Line #29 Film/AFriendToDieFor


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/death_of_a_cheerleader.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:How much would ''you'' give to be popular?]]
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4	''A Friend to Die For'' (also known as ''Death of a Cheerleader'') is a 1994 MadeForTVMovie directed by William A. Graham that first premiered on Creator/{{NBC}}. It starts Creator/KellieMartin, Creator/ToriSpelling, Creator/ValerieHarper, Creator/TerryOQuinn, Creator/MarleyShelton and Creator/JamesAvery.
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6	Angela Delvecchio (Martin), a sophomore at wealthy, high-achieving Santa Mira High School, wishes to rise through the ranks of the school hierarchy and win over the acceptance of Stacy Lockwood (Spelling), a popular queen bee at the school. Angela falls into Stacy's orbit, but as Stacy succeeds where Angela fails, the paths of the two girls will meet and ultimately clash, with fatal results.
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8	The film is ''[[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory very]]'' [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely based on]] [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kirsten_Costas the 1984 murder of Kirsten Costas]] and plays up a lot of the facts of the case for entertainment value (namely in painting the likeable and popular Costas as a mean girl). That said, the film was still well-received by fans and even spawned a remake 25 years later, this time actually named ''Film/DeathOfACheerleader'' where Martin plays a small role.
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11	!!Tropes:
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13	* TheAce: Angela is jealous of Stacy, who seems to succeed at everything she does.
14	* AdaptationalDyeJob: In RealLife, Kirsten Costas had black hair, while her assailant Bernadette Protti had dark blonde hair. Here, the victim is blonde and the murderer is a brunette (and the 2019 remake kept those hair colors).
15	* AdultsAreUseless: Played with: whereas the other adults in the film are simply unaware of Angela's true motives (her parents), quite knowledgeable of them (the investigators), or just peripheral characters (everyone else outside of the school), the adults in the high school, particularly social-climbing, insensitive Principal Saxe, couldn't care less about how left out or miserable the "have nots" of the school (unpopular, poor or working class, etc.) are. This is depressingly true in Monica's case; in spite of being visibly bullied on multiple occasions throughout the film, including in class, in an assembly, and on the infamous ski trip, no one bothers to put a stop to it. Furthermore, it's implied that her own parents ''forced'' her to go on the trip.
16	* TheAlibi: Angela makes up a story that she was babysitting the night of the murder, but it's ultimately found to not be true.
17	* AlphaBitch: Stacy, who loves to bully and mock those she doesn't like, namely loner goth Monica.
18	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Stacy ends up being this to Angela. She's wealthy, more popular, confident, has everything going for her and is seen as relatively flawless in comparison to her.
19	* AssholeVictim: Played with regarding Stacy: plenty of people in-universe miss her and even Angela deeply regrets killing her, but Jamie admits that she never liked her and was even afraid of her.
20	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: An underlying problem with the film. The pretty and popular students are showered with compliments and pride whereas everyone else is either ostracized or ignored. Principal Saxe even calls Stacy "the prettiest office attendant" [[KickTheDog within earshot of Angela.]]
21	* BetaBitch: Meredith Ladd is implied to be the second most popular girl in the sophomore class after Stacy. Of the four girls in Stacy’s inner circle, Stacy is the closest to Meredith and shows her the most consideration. Meredith’s fierce persecution of Monica and, later, Angela and Jill, suggests her attachment to Stacy is sincere.
22	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Stacy, of course. To the world and authority figures in particular she is charming, pleasant, and polite. To those who cross her she is mean and ruthless.
23	** Turns out Angela is one as well, and worse than Stacy since for all her faults Stacy is not a killer…
24	* BookEnds: The beginning and end of the film are the exact same series of shots--loons swimming in a pond and an instrumental accompanying a shot of the prestigious Santa Mira High School, and young boys riding bikes past a church.
