-Guest review by Eliza
Our movie choice for the 80s appreciation theme was “Heathers”. It is essentially an 80s version of Tina Fey’s Mean Girls, including stereotypical high school ‘queen bee’ bullies, the dumb jocks, and the leather-wearing, chain smoking rebel, all wrapped into a dark comedy. Veronica (Wynona Rider) desperately wants to be part of the ‘cool’ girls’ clique in high school who all happen to bear the same name–Heather. She quickly realizes how heartless and cruel these girls are, and attempts to find a way out of the clique. This is when the handsome bad boy steps in to save the demoiselle in distress. JD (Christian Slater) has his own way of shaming popular kids, like shooting blanks at the bullies to instill fear and dominance.
It all begins when he and Veronica accidentally kill the first Heather by poisoning her; everything spirals downward from there. To get away with the crime, JD and Veronica decide to stage the murder as a suicide. These ‘suicides’ happen repeatedly, exacting revenge on the popular and cruel high school royalty. Veronica, who has a conscience, is uncomfortable with these acts and decides to break ties with the sociopathic JD. Through faking her own suicide, she is able to gain inside information about JD’s plans to blow up their high school. Veronica becomes the hero of the story when she finds a way to spare the lives of so many innocent lives and prevents JD from committing this atrocious crime. In order to honor the suicide theme portrayed throughout the film, JD has no other choice but to end his own life.
I really enjoyed how much comedic relief this movie provided in spite of the serious themes of suicide and death. This goes to show that you really can find a positive side to any dark situation. It also sends a strong message to high school kids, showing how ‘deadly’ cliques can truly be.