Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kellie Martin plays unpopular high schooler Angela Delveccio, who longs to be part of the "in" crowd. She joins as many activities as she can, including The Larks, which is an afterschool service club. Many of the popular girls are Larks, including the nasty Stacy Lockwood (Tori Spelling) who delights in humiliating the lone goth chick at school.

One night, Stacy and Angela get into a fight and Anglea blurts out an embarassing litany of reasons why she's so obsessed with Stacy. Unsurprisingly, Stacy is creeped out and mocks Angela, saying she's going to tell everyone at school about how weird Angela is. The idea of public humiliation pushes Angela over the edge and she stabs Stacy to death. The last part of the movie deals with Angela trying to keep her crime a secret from the police while the poor goth chick gets blamed by students for Stacy's death.

I saw this on Lifetime a couple years ago and have been waiting for it to be released on DVD! Kellie really nails the character of the desperate, plain-jane Angela and Tori is perfect as the rich bitch Stacy.

First saw this made for nbc-tv movie in 1994. Starred Kellie Martin as Angela and Tori Spelling as Stacy. This got great ratings when it initally aired. I was glued to my seat the entire 2 hours. Tori Spelling does an awesome job playing bitchy Stacy Lockwood and Kellie Martin does a great job playing unpopular Angela. If you're a fan of mid-90's tv movies than this is one you should pick up.

Kellie Martin puts in an absolutely brilliant performance as the desperate-to-be-accepted outcast. Tori Spelling is wonderful as the golden girl who seems to have it all, because she fits in with what others prize, including the alleged adults who run the show.

What is so sad here is that Kellie Martin's character is the one with the talent and drive. If she had not been pushed over the edge by the taunting of others and her childlike need for approval, life would have ultimately proven her to be the success.

Kellie Martin's performance is so on-target that at times it is agonizing (and embarrassing) to watch. The subtle changes of emotion on her face during the principal's "be the best" speech should have won her awards.

If you are a fan of Lifetime movies, Death of a Cheerleader definitely belongs in your collection.

How many people went through this in High School? The need to be popular, the mean girl who everyone is scared of and in awe of at the same time, and adults involved who think that winning is everything. This story is so real. As a teacher, I would like to create a curriculum around itto help others learn how to think for themselves and how to develop self worth. The casting was perfect. Tori played a good heifer and Kellie has pathetic down pact.

Stacy Lockwood, a cheerleader and the most popular girl at Santa Mira High School, is dead. She dies in hospital after a knife attack by another girl who fled in a car.

That's how "Death of a Cheerleader" (also known as "A Friend to die for") begins. Then there is a flashback, and we see Stacy and her friends 10 months earlier at the beginning of a new academic year at Santa Mira High School. "It is excellence", the high school principal tells the new students, "second-best is simply not good enough."

Stacy, the spoilt daughter of rich parents, is one of those who manage "to be the best". She is queen bee and openly nasty to anyone she does not like, especially to Monica, a highly unpopular girl who wears black and has her hair dyed.

Another girl who doesn't fit is Angela Delvecchio. Angela is pretty, nice and smart, but she comes from a rather poor family, cannot afford expensive stuff. Angela is nice, shy and insecure and desperately wants to belong. Her idol is "Queen Bee" Stacy Lockwood, the daughter of rich parents, a good athlete, cheerleader and the most popular girl at school. Angela is desperate to fit in and determined to be the best - she wants to become a cheerleader, to be on yearbook staff and so on. When she fails, "her whole world falls apart" (that is how a friend of the real Angela describes the girl's feelings in one of the articles about the "cheerleader murder"). Angela adores Stacy and wants to be her friend. When Stacy rejects her and Angela is afraid to be humiliated in front of the whole school by the nasty girl, the good girl turns bad... When Angela is rebuffed by Stacy, she explodes in a rage and stabs Stacy to death.

It is not a bad film - Kellie Martin is marvellous as "Angela Delvecchio".

The acting is great and the message is important - it is a film against bullying and peer group pressure.

