Heathers

[Samaritan Woman]

Has anyone seen the 1988 dark comedy and cult hit "Heathers"? It stars a young Wynona Ryder and Christian Slater. If you have watched it, what are your thoughts?

 

[Hammster]

It’s one of my guilty pleasures, though I haven’t watched it in years.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Has anyone seen the 1988 dark comedy and cult hit "Heathers"? It stars a young Wynona Ryder and Christian Slater. If you have watched it, what are your thoughts?

Hi; interesting; so how would you briefly summarize it in a sentence or so?

 

[MehGuy]

Yeah, I love that film.

Wish they would have kept the original ending planned.. lol.

 

[Samaritan Woman]

It's set in an Ohio high school wherein the top clique consists of three girls all named Heather and Veronica (Ryder's character). Christian Slater plays J.D., a dark outcast of a character. Basically, it's a commentary on society's glorification of teen suicide and also social hierarchies and has aged quite well; one of the reason is that the writer made up his own slang to prevent the film from feeling eventually dated. It does have a significant amount of swearing just FYI while having a Tim Burton-type feel and wicked humor. You can view it for free on You Tube, and if you do watch it let me know what you think!

 

[public hermit]

It's about mean girls, and outsiders who get their revenge. Classic weird.

 

[Samaritan Woman]

It’s one of my guilty pleasures, though I haven’t watched it in years.

I agree with the "guilty pleasure" stance considering the language...

 

[Samaritan Woman]

Yeah, I love that film.

Wish they would have kept the original ending planned.. lol.

Apparently there were several alternate endings but the one they filmed was the one the studio wanted. I was on a moviechat.org thread about the movie - one person that the "heaven" ending would have been too morbid for most while another said the theatrical ending still maintains a level of irony. One thing's for certain - Heathers would have never been made after Columbine nor with our increasing awareness of teen mental health issues.

 

[MehGuy]

Apparently there were several alternate endings but the one they filmed was the one the studio wanted. I was on a moviechat.org thread about the movie - one person that the "heaven" ending would have been too morbid for most while another said the theatrical ending still maintains a level of irony. One thing's for certain - Heathers would have never been made after Columbine nor with our increasing awareness of teen mental health issues.

Hmmm, did not know there were several. Only knew about the "heaven" ending talked about on the DVD commentary.

And yeah, the film was made during more innocent times. Although I have heard they recently did a TV revival or something a few years ago.

 

[MehGuy]

Whoa, the Heathers tv series actually sounds interesting. Apparently from the angry reviewers it has a pretty anti-sjw slant. They claim it has poor social commentary, when its probably the opposite.

 

[Duke of Stratford]

Love the movie, vulgarity notwithstanding. I think it's a really good piece of satire/black comedy, though it definitely wouldn't fly today. A product of its era.

I've heard a fair amount of the TV miniseries, and it...doesn't sound good to me. From what I've heard, the changes they made miss the entire point of what made the original work.

 

[Samaritan Woman]

Hmmm, did not know there were several. Only knew about the "heaven" ending talked about on the DVD commentary.

And yeah, the film was made during more innocent times. Although I have heard they recently did a TV revival or something a few years ago.

Back in 2014 at the opening of the musical in L.A., Daniel Waters apparently revealed three alternate endings, those being -
1. the school blows up
2. Veronica blows up
3. Martha stabs Veronica in the stomach and she dies

This article was featured in a 2014 issue of Variety.

I still like the one that was ultimately filmed simply due to the irony, despite being depressing.

In 2018 Paramount channel launched a TV series of the movie but it bombed and was canceled after the first season. I watched the promo trailer on You Tube along with some reviews done while it was airing and it was absolutely terrible. No wonder it flopped.

 

[thecolorsblend]

I rather like the movie. Only seen it a few times but the acidic satire holds up pretty well.

Another movie written by Daniel Waters that I like is Batman Returns. It too has a fair amount of satire in it, although it's watered down a little bit by rewrites from other writers. But the skeleton of his irreverent, satirical wit still comes through.

Apparently there were several alternate endings but the one they filmed was the one the studio wanted. I was on a moviechat.org thread about the movie - one person that the "heaven" ending would have been too morbid for most while another said the theatrical ending still maintains a level of irony. One thing's for certain - Heathers would have never been made after Columbine nor with our increasing awareness of teen mental health issues.

It was remade as a TV show a few years ago.

 

[Samaritan Woman]

Another movie written by Daniel Waters that I like is Batman Returns. It too has a fair amount of satire in it, although it's watered down a little bit by rewrites from other writers. But the skeleton of his irreverent, satirical wit still comes through.

I would have preferred Batman Returns if the character of Penguin had been written in a less grotesque manner. He was simply abhorrent.