*Originally written September 14th, 2018*
Heathers is one of those films I really wish I watched as a kid, I had seen it before in my late teens and I liked it a lot, but I just know had I grown up with it, that I would love it so much more than I do now. It's a film that had always popped up and I'd seen around, but for some reason in the UK it was annoying hard to get hold of, and I really don't know why. For some reason I'm reminded of what a nightmare Leon was to get hold of too.
Thankfully, Arrow Video have finally given Heathers a worthy Blu-ray release in the UK, mastered from a gorgeous 4K scan and it was probably the best way to experience this film again outside of a theatre. An actually 4K UHD release would have been nice, but we're probably a bit far out from catalogue releases like this seeing the light of day.
Heathers feels like John Hughes on crack. It's a funny, violent and utterly demented high school crime comedy. I'd forgot just how dark this film was, it's one of the darkest comedies I've seen in a while in fact. Teen murder and suicide is brushed off as such a trivial thing. Some of the strangely homophobic and outdated '80s jokes surprisingly worked. The mineral water gag is absolute gold.
The characters are fantastic, it's always easy to forget what a charming piece of charisma Christian Slater was back in the day, back in his later '80s/early '90s peak. This is by far his best role outside of True Romance. It was just so easy to see why Winona Ryder would fall in love with him and go along (Mostly) to his increasingly destructive plans, leading to a genuinely heartfelt confrontation that made me realise I actually loved these characters.
It hits into those '80s high school cliches, but turns them on their heads in its own sick fashion, outside of Thoroughbreds, I'm really drawing a blank at any film that comes close to the tone and unique style of Heathers. It's so easy to see why in today's climate that any attempt to reboot this film as a franchise has been a complete disaster. Heathers really is a product of its time and could in no way be replicated today. That being said, Heathers still feels ahead of its time, despite being 30 years old, a lot of themes are far more relevant today. I guess making it kinda timeless?
Heathers is still excellent, 30 years on and sits near the top of the high school '80s genre, but turns all the genres cliches into something far more horrific the hilariously dark results. God, I love '80s film-making. I cannot wait to watch this again. I can tell it's going to grow on me with every watch.
8/10 Dans
Heathers is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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Letterboxd: Dan
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