25	* ChekhovsGun: The knife in the Nova that Teresa uses to cut and eat cucumbers in the car is later used to stab Stacy.[[note]]TruthInTelevision, but very controversial in the RealLife case. The parents of Kirsten Costas are vocal in saying they don't believe this explanation for why a knife was in the car, and feel that Protti took the knife with her with specific intent to kill.[[/note]]
26	* ChristianityIsCatholic: Both Angela and Jamie used to attend a Catholic school and even go to confession. Specifically, Angela's mother is a devout woman who spends an hour of everyday reading the Bible and praying.
27	* TheDeterminator: Angela is ''so'' driven in her desires to be popular, trying out for cheerleader, the yearbook and the Larks. [[spoiler: She only makes the latter.]]
28	* DidIMentionItsChristmas: The story climaxes around Christmas. TruthInTelevision, since Bernadette Protti was arrested on the 10th of December.
29	* DrowningMySorrows: After [[spoiler: being rejected from both the yearbook and the cheerleading squad,]] Angela and Jill end up sneaking wine and getting drunk off of it.
30	* GoodCopBadCop: In Angela's second interview with the police, whereas the local detective is confrontational with her regarding the inconsistencies with her polygraph results, the FBI agent is more calm and compassionate. However, after the interview ends and she leaves, the latter is more disgusted with her, even scolding the former for admitting he almost feels sorry for her.
31	* {{Goth}}: Monica is the textbook example: black clothes, jet black dyed hair, dour attitude and a loner.
32	* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: The four girls who get the most characterization. Stacy (Cynic), Angela (optimist), Jill (realist), and Jamie (appears to be apathetic but revealed at the end to be conflicted).
33	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Stacy (Choleric), Angela (melancholic), Jill (sanguine), and Jamie (phlegmatic). Of note is the fact that the melancholic and the sanguine have switched their traditional philosophies (optimist and realist, respectively).
34	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Jamie has long blonde hair, and becomes the moral center of the story as it goes on.
35	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Angela and Jill. The former and Jamie were also implied to be this before they transferred from their old school.
36	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Boy howdy. The victim is painted to be an unlikable bitch who viewers aren't supposed to sympathize with whereas the killer is the one painted as innocent and killing impulsively. The 2019 remake tried to balance the portrayals a bit.
37	* HowWeGotHere: The film opens with the murder, then steps back to show what led up to it.
38	* ICantFeelMyLegs: After Stacy is repeatedly stabbed in the back, she stumbles away to a nearby home, crying for help to the homeowners and saying how she can't feel her legs before she finally crumples to the ground and begins convulsing. [[spoiler:She dies shortly afterwards.]]
39	* IllKillYou: Monica threatens Stacy's life twice in the film: first upon her reading her diary to the other girls on the ski trip and again when she wrote a poem in English class comparing her to a witch.
40	* InWithTheInCrowd: Angela namely but Jamie is a more downplayed version, she's not nasty like Stacy and her GirlPosse, but still goes along with much of the group's antics and never speaks up in defense of anyone.
41	* IronicEcho:
42	** Stacy pleading for help after she escapes from Angela's car by telling the people at the nearby house "my friend is acting weird." Angela finally gets her wish to be considered a friend by Stacy, but under horrifying circumstances. Even more chilling, these [[TruthInTelevision were the actual words spoken]] in the real life incident.
43	** Principal Saxe's comment at the beginning of the school year to his students to "be the best" as in indulge in materialism to make their school, their town (and by extension him) look better is later used by Angela's priest after the revelation that she murdered Stacy. He openly pondered if it was these selfish intentions to "be the best" that had a hand in driving her to kill and while Saxe doesn't hear his words himself, Jaime does.
44	* JerkassToOne; Played with regarding Stacy; she is usually dismissive of Angela and others she doesn't like/who don't worship her, but she ''really'' has it in for Monica, routinely bullying her throughout the film unprovoked.
45	* KickTheDog: A couple of times throughout the film. A stand-out moment is when Stacy reads Monica's diary when they're on a skiing trip.
46	* LieDetector: Angela takes a polygraph exam during the investigation.
