10 More Obscure Films You Must See
8. Heathers (dir. Michael Lehmann, 1989) When it comes to high school films, there are two that stand above all the rest. On the British side, there is If., which I covered at length in the previous article. On the American side, there is Heathers, Michael Lehmanns jet-black comedy which tears into the John Hughes stereotypes of high school life like a fuming flask of vitriol. Its a brilliant satire of the genre which exposes the dark, bitchy underbelly of high school in a story about suicide, sex and psychopathic teenagers.
Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is a reluctant member of the Heathers, the dominant clique at Westerburgh High that exists to make their fellow students lives a living hell through a combination of sexual favours and public humiliation. Enter J. D. (Christian Slater), an edgy loner who pulls a loaded gun on bullies and seduces Veronica into helping him bump off the other Heathers. What follows is a downward spiral of murder, guilt and misunderstanding, ending with J. D. attempting to blow up the entire school (another connection to If.). Originally written with Stanley Kubrick in mind, Heathers boasts a script replete with edgy one-liners, including the glee-inducing put-down, Fuck me gently with a chainsaw. Every time you believe it has drawn a line in the sand, it steps a further foot over and pulls you head first into ever-more uncomfortable yet hysterical laughter. The film is very smart, conveying the hypocrisies of the in-crowd, the social pressures on teenagers and attempting to rationalise the phenomenon of teenage suicide. Its a morality tale with a morbid sense of humour, as dark as Blue Velvetand as hilarious asDr. Strangelove. Mumby at the Movies review The Movie Hour podcast: #57