Heathers Release Date, Cast, Storyline, Plot, And More

It’s been well over three decades since Heathers was released but even today, it remains one of the most iconic movies. It is an American teen Black comedy film. Heathers was released on 31^st March 1989. It was directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Daniel Waters. The film starred Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, and Kim Walker. The duration of the movie is 103 minutes.

The movie was a big flop at the box office yet it managed to win the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. After so many years, the movie is now considered one of the most popular cult films and the greatest coming-of-age movie of all time.

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Heathers Storyline

The film Heathers revolves around four teenage girls. Three out of the four girls are named Heather. They study at a High School in Ohio. Their life changes when one of the girls decides to kill the others with the new guy at school.

Heathers Cast

The cast of Heathers includes:

Winona Ryder As Veronica Sawyer
Christian Slater As Jason “J.D.” Dean
Shannen Doherty As Heather Duke
Lisanne Falk As Heather McNamara
Kim Walker As Heather Chandler
Penelope Milford As Pauline Fleming
Glenn Shadix As Father Ripper
Lance Fenton As Kurt Kelly
Patrick Labyorteaux As Ram Sweeney
Jeremy Applegate As Peter Dawson
Em Lodge As M.C. May
Renee Estevez As Betty Finn
Carrie Lynn As Martha “Dumptruck” Dunnstock
Chuck LaFont As Officer Milner
Phill Lewis As Dennis

Heathers Plot

The film Heathers is set in a high school called Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio. At the school, there’s a group of friends who share the same first name: Heather, along with the fourth girl, Veronica.

The three Heathers are Heather Duke, Heather McNamara, and Heather Chandler. Veronica Sawyer is a part of this most popular and feared clique at school. All four of them often play croquet in Veronica’s backyard. But, the novelty of the fame wears out and she soon gets tired of her friends when she realizes they are abusing their power. She longs for her old friends who were not famous but were at least kind. Veronica is also fascinated by the new rebellious guy at her school, Jason Dean aka J.D. JD pulled out a gun and fired blanks to scare a few bullies which started her fascination with the guy.

Like any high school student, Veronica goes to a frat party with Chandler. She refuses to get physical with any of the guys there and later after she is drunk, she pukes on Chandler. For this embarrassment, Chandler vows to destroy Veronica’s reputation. Surprisingly, JD shows up at Veronica’s house that night. They end up getting intimate with each other and even confess their mutual hatred for Chandler.

The next morning, both of them break into Chandler’s house, seeking revenge. They both plan to make a fake hangover cure for her. Veronica mixes orange juice with milk but JD pours drain cleaner into a mug. Veronica dismisses his plan but mistakenly, she takes the drain cleaner mug to Chandler’s room. It kills Chandler so both of them fake a suicide note for her death. However, this only leads the people at school to worship Chandler even more.

Duke uses this opportunity to gain popularity and become the new leader of their clique. Moving forward, McNamara convinces Veronica to go on a double date with her, Kurt, and Ram. This ends badly when the boys spread a false rumor about Veronica. To this, JD proposes another revenge plan. They lure the boys into the woods and kill them. The dead boys are turned into martyrs to homophobia at their funeral. Noticing JD’s strange and disturbing behavior, Veronica ends things with him.

After the breakup, JD blackmails Duke into getting all the students at school to sign a “petition”. He even gives her a red scrunchie that signifies her new power at school. A girl who was often bullied at school tries to attempt suicide but when she survives, she becomes a joke for trying to copy the popular ‘dead’ kids. McNamara talks about her depression on a radio call which becomes the news at the school.

JD stops by Veronica’s home leaving her a note. She gradually realizes that he plans to kill her too so she fakes her own death. Later, she confronts him about his plan which he had disclosed in a monologue earlier, assuming she was dead. The movie ends with JD dying and Veronica taking the red scrunchie from Duke. She also invites Martha, the girl who attempted suicide to spend prom night with her watching movies.