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Heathers (1988)

tomatometer

95

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 2

Dark, cynical, and subversive, Heathers gently applies a chainsaw to the conventions of the high school movie -- changing the game for teen comedies to follow.

78

Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 2

Dark, cynical, and subversive, Heathers gently applies a chainsaw to the conventions of the high school movie -- changing the game for teen comedies to follow.

audience

82

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 66,589

My Rating

Movie Info

A deliciously nasty black comedy, Heathers is set at a cliquish high school in Ohio. The most exclusive of those cliques is the Heathers, comprised of the prettiest and most popular girls in town. The group's leader is the manipulative Kim Walker, who orchestrates the humiliation of anyone who fails to meet her standards. Eventually, Heathers member Winona Ryder begins to exhibit a conscience; together with her hardcase boyfriend Christian Slater, Ryder plots to avenge all the unfortunate

R, 1 hr. 42 min.

Drama, Comedy, Cult Movies

Daniel Waters

Mar 30, 1999

New World Video

Cast

All Critics (42) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (4) | DVD (30)

Heathers locates the emotional totalitarianism lurking in a prom queen's heart.

August 31, 2010 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A super-smart black comedy about high school politics and teenage suicide that showcases a host of promising young talents.

August 31, 2010 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Two decades later, Heathers is so on the money, with its vague but unmistakable parallels to several school shootings, that it could never be made today.

July 15, 2008 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A super-smart black comedy about high school politics and teenage suicide that showcases a host of promising young talents.

July 18, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Its inanities and glib pretensions are so thick that it mainly comes across as tacky and contrived.

July 18, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comments (3)
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

As snappy and assured as it is mean-spirited.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

After Columbine, this dark comedy isn't as funny.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comments (3)
Common Sense Media

Heathers, with all its flagrant masochism and violence, is a throwback to a more innocent time, where such films could be made and still be deemed over the top fantasy.

July 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | Comment
Bangitout.com

With its unapologetic bleakness and ferocious sense of humor, it is a film that is as smart as it is entertaining, and it keeps us laughing against our better judgment.

August 11, 2008 Full Review Source: DVD Review | Comment
DVD Review

... the film paints high school as a veritable hell where the only way to alleviate suffering is by making others suffer more.

August 11, 2008 Full Review Source: DVD Review | Comment
DVD Review

So grab your croquet mallet, load up on "Ich luge" bullets, and crank up the Big Fun: Heathers is a motion picture that continues to impress and disturb, even 20 years after release.

July 1, 2008 Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com | Comment
BrianOrndorf.com

Dark, cynical, but deliciously funny, Heathersis a fascinating look not just at high school but at the way we look at high school.

July 18, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

fantastic

June 20, 2007 Comment (1)

Lehmann's audacious feature debute transforms teen suicide into a wild and mean satire with a giddy tone. Good year for indies: The movie premiered at Sundance in 1989, along with sex, lies and videotape, thus heralding Gen-X Cinema.

December 4, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

The film uses an intimate knowledge of teen-movie clichés to subvert their debased values from the inside.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

An amazing black satire filled with vicious biting words that snap like firecrackers.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

Scathing and hilarious.

January 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Heathers

When it comes to American high school films, the 1980s belonged to John Hughes. Through Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Hughes perfected a sweet, light-hearted and nostalgic look at adolescence which touched the hearts of a generation. But like many trendsetters before him, it wasn't

January 3, 2012
Daniel Mumby
Daniel Mumby

Super Reviewer

It both reaffirms my belief that movies portraying teenagers made in past decades will never be as relatable or timeless for younger generations as many seem to believe, and also that there is still invaluable information to be gained from the 80s pioneering excursions into high-school based coming-of-age stories.

December 23, 2011
Sam Barnett

Super Reviewer

    1. Veronica Sawyer: Dear Diary, my teen-angst bullshit now has a body count.
    – Submitted by Mackenzie M (6 months ago)
    1. Veronica Sawyer: Dear Diary: Heather told me she teaches people 'real life.' She said, real life sucks losers dry. You want to fuck with the eagles, you have to learn to fly. I said, so, you teach people how to spread their wings and fly? She said, yes. I said, you're beautiful.
    – Submitted by Mackenzie M (6 months ago)
    1. Veronica Sawyer: Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw.
    – Submitted by Przemyslaw F (7 months ago)
    1. J.D.: Greetings and salutations.
    – Submitted by Joe M (7 months ago)
    1. Veronica Sawyer: All we want is to be treated like human beings, not to be experimented on like guinea pigs or patronized like bunny rabbits.
    2. Veronica's Dad: I don't patronize bunny rabbits.
    – Submitted by Janna L (10 months ago)

Latest News for Heathers

October 6, 2011:
Five Favorite Films with Juno Temple
Juno Temple's star is definitely on the rise. The daughter of punk filmmaker Julien Temple, the...

August 27, 2009:
Fox, Sony Plot Heathers TV Series
Twenty years (and a million sequel rumors) after it originally graced theater screens, "Heathers" is...

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