Director: Michael Lehmann
Screenplay: Daniel Waters
Starring: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Kim Walker, Lisanne Falk
Country: United States
Running Time: 103 min
Year: 1988
Back in 2018, when Arrow Video released the cult classic Heathers on Blu-ray, I checked the film out for the first time and immediately fell in love with it. From the iconic quirky dialogue to the excellent lead performances from Christian Slater and Winona Ryder, it instantly shot to my favourites list and has remained there ever since. When Arrow Video announced that they were re-pressing the film for the first time in UHD, I jumped at the chance to cover it for the site.
For those unfamiliar, Heathers is a high-school dark comedy that follows Veronica (WInona Ryder), who’s part of a ruthless clique at her high-school with her friends Heather, Heather and… Heather. After developing a crush on him, Veronica starts to spend time with new student and outsider J.D. (Christian Slater) and before she knows it, she’s assisting him with a series of horrific crimes. It’s a great, great time that I don’t want to spoil for those unfamiliar with the film, but even if you haven’t seen the original film, there’s a chance you’ve at least heard of Heathers before in some capacity.
In 2018, there was a television adaptation which, for my money, was better than most people gave it credit for but due to unfortunate timing, it only lasted for one season. More recently, the popularity of the musical adaptation Heathers: The Musical has taken the world by storm and it’s no surprise why. The key elements that make Heathers so compelling are almost universally enjoyable that it’s hard to make a terrible version of it.
When it comes to the original film, it’s hard to really top it though. The chemistry between the two leads is delightful to watch, it’s hilarious throughout thanks to the timeless and quotable screenplay from Daniel Waters (who’s brother Mark ended up directing Mean Girls, a film that owes a lot to Heathers, in my opinion) and the hugely enjoyable, yet questionable antics which Veronica and J.D. get into.
I’d highly recommend checking out fellow Blueprint: Review writer David’s take on the film, but I echo a lot of his sentiments towards the film. It’s fun, it’s a treat to experience and a worthy purchase to fans of dark comedy.
Film: 
Heathers released on Limited Edition 4K UHD August 5th via Arrow Video. Having seen Arrow’s prior Blu-ray release a few times, I can say that this release is a nice upgrade for fans of the film. The video quality is great, with the added HDR grade (which I viewed in Dolby Vision) really helping the vibrant colours of Heathers pop better than ever before. There’s multiple audio options, such as the English 1.0 mono track and the stereo 2.0 and 5.1 DTS HD MA tracks. I viewed the film with the 2.0 track, but tested them all out and there’s no bad audio mix here. On an A/V level, it’s a great release. The following extras are included:
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
New restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative by Arrow Films
4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original 1.0 mono, and optional stereo 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio sound
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by director Michael Lehmann, producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters
Lehmann’s Terms, an interview with director Michael Lehmann
Pizzicato Croquet, composer David Newman and director Michael Lehmann discuss the music of Heathers
How Very: The Art and Design of Heathers, production designer Jon Hutman, art director Kara Lindstrom and director Michael Lehmann discuss the look of Heathers
Casting Westerberg High, casting director Julie Selzer discusses the casting process for Heathers
Poor Little Heather, an interview with actress Lisanne Falk
Scott and Larry and Dan and Heathers, an interview between screenwriting team Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, The People vs Larry Flint), and Heathers screenwriter Daniel Waters
The Big Bowie Theory, an appreciation by the writer, actor and comedian John Ross Bowie
Return to Westerberg High, an archival featurette providing further insight into the film’s production
Swatch Dogs and Diet Coke Heads, an archival featurette with the cast and crew featuring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and writer Daniel Waters
The Beaver Gets a Boner, Michael Lehmann’s student film from 1985 made at the USC School of Cinematic Arts
Original trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Robert Sammelin
Almost all of the extras included are identical to the 2018 Blu-ray that Arrow released (which David covered for Blueprint: Review here) but I’ll briefly go over them here. The only new addition seems to be the inclusion of the archival featurette Swatch Dogs and Diet Coke Heads.
The audio commentary by director Michael Lehmann, producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters is a fun listen, with the trio highlighting their experiences working on the film in a laid back and engaging commentary.
Lehmann’s Terms, the interview with director Michael Lehmann runs for around 15 minutes and has Lehmann talk about his filmmaking journey in a delightfully entertaining manner.
Pizzicato Croquet is an 11 minute dual-interview with composer David Newman and director Michael Lehmann who discuss the music of Heathers and how the pair ended up working together. It’s another entertaining interview (or set of interviews, given how the pair were interviewed at different times).
How Very: The Art and Design of Heathers is a 15 minute interview with production designer Jon Hutman, art director Kara Lindstrom and director Michael Lehmann who all discuss the look of Heathers. Lehmann talks about the stylisation of the film, the production design and more.
Casting Westerberg High is an 11 minute interview with Heathers’ casting director Julie Selzer who discusses the casting process for the film. She touches on the early productions she worked on such as Grease 2 and Flashdance, how she ended up casting Heathers and more.
Poor Little Heather is a 17 minute interview with actress Lisanne Falk who plays Heather McNamara in the film. McNamara talks about how she began work as a model at a young age, her time during the production of Heathers and more. It’s another solid interview.
Scott and Larry and Dan and Heathers is a 38 minute interview between the screenwriting team Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, The People vs Larry Flint), and Heathers screenwriter Daniel Waters and the trio discuss their separate works, how they approach the act of screenwriting and of course, the script for Heathers. It’s a really entertaining, meatier featurette that’s a great inclusion.
The Big Bowie Theory is a 35 minute appreciation of Heathers by the writer, actor and comedian John Ross Bowie, who praises the film and explains how he discovered it when the film initially came out. Given that Bowie has written an entire book dedicated to the film, he’s very knowledgeable about Heathers and this featurette is an engaging 35 minutes that’s worth checking out.
Return to Westerberg High is a 21 minute archival featurette that contains interviews with crew associated with the production and it’s a pretty fun watch. It’s ported over from Anchor Bay’s 2008 DVD.
Swatch Dogs and Diet Coke Heads is a 30 minute archival featurette with Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Daniel Waters and others, which wasn’t on Arrow’s previous Blu-ray release. Swatch Dogs contains some fun interviews, with Lehmann talking about his student film that’s included on this very disc, The Beaver Gets a Boner. It’s great to see this featurette ported over from the old Heathers DVD.
The Beaver Gets a Boner is Michael Lehmann’s student film from 1985 made at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, which is provided from the USC SoCA’s 16mm student film collection. It’s 20 minutes long and offers an insight into Lehmann’s earlier work and it’s charming to see how some of the stylistic choices from Beaver translated over to his work on Heathers. An incredibly amusing inclusion that’s worth checking out. Also, Tony Cox being in this was a huge surprise!
Two trailers are included, one for the release under the title Lethal Attraction and another for the 30th Anniversary re-release.
An image gallery is also included.
I wasn’t provided with the physical extras like the poster or the booklet so I can’t comment on them, unfortunately.
Heathers makes its debut on 4K UHD with flying colours, thanks to this excellent Arrow Video release. Some fans may be disappointed to hear that there’s few new bonus features, but the extras included are fantastic and worth watching for any Heathers fanatic. A must-buy.
Disc/Packaging:
HEATHERS is available on Limited Edition 4K UHD and ARROW from 5th August.
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