A Friend to Die For Information

A Friend to Die For (also known as Death of a Cheerleader in the UK) is a 1994 American TV movie directed by William A. Graham. Written by Dan Bronson, the film is based on Randall Sullivan's Rolling Stone magazine article concerning the real-life murder of a high school girl by her jealous classmate. Kirsten Costas, a fifteen-year-old cheerleader at Miramonte High School, was killed by less popular classmate Bernadette Protti in 1984. The film was the highest-rated TV movie of 1994.

Plot

Angela Delvecchio (Kellie Martin) is a shy high school sophomore who aspires to be popular, beautiful and perfect in everything. She performs well academically in school, attends Mass regularly, and sets high goals for herself. She idolizes Stacy Lockwood (Tori Spelling), who is the most popular girl at school, as well as a cheerleader. One of the reasons why Angela admires Stacey is because one of Angela's goals is to become a cheerleader. When Angela is accepted into the "Larks," the school's popular clique, she tries to forge a friendship with the snobbish and conceited Stacy, who rejects her.

Angela then further suffers being rejected for a coveted position on the yearbook staff. Furthermore, she is not successful in her audition for the cheerleading squad. Angela is humiliated and feels like a failure. Still determined to be friends with Stacy, she calls Stacy's mother and anonymously invites her to a party under the guise of there being a special dinner for the Larks. Once Stacy gets in the car with Angela, she reveals that the "dinner" story was a lie she told Stacy's mother so she would be allowed to meet Angela.

Infuriated, Stacy demands to be taken home. Angela tries to explain how much she admires Stacy and wants to be like her, but Stacy is less than sympathetic. Unmoved, she calls Angela "pathetic" and exits the car, stating that everyone in school will now laugh at Angela. Stacy then runs to a nearby house, where she asks to use the telephone, explaining that the friend she was with had 'gotten a little weird,' and manages to get a ride home. Angela follows the car back to Stacy's home, and out of fear that Stacy will spread rumors about her, Angela stabs Stacy multiple times and leaves her for dead.

Angela avoids capture in the weeks following the incident. Although Angela is interviewed by the police, she is not named as a suspect. Angela, along with along with all of the Larks, attends Stacy's Funeral Mass. Most of the students blame one of their classmates, Monica, for Stacy's murder. At first, no one suspects Angela because she is seemingly too nice to commit a crime. Furthermore, one of Stacy's friends tells Angela that no one really liked Stacy, but that they were only afraid of her.

As her junior year begins, Angela becomes more involved with the community, taking up such activities as peer counseling and candy striping. Overwhelmed by Stacy's murder, one of the Larks brings up the idea of disbanding. Determined not to let this happen, Angela argues that they should remain active, noting that the group was not only important to Stacy, but also to the various community activities in which they take part. This idea not only saves the Larks, but also wins Angela the position of secretary/treasurer.

In the meantime, a harassment campaign is waged against Monica until she finally leaves the school. At this point, authorities resume their investigation and begin re-interviewing possible suspects, including Angela. With the authorities slowly closing in on her, she becomes more and more consumed by her guilt, until she finally confesses to her priest and then to her parents in a letter.

Devastated by the arrest, Angela's former best friend Jamie, who had gone to St. Joseph's Catholic School with Angela prior to high school, confesses to their priest to having left her in a ski lodge alone during a ski trip the year before, all because she did not have the courage to stand up to Stacy. As the trial begins, the Prosecutor argues that Angela should be charged with first-degree murder as there was evidence of premeditation. Angela's lawyer claims it was second-degree murder.

The judge agrees with the defense, after listening to Angela's taped confession. Stating that the tape was just circumstantial evidence and that the prosecution failed to prove the crime to be premeditated. Angela is then sentenced to confinement until the age of 25. Back at church, the Priest gives a homily on the community's responsibility for the death of Stacy, stating that the unrealistic high expectations and pressures to be "perfect" contributed to Angela's actions. As the movie ends, Jamie writes a letter to Angela that she quit the Larks (having left when she realized how mean they were to Angela) and that she plans to leave Santa Mira High School and go back to her former school, St. Joseph's.

Cast

• Kellie Martin as Angela Delvecchio
• Tori Spelling as Stacy Lockwood
• Marley Shelton as Jamie Hall
• Valerie Harper as Mrs. Delvecchio
• Margaret Langrick as Jill Anderson
• Christa Miller as Terri Delvecchio
• Terry O'Quinn as Principal Ed Saxe
• Andy Romano as Joe Delvecchio
• Eugene Roche as the Priest
• James Avery as Agent Gilwood
• Jenna Leigh Green as Meridith Ladd
• Brittney Powell as Head Cheerleader
• Kathryn Morris as Monica Whitley
• Tom O'Rourke as Mr. Lockwood
• Marnie Andrews as Mrs. Lockwood
• Robyn Bliley as Courtney Clay
• Tom Everett as Sergeant Denning (uncredited)

DVD

On March 25, 2002 the film was released on Region 2 DVD as Death of a Cheerleader.

In popular culture

• The band Marcy Playground has a song called "Death of a Cheerleader", which is based on the movie.