And yet I cannot like this film. I think it is far too one-sided - Angela is portrayed very well as a nice girl whose desperation drives her over the edge, but what about Stacy? Her role is flat and one-dimensional, she is portrayed as a bully without any redeeming qualities. This film would be great if the crew only had bothered to portray BOTH SIDES. But they didn't, and that's my problem - the film is one-sided, biased, unfair and manipulative.

Don't forget that we only know the killer's side of story, the victim is not alive to defend herself. Her portrayal in this film is very unfair indeed. Whatever she did, she did not deserve to die. Whatever provocation the killer had does not excuse what she did. A 15-year-old who has been murdered deserves sympathy.

The film was based on an article about the cheerleader murder, written by Randall Sullivan. Sullivan frankly admits that he identified with the killer and does not express any sympathy at all for the victim.

It is obvious that the author believed every word the killer said, but the victim's parents didn't. Neither do I. The killer lured the victim out of the house with a cover story, did not say her name and had a knife with her - this sounds very much like planned murder. The victim's parents said that no one would use a foot-and-a-half-long knife to cut tomatoes (the killer claimed that she found the knife only by chance; her older sister testified in court that she used it for slicing vegetables at lunch-time and might have left it in the car)and that Bernadette (the real Angela's name), casually dressed, never intended to take Kirsten (the real Stacy's name) to a party.

If you are interested in the real Angela and the real Stacy, you can find plenty of information via google. In fact, I was rather shocked to see how much you can find out about people who probably want to be left alone. I found the addresses of the killer's parents, the victim's parents, the victim's neighbour's, I found the victim's mother in a pedigree and now I know her maiden name and that she is the daughter of an immigrant from Norway...

Kirsten's and Bernadette's classmates finished high school in 1986 and celebrated their reunion in 2006 (there is a reunion homepage, the school's name is Miramonte). I am sure that many of their former classmates missed Kirsten. She is not forgotten as you can see on the page "Find a grave" where many people left flowers for her...

People leave notes like "I miss you" and "To this day, I can't get into a pool without thinking of you". It seems like Kirsten's friend still miss her, she cannot have been such an evil witch.

Kirsten Costas was only 15. Maybe she was a stupid bitch, but even if she had been the worst brat on earth - she didn't deserve to die. And she was entitled to dislike Bernadette and did not have any obligation to be her friend! Whatever she was like, she paid with her life and that price was far too high.

I was a "Bernadette" myself at school, I was green with jealousy, too, and detested all the "Kirstens" I knew! But I NEVER harmed anyone. I didn't because I'm sane and normal. The killing was not an act of self-defense, and I think the high school principal was perfectly right when he said the killer was "a sick kid with serious problems".

I found many comments that made me see red - I am horrified to see how readily people justify murder. Bloggers who do not even bother to spell the victim's name correctly - it was K-I-R-S-T-E-N, not Kristen or Krista - write things like "The victim is as guilty as the killer" and similar rubbish, and one even blames the victim's (!) parents and says they should have taught their daughter to treat others with kindness and respect! How do we know what Kirsten's parents taught their daughter? Maybe Bernadette's parents should have taught their daughter more self-esteem...

Bernadette had no right to kill Kirsten. And competitive world or not - society did not force Bernadette to kill her classmate. It was Bernadette's decision. She could have left Kirsten alone in the first place. She could have accepted the rejection. She could have left the knife at home. She could have slapped Kirsten instead of stabbing her. She could have called an ambulance after she stabbed her. She could have confessed MUCH earlier.

In the film, the killer is described as a "confused and desperate child". But the victim was a child as well - and I guess she was "confused and desperate", too, when she felt the knife penetrating her lungs and liver and when she was bleeding to death! I totally agree with the FBI man who (in the film) says "Feel sorry for the girl she killed!"

Bernadette turned herself in - but she only did so after the FBI had figured out that she was the killer. Before her confession, she deceived everyone for six months - and allowed the blame to rest on others.

