Veronica (Ryder) is the fourth wheel of a popular clique of highschool girls known as the Heathers, three girls all named Heather. Heather 1 (Kim Walker) is the leader and most ruthless. Heather 2 (Lisanne Falk) is pretty much a following sheep. Heather 3 (Shannen Doherty) is even more so, she's the meekest of the three.
Veronica is increasingly unenamored of how the leader Heather 1 plays mean jokes on undesirables like nerds and fat girls, and realizes she's become anti-Heather and must stop the Heathers' domination. Veronica confides in her diary that she wants to bump off H1, but really doesn't have the guts. Meanwhile, she is attracted to the new student, Jason aka J.D. (juvenile delinquent? played by Christian Slater), who seems to share her sensibilities.
Accidentally they kill H1, and her death is masked as a suicide by Veronica and Jason, and thus everyone thinks it is a "cry for help" and H1 is looked on sympathetically instead of the witch she was. This happens again with two male students, jocks, one whom Veronica actually kills.
Veronica begins to feel remorse but she realizes Jason is a psychopath who wants more and more. She has to now stop HIM before he puts his big plan into action.
The film starts off as a sterotypcial highschool picture with the expected themes of bullying, cliques, outcasts, but is twisted quickly when Jason enters the scene. Veronica is portrayed as not as mean as the Heathers, and actually from the start I thought she was too nice to be in that clique. Ryder does do a good job with the remorse and the cool righteousness/heroism in the final showdown scene with Jason.
This is one of those films you have to watch again and again to see all the background references. For instance each of the Heathers and Veronica have a certain color identified with them and their clothes and bedrooms reflect this. After H1 dies and H3 takes over, she starts wearing H1's color.
H1 likes to go around the school lunchroom taking a poll and the latest is about what you would do if an alien decides to destroy the Earth, which comes around to relate to the plot late in the story when Jason's plan comes to fruition.
Slater's character, Jason Dean, aka J.D., is also referencing James Dean and J.D. Salinger (Catcher in the Rye was supposed to be refenced in the movie but they couldn't get permission to use it). Also, the writer wanted Stanley Kubrick to direct, so all those things give you an idea of where this film is going.
The last few minutes of the film brings a really dark ending to the film. It actually makes Jason a somewhat sympathetic character. But from what I hear in the commentary and read on the internet, it would even have been darker if the filmmakers were allowed to make it so.
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