Death of a Cheerleader: TV Movie (True Stories Collection)

Good Movie!

I really liked this movie. Good storyline n actors.

Watched it once. The Beginning and ending. Skimmed most of the middle. Basic plot is rich girl gets everything in school and life is a jock/preppy type cheerleader and middle class girl tries to join the preppy cheersquad but does get not part on the team but gets into rich girl's circle. Rich girl, Stacy, is mean to middle class girl, Angie and other girls including a goth girl named Monica*. Stacy gets stabbed by Angie. Many viewers are disgruntled that Angie is made out to be a victim. (I guess if you were a prep you'd naturally dislike not preppy people to begin with.) But Personally I skimmed through the middle section because I got the impression from the first 30 min that it was going to be taking the Rich girl's side. Coming from middle class roots and being unliked in school myself I'm more of a team Angie member than team Stacy. But personally I feel you can't really dislike Angie if you believe that everyone deserves a second chance (Besides Stacy received about 100 if not more chances in the film and probably more than a thousand in real life.)* Somewhere in the first 40 minutes there's a cruel (but funny) poem that Stacy writes/reads about Monica being a witch.** I gave a 5 star not because of acting or storyline or outcome but for the elements in the film. It's worth watching at least once. Didn't know it was a lifetime film at first but if you seen a lifetime film before it kind of the same format.

Besides Tori Spelling's acting, this was a good movie. Bullying and the favoritism shown toward popular, "pretty" people in schools are like matches for the emotional chaos, fragile egos and insecurity of many adolescents. I was a high school teacher; I have seen it for myself. Often kids who can't be "perfect" are labeled as "weird" or simply just ignored. Rather than being addressed by schools and societies, the cruel behavior is often not only tolerated, but in many cases reinforced by the very adults who should be recognizing, educating, and reporting bullying; for when it is not dealt with, it sets aflame a fire of pain that can only end in tragedy. I am in no way excusing violence, but the adolescent mind is fragile. Teenagers deal with identity issues, family issues, increasing pressure from standardized tests, pressure to conform, etc. Because of this constant state of inner chaos, those who are fighting both inner and outer feelings of failure and cruelty from others are sometimes led to do things that they never would have done under different circumstances.

I've liked this movie ever since I caught it on Lifetime years ago and have been wanting to see it again lately. It's just as great, and in some ways, just as cheesy as I remember. The acting by Kellie Martin and Valerie Harper is particularly good. Tori Spelling had some good moments, but I do think she overacts in some places. What really annoys me is the acting by the people who play Stacy's parents. Even though they only have a few lines, they don't show the absolute shock, horror and grief any parent would feel after seeing their child severely injured and watching her die. In the scene where Stacy is taken away in the ambulance just after being stabbed, they just kind of stand in the street with slightly contorted looks on their faces. They make the same faces in the next scene when they watch their daughter die at the hospital and during the trial scenes. No tears, no screams, not much of anything. Most people show more emotion when their pet dies. But that annoyance aside, the story unfolds well and does a good job of showing the societal pressure Kellie's character Angela was under and that she seemed to simply snap under the weight of it all. Some people may be a little dismayed that the movie paints Angela's character as the real victim or just as much of a victim as Stacy. I think the thing to keep in mind is that this movie is really Angela's (Bernadette Protti's) story more than Stacy's (Kirsten Costas') and is basically told from her point of view.

This is a compelling story of what it was like being a teenager in high school in the 80's. Cheerleaders were the elite. It was a coveted role. I don't remember anyone being so envious they would kill over it, but I do understand it was an emotional time for young girls. Fitting in, being popular was what everyone wanted. Only a small group were able to enjoy that. The rest of us, not so much. In this story, the young girl took things too far, took it too hard, and ended up taking a life. The movie is well done, the cast did a good job. The fact it is based on true events makes it an even more tragic story to watch. It is clearly a view more from the perspective of the girl who did the killing, rather than the one who was killed, but maybe that is important too. Trying to make some sense of why she did this. At the end of the day, I can sympathize with what she felt. She was a confused young girl. But more sympathy is directed at the one who had to lose her life. She didn't deserve it. Both of them were only teenagers, and given a little more time both would have matured beyond caring so much about high school social status.

