The 1988 cult comedy starring Winona Ryder as a high school student involved in murders is Heathers. Ryder plays Veronica Sawyer, an intelligent student caught between the popular Heathers clique and the violent schemes of Jason “J.D.” Dean.
Set largely at Westerburg High School, the film begins as a dark satire of popularity, bullying, social status, and the rigid hierarchy of American teen life. Veronica helps stage one cruel prank, but events escalate after J.D. begins murdering students and disguising the deaths as suicides.
Daniel Waters wrote the screenplay and Michael Lehmann directed the film. Its deliberately bleak jokes, stylized dialogue, and treatment of teenage despair distinguished it from more optimistic high-school movies of the period, especially the familiar teen comedies associated with John Hughes.
Although the title refers to three popular students named Heather, the story centers on Veronica's moral struggle and growing resistance to J.D. Jawbreaker is another dark high-school comedy, while Mean Girls and Clueless are separate films with different characters and plots.