47	* LightIsNotGood: Stacy is almost always seen wearing light-colored clothing, usually white. However, she's one of the most unpleasant people in the film.
48	* LonersAreFreaks: Monica gets singled out by Stacy and her crew due to having no friends and being "weird.”
49	* MeaningfulName: it’s a lifetime movie so it’s to be expected.
50	** Stacy Lockwood: The name of a teenage Barbie doll, since she dies halfway through the film she gets no character development and ‘stays locked’ in the past.
51	** Angela Delvecchio. She appears to be sweet but is an Angel of death for Stacy and broadly for the communal bubble. Her surname means old, since she is shabby and poor. Counts as an IronicName.
52	** Jill, of Jack and Jill fame, is Jamie’s most supportive and loyal friend.
53	** Ex Lax, I mean, Ed Saxe, the materialistic and shallow School Principal who is full of crap.
54	* MistakenForGay: After being rebuffed by Stacy due to the failure of her plan to win her friendship, a worried and desperate Angela surmised what she and her friends' reactions would be, including accusing her of being a lesbian.
55	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Angela immediately regrets killing Stacy in a fit of anger. Also, Jamie has this feeling due to her belief that she abandoned her for the sake of popularity, even admitting this to a priest in confessional.
56	* NeverMyFault: Principal Saxe gives a so-called RousingSpeech to his students to "be the best" which basically implies for them to indulge in materialism and improving Santa Mira's image by succeeding at competitive sports then lavishing attention to those who do while dismissing or outright ignoring those who don't. Yet, when interviewed on the news about the murder, he blatantly denies that there was a problem with either subject and writes Angela off as a "sick kid.”
57	* NiceGirl: Played straight with Angela’s two friends, Jill and Jamie, who are sweet, pleasant, and loyal. Jamie has a crisis of conscience at the climax of the film while Jill remains moral throughout the film. In the end they both forgive and support Angela. Subverted with Angela herself. Her two friends are convinced that she is by far the nicest girl in school but ultimately she is a SocialClimber BitchInSheepsClothing.
58	* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: The original case happened at Miramonte High School in Orinda, California, a well-off [[UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco Bay Area]] suburb in Contra Costa County. Here, it's the local high school in the town of [[Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1956 Santa Mira]] in fictional Sierra Linda County.
59	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: A ''very'' loose version of a "good deed", but it still counts. At the ski trip when Stacy decides to read Monica's diary, Angela tries to ask her to stop and even pulls Monica off of her when she and Stacy get into a fight, but not only does Monica see through Angela's weak defense of her and calls her out for being a clinger-on of Stacy's, but Stacy actually gets angry at her for it and starts to bully her [[LoserFriendPuzzlesOutsiders although she was already dismissive of her presence in her circle.]]
60	* NotHelpingYourCase: When the FBI profile of the killer (a peripheral member of the victim's social circle acting out of feelings of jealousy and inadequacy) is read to Angela, who the cops seem to be leaning toward as the culprit, she remarks that it sounds like her (a TruthInTelevision moment).
61	* NotThatKindOfDoctor: At one point Stacy is discussing how one of her teachers has a doctorate and insists on being addressed as "Dr." In response, JerkJock Cort jokes about having a pain in his heart and asking her what he should do about it.
62	* OnceMoreWithClarity: The opening murder scene is repeated midway through, only this time the focus is on Angela rather than Stacy.
63	* ParentsKnowTheirChildren: Downplayed with Angela’s parents. While the murder comes as total surprise, they are both aware that their daughter is depressed and dissatisfied with her circumstances.
64	* PennyAmongDiamonds: Angela is considerably less well-off than the majority of the students at Santa Mira.
65	* PerpetualFrowner: Monica, and not without reason, being a routinely bullied loner with no friends.
66	* PrecisionFStrike: Monica when standing up to Stacy, who had called her a witch; "I don't need a broom to fly away from you, you bitch!"
