"it's quite David Lynchy in look and feel. This is a bit hard to unpack; it's something about the primary colours, the very slightly exaggerated weirdnesses"
yeah, I made that connection as well
but I'm not sure it's an entirely accurate one... the style is pretty much pulled straight out of every other 80s teen movie... the whole thing looks like it could segway into The Breakfast Club at any moment without needing to change film stock
it's hard to tell whether that's a parody, or whether Heathers is just attempting to work within the confines of the teen movie
I think it's a little of both
"I know what it isn't, though. It isn't Pump Up The Volume"
I kept making that connection while watching it
in a way, Slaters character in Pump Up The Volume is the polar opposite of his character in Heathers - in both films he's a suave new kid who's pissed at his family because he gets moved around a lot, and winds up bringing a massive change to the school that includes a wave of teen suicides. in the former, however, he's the good guy, and in the latter, he's a dick. (oh yeah, and Pump Up The Volume has way better music haha)
"What did you consider "too" twisty about Heathers?"
I guess it starts when JD tries to kill Veronica, and reveals the real intent of the petition (twist 1), then Veronica attempts to stop him but gets kneed in the face (oh no! will the school blow up?! dun dun dun! twist 2), then she shoots JD and he winds up stopping the bomb by accident (twist 3), then she walks outside only to find JD isn't really dead (twist 4), and not only that but he has another bomb strapped to his chest (twist 5), and then after JD goes all kamikaze she goes back inside, steals the red bow from Heather, and asks Martha Dunnstock to hang out on prom night (twist 6).
I guess some of those are less twists than they are just suprising revelations or unexpected events, but still, it bothered me.
"which messages DID you get, and how did they conflict?"
well, whether JD was justified or not
common sense would indicate that he wasn't, but until Veronica breaks up with him, the film is designed to make you sympathize with him... I mean, he's funny, cool, kills assholes, what's not to love?
and at the end, Veronica does the thing she should have done fifteen minutes into the film. it's as if the entire movie really wasn't necessary at all (not to mention that its far too simple... why does her stealing the ribbon automatically give her power?)
I guess I thought the ending just wasn't as focused as I'd have liked it to be
the rest of the film had some really fantastic, pointed satire, but the end just got sloppy
"The ending of the original script was different and was changed as it was considered too dark."
I was reading about that last night. although I think I like that ending more, I'm not sure it would clarify anything. it might make it even more of a mess. I mean why would Heather strap the bomb to her chest? I guess the idea of her sacrificing her self is a nice one, but she's just going to wind up being yet another Westerburg suicide.
I like the idea of the prom in heaven though. I think it would work better though if it was JD's heaven, not Heather's - kind of like the end of Taxi Driver (even though I know that's not supposed to be a dream)
I also actually really like the ending the writers had joked about, with after Veronica asks her to hang out, Martha pulls out a gun, shoots her in the face, and shouts "Fuck you! Fuck you, Heather!" to which a dying Veronica responds "My name's not Heather!" |
