What actually happens
Three Heathers and one exit strategy
At Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio, Veronica Sawyer belongs to a popular clique of three girls who are all named Heather: Heather Duke, Heather McNamara and the queen bee, Heather Chandler. Veronica is tired of how the clique uses its power and misses her old, nicer friends. A new student, Jason "J.D." Dean, catches her attention when he scares two football-team bullies, Kurt and Ram, by firing blanks at them. J.D.'s mother killed herself, and he is on bad terms with his father, a demolition tycoon who loves explosives. Veronica goes to a college frat party with Chandler, refuses to have sex with a member there, and throws up on Chandler. Chandler promises to wreck her reputation. That night, J.D. climbs through Veronica's bedroom window and they have sex.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
A mug of the wrong liquid
The following morning, Veronica and J.D. let themselves into Chandler's house to play a prank, a fake hangover cure that is supposed to make her throw up. Veronica mixes orange juice and milk in a mug, but J.D. has filled a different mug with drain cleaner, and Veronica picks up the wrong one. Chandler drinks it and dies. Veronica is horrified, but J.D. talks her into forging a suicide note in Chandler's handwriting. The school treats it as the tragic choice of a troubled girl, and Chandler becomes more admired dead than she ever was alive. Duke starts going to news stations to talk about the death and appoints herself the clique's new leader.
A double date in a field
McNamara talks Veronica into a double date with Kurt and Ram. J.D. finds the four of them in a field, and Veronica goes off with him. Kurt passes out, and Ram rapes McNamara. The boys then spread a false rumor about Veronica, and J.D. suggests luring them into the woods, shooting them with tranquilizers and staging the scene so it looks like they were a couple who died together. Once they are in the woods, J.D. shoots Ram and Veronica misses Kurt, who runs. J.D. chases Kurt back toward Veronica, and she shoots him in a panic, realizing only then that the bullets are real. At their funeral the boys are praised as martyrs. Veronica is horrified that J.D. is killing students he dislikes, and she ends their relationship.
A petition with extra steps
J.D. blackmails Duke into getting the whole school to sign a petition, which she does not know is secretly meant to serve as a mass suicide note. Martha, a girl who gets bullied a lot, tries to end her life by walking into traffic. She survives with bad injuries, and her classmates make fun of her because they think she was imitating the popular crowd. McNamara phones a radio show about her depression, Duke tells the school about the call, and McNamara is bullied for it. She overdoses in the girls' bathroom, and Veronica stops her. At home, Veronica's parents tell her J.D. came by and said he feared she would hurt herself. Realizing he means to kill her, Veronica fakes a hanging. J.D. finds her, believes she is dead and gives a speech about what he is really planning: destroying the school at a pep rally and presenting it as a group suicide.
The boiler room
J.D. puts dynamite with remote detonators in the gym, then goes to the boiler room to place more with a countdown timer. Veronica follows him there and shoots him. This is the part people dread, and it comes near the end of the movie. As he is hit, J.D. accidentally cuts the wires to the countdown detonator with his switchblade. He still has a second bomb strapped to his chest and goes outside after Veronica, which is where he sets it off. He sets it off outside, right after giving Veronica a eulogy.
The ending, explained
J.D. follows Veronica outside with a bomb strapped to his chest, gives her a personal eulogy and sets it off, which kills him. Students and teachers rush over, and Veronica goes back inside disheveled and covered in soot, finds Duke and tells her off. Then she asks Martha to spend prom night with her watching movies. Chandler, Kurt, Ram and J.D. are dead by the end. Veronica, Martha, McNamara and Duke are alive.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Heathers scary?
Barely. Heathers is a 2 out of 10 with low dread. It is a black comedy without jump scares, and the dark parts are about teenage cruelty, suicide and violence.
How does Heathers end?
Veronica shoots J.D. in the boiler room, and he sets off a bomb on his chest outside and dies. Veronica scolds Duke and invites Martha to watch movies with her on prom night.
Does the dog die in Heathers?
No dog dies in Heathers, and no other animal dies either.
Is there a post-credits scene in Heathers?
No. Heathers has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who are the Heathers in Heathers?
The Heathers are Heather Chandler, Heather Duke and Heather McNamara, three wealthy girls with the same first name who run the clique at Westerburg High. Veronica Sawyer is the fourth member, and she wants out.