67	* ProducePelting: In the aftermath of Stacy's murder, Monica is pelted with garbage at an assembly by other students who believed that she killed her.
68	* TheProfiler: A big break in the case is when the FBI is asked to develop a profile of the killer. It matches Angela to a T.
69	* ThisIsReality: Big sister Terri tries to infuse this into Angela's life when she tries to tell her her dreams of living in a beach front home overlooking the ocean and by supporting herself being a ''writer'' like Danielle Steele. Terri lives in an apartment and works a basic job to get by, having no money to do much else and says that, realistically, she would be in the same boat, especially being so young and without much in the way of any long-term career plans. This angers Angela so much that she storms off to her room.
70	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Angela gets two well-deserved examples in the film; first from Monica, who calls her out for sucking up to Stacy in order to win her "friendship" and the other from a girl she was counseling in drug rehab who correctly pointed out that her kind doesn't care about people like her out of righteousness but to gain brownie points.
71	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: While the kids at Santa Mira immediately jump to the conclusion that Monica killed Stacy, the police are more methodical in their investigation and gradually uncover Angela's guilt.[[note]]A bit of a case of HistoricalHeroUpgrade. The Orinda police had initial interest in Bernadette Protti, but her polygraph exam was inconclusive and they moved away from her after that. They didn't investigate her babysitting alibi; it was a private investigator hired by the Costas family who actually checked with the family she said she was working for, who said she wasn't there, and he gave the police that information. It was only that incident, coupled with the FBI profile matching her almost perfectly, that led the police to refocus on Bernadette[[/note]]
72	* RunningAwayToCry: After being [[spoiler: turned down from most of her desired extracurricular activities,]] Angela is next seen crying in a bathroom stall as Jill tries to console her from outside of it.
73	* SchoolBullyingIsHarmless: Played with regarding Angela. She actually defends Stacy bullying Monica, even claiming that she "brought it on herself" for being weird and unfriendly, but she immediately double downs once Stacy starts bullying ''her'', especially when she bails on her regarding the party and calls ''her'' weird, leading to her stabbing her.
74	* StepfordSmiler: Angela tries to put up a bubbly, friendly front even as all her grandiose dreams of high school glory get shot down. By the time she lures Stacy out for the meeting, she's headed toward MaskOfSanity territory.
75	* TheStoner: On the fateful night, Stacy smokes a joint in the car and offers it to Angela, who turns it down, marking a negative turn in their meeting.[[note]]This was an important point in Bernadette Protti's RealLife confession, but many people who knew them both chalk this up to UnreliableNarrator. The family of Kirsten Costas deny that she was into drugs, while mutual friends of the two felt that Bernadette, eager to get Kirsten's approval, would have readily smoked the pot if the incident had really happened[[/note]]
76	* SuddenlyShouting: After Angela's mother reads her confession letter and the implication that she's going to kill herself, she moans in horror and then screams out loudly for her husband.
77	* UnfortunateNames: Principal Ed Saxe has a derogatory nickname made up by the upperclassmen of "Ex-lax". Considering how stuck-up and full of shit he is, it may cross for being a MeaningfulName.
78	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: As stated before, the background of the film is based on the Kirsten Costas murder, but the film takes '''a lot''' of liberties. Case in point, the skiing outfit incident did happen, but it wasn't a KickTheDog moment like in the film where she was spitefully making fun of its cheaper quality, but more of an InnocentlyInsensitive moment that she even apologized for right after making the comment.
79	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
80	** After Stacy's friends and the majority of the school viciously bully Monica after Stacy's murder into dropping out, she is never seen again.
81	** JerkJock Cort disappears from the film after Stacy's murder, but unlike Monica, his absence is never explained (which is strange since even though he's a minor character, he's said to be a star quarterback for the school's football team).
82	* YoungestChildWins: Sadly inverted with a dose of TruthInTelevision. Angela has four older siblings who have left home and become independent by the time the story begins. It’s implied resources have become low by the time Angela is a teenager and both her parents are old and tired.

Context Film / AFriendToDieFor