This movie is like John Waters' Serial Mom played straight. It's sensitive and weepy and it tries to make us all identify with a teenage murderer. Looked at in its own frame of reference, it is TV dross. Looked at as a vehicle for a story where Tori Spelling might richly deserve being stabbed with a cucumber knife, it's high camp. If you're looking for a sincere and thoughtful slice of life, look elsewhere. This is as phony as a three dollar bill. If you are looking for some fun overheated melodrama with a point of view that takes the side of someone who runs across a lawn to stab a royal B teen queen multiple times, then you will probably enjoy it.

'Death of a Cheerleader' also known as 'A Friend to Die For' is an excellent film and one of the most thought-provoking I have seen for a long time. The plot is informed by the real-life murder of popular cheerleader Kirsten Costas by the less popular Bernadette Protti back in the 1980s.Kelly Martin plays Angela, an intelligent and friendly girl with close friends and a loving family. When Angela and her friend Jamie leave their old school to attend the prestigious Santa Mira High School, she is drawn in by the school's heavy emphasis on competition and "being the best". Things start off well for Angela when she is accepted into an exclusive service club called 'The Larks' and given a job in the school office. However, Angela has her sights on befriending fellow office colleague and Lark Stacey Lockwood (played by Tori Spelling). Jamie for undisclosed reasons has befriended Stacey and is part of her cliché. Whilst popular with both students and faculty Stacey is self-centred, arrogant and cruel and is not interested in being friends with Angela and is openly hostile and unkind to her. Alongside Stacey's rejection Angela experiences a string of bad luck when she is not selected for a post on the school yearbook despite being a talented writer and fails cheerleading try-outs (which Stacey passes with flying colours). Devastated and desperate Angela makes one final attempt to get Stacey to be her friend. Yet again she is rebuffed and an angry and disgusted Stacey declares she will tell the whole school how weird Angela is. In a fit of rage, Angela stabs her multiple times and leaves her to die.To me, this is a very thought-provoking film. As fellow reviewers have also acknowledged, how failure within a competitive environment such as a high school can drive a well adjusted and kind-hearted girl to take another life is simply mind blowing to say the least.

I first saw this movie late one night on BBC, and the story was one that stuck in my head for years. I saw this in my recommendations, and bought the DVD - it's still a very powerful movie to watch. The quality of the DVD is good - I mean, it's blatantly obvious that it's the early 90s, but that's not always a bad thing. This is a movie that doesn't need to rely on fancy camera angles and arty shots - it was the highest rated TV movie of 1994.It's based on an event that took place in Miramonte High School in California in 1984, when a jealous high school girl (Bernadette Protti) killed her classmate (Kirsten Costas). The jealous classmate, Angela, is played by Kellie Martin (a fantastic actress) and the popular girl, Stacy, by Tori Spelling (who gives an absolutely 100% believable and capable performance here). The movie shows just how much some highschoolers ache to fit into certain cliques and groups, and how it can effect someone vulnerable when they feel like they are constantly rejected.It's disturbing to watch in parts, but it just shows that nobody knows what's going on inside other people's heads. The score is atmospheric and perfect for the movie, and the acting is brilliant all round - there isn't one weak performance. If you like crime dramas, true movies or have an interest in movies based on true crimes, then I recommend this. Powerful.

I saw this film years ago on TV and just got the sudden urge to see it again recently. So, I got it here. All arrived in perfect condition as promised. Good, fact-based story that makes you remember the trials and issues (that SEEM important) in school. Always makes me think about the real people these charaters are based on.

deth to cheerleder is a very nice movie and very raw at the same time makes you experience first hand the feelings of the two protagonists and you can to put yourself in them.

One of the best True Story TV films in my opinion. Very moving film where you feel a deep sympathy to the assailant (Angela) rather than the victim (Stacey)