The worst scene in the film is the one showing the Delvecchio family having a celebration shortly before Christmas. They thoroughly enjoy themselves - with the exception of Angela, of course, who knows that the FBI figured out that she did it. Why doesn't the film show the Lockwoods' first Christmas without their daughter? I'm sure it was horrible - they must have missed her terribly... The film does not quote Berit Costas' words she said in court, so I will quote them: "My heart is empty. I ache. I'm half a person." Kirsten's parents were shattered with grief and they probably still are...

But the most moving comment I found was made by the Costas' neighbour's son who saw Kirsten die: "I was there that night. I saw Kirsten's blood squirting all over my father as she struggled to breathe. She knew she was dying and the horror on her face as she bled out before us was something none of us will ever forget."

Rest in peace, Kirsten. I'm on your side.

The true story behind this movie can be found at this website for movies based on true stories. Also includes pictures of both kirsten and bernadette.

http://kirstencostasmovie.blogspot.com/

First of all- Kellie Martin and Tori Spelling in the same drama?! They both rule in the tv movie department! Kellie playing an insane, jealous, spoiled girl, and Tori playing an innocent & sweet victim. And cheerleaders! That's not the best part, because this would have been good no matter what the story revolved around- the versatile Kellie Martin makes any character her own, & does it believeably. That's not to say I didn't laugh at this movie, but that's just how I am. I can't take these TV-movie dramas seriously cause I'm concentrating on what I can find funny! There are very few `90s TV-movies that come close to the caliber of this one, but usually they star Kellie Martin. I highly recommend this, and hope that they release more & more of her `90s tv-movies.

