friends, social trends and occasional murder.".
9IMDB entry: tt0097493 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "high school", "friendship", "adolescence", "suicide".

The technical file

Cinematography: Francis Kenny
Original score: David Newman
Editing: Norman Hollyn
Production design: Jon Hutman
Costume design: Rudy Dillon
Makeup / hair: Julie Hewett
Sound: Rick Ash
Stunt coordinator: Dan Bradley
Runtime: 103 min · 1h 43m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,000,000
Box office: $1,166,207
Return: 39% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Heathers (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes: 95% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 72/100
IMDB rating: 7.1/10 · 124,746 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

3 wins & 11 nominations total

Also by

Michael Lehmann

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2018-02-15
★ 6/10
RELEASED IN 1989 and directed by Michael Lehmann, “Heathers” stars Winona Ryder as Veronica, a high school student in Ohio who has sold herself out to join the popular clique of three girls, all coincidently named Heather (Kim Walker, Lisanne Falk & Shannen Doherty). The more she spends time with them, however, the more she discovers she can’t stand them. Enter mysterious new kid, JD (Christian Slater), who has a macabre solution to Veronica’s conundrum. This is an oddball teen movie that tries to be edgy and amusing with its black humor and overt cussing. Future movies were influenced by it, like “Jawbreaker” (1999) and maybe even “Mean Girls” (2004). The commentary on peer pressure, teen suicide and the maiming destructiveness of cliques is potent. Teens can be misled by the “popular” students, yes, but they can also be misled by the outcasts. Slater stands out as a sorta dark Fonz of the late 80s, easily one of his best roles ever. Ryder is surprisingly good as the protagonist. I say “surprisingly” because I was never big on her (although I didn’t dislike her either). The first act is quite good, but the story gets humdrum in the middle; thankfully, the last 20 minutes perk up. The late 80’s ambiance is to die for. I’m not going to give it away, but the original ending was way more morbid. They had an alternative ending that they didn’t go with either. Apparently the studio pressured the writer/director to go with the theatrical ending, which I approve. It’s a story of redemption. Being misled by corrupt people for a season doesn’t define a person forever. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hours & 43 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles (the high school) and surrounding area (Santa Monica, Tujunga and Pasadena). WRITER: Daniel Waters. GRADE: B-/C+
mkersten2021-08-05
This movie is a high school satire done absolutely amazingly. It's everything current high school dramas wish they were. It's dark, funny, but does not lose any of its meaning to stupid jokes. It perfectly shows the hell that is high school (and society as a whole). Just like in high school, there are Marthas and Heathers everywhere in life. J.D. is a great villain, because even though from his very introduction, we know he's a messed up person who does bad things, yet you start to empathize with him just like Veronica. It shows that, as a society, we go to great lengths to defend white men and their actions. Heathers is furthermore also obviously a critique on the social hierarchies that exist in the world. It shows this on a smaller scale, high school. As J.D. nicely sums up towards the end of the movie: ".. because high school IS society". The Heathers rule the school and this movie really shows as to why that is. It's a system, that puts certain people at the top, like Heathers, and other Martha's at the bottom. Murdering Heather Chandler might seem like a way to disrupt this hierarchy, and restore society to a pure form, but that is not the case. Heather Chandler does not equal her power, that's just a role she filled in the bigger system around them. Her being gone doesn't remove that role, it just passes it on to the next best fit. In this movie, colors play a significant role. Heather Chandler being red represents anger and her dominance. Heather McNamara being yellow represents her kind soul, but also her weakness. Heather Duke's green represents her jealousy of Chandler. Veronica's signature color is blue which represents intelligence, but after having murdered Heather Chandler she wears a purple outfit. As you may know, blue and red make purple. I see this as Heather Chandlers 'evilness' affecting Veronica as well. Veronica might think she's rid the world of evil, yet she's simply become evil herself.
kevin20192025-01-10
★ 10/10
"Heathers" is almost like a jet black version of "Rebel Without A Cause" (1955) or some such as it steadfastly plumbs the complicated labyrinthine depths of teenage angst and comes up with a radical and downright homicidal anti-social solution. It is overflowing with the largely inconsequential concerns of the hierarchy which exists in all schools to a greater or lesser degree and it provides some harsh examples of this at its most cruel and unforgiving. Who would want to be a teenager again? Anyway, no matter how dark this film becomes and no matter how close Veronica is to ridding her life of the Heathers of the title, she still demurs at the last moment and stops short (she even prevents the eager J.D. from blowing the school up with explosives). The message here is a simple one: The wholesale destruction of the school and all it represents to disenfranchised teenagers everywhere is not the answer to life's innumerable problems.