Heathers(1989)
Independent Mar 31, 1989
At Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.
Note: Distributed by New World Pictures
Release Details
Original Release | Mar 31, 1989 | Limited (New World Pictures)
2023 Re-release (35th Anniversary) | Jul 30, 2023 | Limited (Fathom Entertainment)
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2026-09-25T11:57:41.386Z
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Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Summaries
Plot Summary
- In Westerberg High School in Sherwood, Ohio, Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is part of a popular but feared clique that also consists of three other wealthy and beautiful girls with the same first name: Heather Chandler (Kim Walker) (the queen bee), Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty), and Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk).The Heathers use Veronica to play pranks on other students and hurt their feelings and sentiments. The Heathers ask Veronica to write notes in other student's handwriting and use those notes to spread nasty rumors in school to destroy other students' reputations.In one instance Veronica is made to write a note from jock Kurt to a fat girl named Martha, expressing his love for her. Martha approaches Kurt in the lunchroom and is laughed at by the entire football team.However, Veronica has grown tired of them and longs to return to her old life with her "nerdy" friends. But Veronica knows that she cannot exit the clique without burning her bridges with the Heathers.Veronica becomes fascinated with Jason "J.D." Dean (Christian Slater), a new student and rebellious outsider, after he fires blanks on football jocks Kurt Kelly (Lance Fenton) and Ram Sweeney (Patrick Labyorteaux) in response to them bullying him.Outsider J.D, whose mother committed suicide, has a strained relationship with his explosives-obsessed demolition mogul father who owns Dean constructions. JD and Veronica talk, and she tells him how she hates the Heathers.Veronica later attends a college frat party (of Remington university) with Chandler but refuses to have sex with one of the members (after Chandler had already given one of them a blow-job) and ends up vomiting on Chandler. In retaliation, Chandler vows to destroy her reputation and says that Veronica was nothing before she met the Heathers and would go back to being a nobody.Veronica returns home and spews her hatred for the Heathers in her diary and wishes them dead. She feels regret that she mistreated her nerdy friends just to impress the no-good socialites.J.D. arrives at Veronica's house, and the two have sex outside. They express to each other their mutual hatred of Chandler's tyranny.The next morning, Veronica and J.D. break into Chandler's house, where J.D. puts drain cleaner in a mug for Chandler but Veronica dismisses his plan. She mixes orange juice and milk together instead, as an attempt to make her vomit and get revenge. Veronica approaches Chandler apologizing for the previous night and giving her the mug as a hangover cure and a peace offering.Veronica accidentally brings the wrong mug to Chandler's room. J.D. notices this but dismisses it when Veronica does not hear J.D.J.D. hands Chandler the mug with the drain cleaner, killing her. Veronica panics but J.D. urges her to forge a dramatic suicide note in Chandler's handwriting.The school and community look on Chandler's apparent suicide as a tragic decision made by a troubled teenager, making her even more worshiped in death than in life. Duke soon steps into the role of the clique's leader and begins wearing a red scrunchy that had belonged to Chandler.McNamara convinces Veronica to go with her (even though Veronica says that she is dating JD), Kurt and Ram on a double date, during which the boys end up drunk and pass out in cow manure. Kurt passes out, while Ram has sex with McNamara. Veronica left after JD came looking for her. The following day, they spread a false rumor about Veronica performing oral sex on them, ruining her reputation.J.D. proposes that she lure them into the woods and then shoot them with non-fatal bullets and humiliate them by staging the scene to look like they were lovers participating in a suicide pact.J.D. shoots and kills Ram but Veronica misses Kurt, who runs away. J.D. chases Kurt back toward Veronica, who, realizing that the bullets are in fact lethal, fatally shoots him in a panic.J.D. plants material next to the boys implying that they were gay, and a note stating the two were lovers participating in a suicide pact. At their funeral, the boys are made into martyrs against homophobia.JD's dad Peter Dawson (Jeremy Applegate) is in construction and as such he has access to large amounts of explosives, used for demolishing buildings.Although she keeps dating J.D., Veronica is increasingly disturbed by his behavior. Martha Dunnstock (Carrie Lynn), a frequent target of bullying, pins a suicide note to her chest (as she wants to be popular like the other dead kids) and walks into traffic. She survives but is badly injured and mocked by her peers.Later, McNamara calls a radio show to discuss her depression; the next day, Duke tells the entire school about the radio call. McNamara attempts suicide by overdosing in the girls' bathroom, but Veronica intervenes. She tells J.D. that she will not participate in any more killings and breaks up with him.Veronica spends more time with her nerd friend Betty Finn (Renée Estevez).J.D. blackmails Duke into getting every student to sign a petition that, unbeknownst to her, is intended to act as a mass suicide note. He then gives her a red scrunchies that Chandler wore, symbolizing her power over the school.Veronica returns home, and her parents say that J.D. stopped by to tell them that he is worried she will attempt suicide. Realizing that J.D. plans to kill her, she fakes her own suicide by hanging. J.D. finds her and, assuming she is dead, gives a monologue revealing his plan to blow up the school pep rally and make it look like a mass suicide.Veronica confronts J.D. in the school's boiler room as he plants dynamite. She shoots him, and using his switchblade cuts the wires to the detonator. Veronica goes outside, and J.D. follows her with a bomb strapped to his chest. He offers a personal eulogy and detonates the bomb, killing himself. As students and faculty rush to see what happened, Veronica walks back inside, disheveled from the explosion. She approaches Duke, takes the red scrunchies, and asserts that Duke is no longer in charge. Veronica invites Martha to spend prom night watching movies together.
Storyline
- A regular girl, Veronica, tries to survive the social jungle of high school by sticking with the three most popular girls at school who are all called Heather. As she meets a new kid named JD, her life spirals into a continuous cycle of hate, indifference, and murder as she exacts revenge on her enemies, also known as her best friends. — Marielle