I remember reading Randall Sullivan's 1985 article which served as the basis for this 1994 TV drama.
Interestingly, I was close to quite a few people who were threatened with knives during my pre-and early teen years, and the year before the real-life murder depicted in this story took place, survived a near-stabbing at the hands of two girls in my unsupervised science class, who thought it was a lark to play with the rusty knife the science teacher used to cut minerals, and aim it at the necks of unsuspecting classmates. While my would-be assailants were apprehended quickly, and did not return to that school after that year, this is a story about a teenage girl who was able to hide from authorities for six months after committing a fatal stabbing.
Based on the 1984 murder of a beautiful, dark-haired, olive-skinned cheerleader named Kirsten Costas by a less-affluent blonde classmate named Bernadette Protti, the film stars Kellie Martin as Angela Del Vecchio, the youngest daughter of a pious, lower-middle-class family as its "Bernadette".
A kind, sweet-tempered, introspective girl, who recently transfered from a Catholic school, Angela suffers from low self-esteem. Spurred by the school Principal's (Terry O'Quinn's) speech on "being the best", given an assembly at the beginning of the year, Angela sets her sights on joining the elite social service group, the Meadowlarks (or just Larks), becoming the school yearbook editor, becoming a cheerleader, and getting the Queen Bee student who embodies all that she desires to be to incorporate her into her social circle.
Tori Spelling plays Stacy Lockwood, the Golden Girl, who unwittingly and unfortunately becomes the object of Angela's admiration and envy.
In reality, the victim and perpetrator had very little contact with each other, which is one major innaccuracy of the film, although Stacy did slight her killer-to-be about her skiing attire.
The incident where Stacy illicitly reads another girl's diary was also portrayed inaccurately. It was mentioned by an acquaintance of the victim in Sullivan's article. But presumably, that incident and many others in the film were staged that way to give insight, if not into the victim's character, than definitely insight into the way she was perceived by the girl who would eventually take her life.
Valerie Harper was great as Angela's kind, religious mother, who is supportive of her daughter, but perhaps not fully aware of how devastating the failure to reach certain goals, and the rejection of certain peer group members will really be for her.
Marley Shelton plays Jamie, a friend of Angela's who joins in Stacy's mocking of the punk rocker girl (Kathryn Morris)--later a prime suspect in Stacy's slaying--only because she was afraid of Stacy. Margaret Langrick is Angela's other best friend, Jill.
The film exaggerates the trendiness of the elite girls to a fault, depicting them wearing obscenely long strands of pearls, but does not exaggerate their clannishness and exclusivity.
We see how Stacy makes more of an impression on the School Principal than Angela when both of the young office workers tell him they are going to try out for cheerleading, and we see how Stacy gets away with flouting certain school rules.
Words of wisdom from her priest(Eugene Roche) and her sister Theresa(Christa Miller) do little to console her as she fails to reach most of her goals.
Angela does become a Lark, and a candystriper. I have observed how teens who work as candystripers are often resentful towards peer group members who don't have that responsibility, perceiving them as people who don't take life seriously enough whether it's true or not.
Within a few year's time and with a little more maturity and hindsight, the real killer may have come to realize that the object of her fixation had no real obligation to pay her any attention or to justify her life to her if she didn't want to, and she may ultimately have come to realize that a relationship with her wasn't really all that important.
Among the things teens should be made to realize is that in most cases, their peer group members are no more responsible for the success of failure of their families' financial situation than anyone else their age, and to try to make that less of an issue. But Santa Mira (in real life, Orinda, California) is a competitive and goal-oriented community, where it is easy for anyone that age to lose sight of that fact.
Shortly after the end of that school year, when Stacy wins a place on the cheerleading squad and Angela doesn't, and Angela's desperation for acceptance by the "In Crowd" reaches an all-time high, she places a call to Stacy's mother, identifying herself only as a member of the Larks, and inviting her to a dinner on behalf of the Larks when no such event is to take place, in order to have time alone with Stacy to try to befriend her. Angela illegally takes the family car out and picks up a reluctant Stacy from her family home.
True to Bernadette Protti's actual testimony, Stacy is enraged when she learns there is no dinner for the Larks, and refuses to go to a party with Angela. They drive into a church parking lot where Stacy begins to smoke pot, and Stacy denounces Angela when she refuses to do the same.
Stacy hurries over to a nearby residence to ask a couple for a ride home, explaining the precarious situation with her friend in the shadows.
Angela tails the car as Stacy is driven home by someone else, and her mind process--in which she fears what Stacy will tell everyone the following day--is revealed to the audience.
In hindsight, one would say it is better to be slighted for being weird for a brief time than to have the world call you a murderer for the rest of your life.Angela fatally stabs Stacy as she stands at the front door of a residence, and the heartbreak of the community is deeply felt.
For nearly six months, the wrong girl is accused, although in reality there were two girls accused, and one did not return to that school the following year.
But using descriptions from witnesses, and psychological profiling, FBI agents, led by James Avery, find the killer, and the community is forced to come to terms with some painful truths about itself in Bernadette's church, and in the trial that follows.
The class with which the victim and perpetrator would have graduated just celebrated its 20th year reunion. Surely those marred by this tragedy have a different perspective on it now that many are undoubtably parents themselves, and while the victim could have been a nicer person, she might have at least had a chance to live and outgrow that phase of her life.
The killer was released from prison on June 10, 1992 despite the objections of the victim's parents (who left California), and can never return to Orinda as a condition of her release.
About the only positive aspect of all this is that the real-life social service group to which both girls belonged became more inclusive, and at too great a cost, many of the young who were affected by this tragedy began to redefine their values.

I think Tori Spelling is way better suited for roles like Donna Martin in 90210. She's spunky and hilarious in real life, and so was Donna. I don't think she's good at the dramatic bitch character. Regardless, if you can overlook the iffy acting on her part, the movie is very good. So many girls are teased mercilessly in high school, and just want to belong. Angela, the self-tortured student played by Kellie Martin (who does a much better job acting) decides that she will go to any lengths to be included in the popular crowd, resorting to murder. Despite this being a true story and probably a rare occurrence, the message is clear: kids need to be nicer to each other and just let people be who they are. Cliques and stereotypes tear people down and make school years miserable. Tweens and teens should see this movie.

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