Members Only: Death of a Cheerleader

Director: William A. Graham

1994 / 91min / DCP

Ahead of the release of Maddie’s Secret, Metrograph favorite John Early returns to the theater to present a carte-blanche selection of films that inspired the actor and comedian’s directorial debut. We're giving members an exclusive first look at the upcoming series with John Early in person.

The tabloid-fodder 1984 murder of high schooler Kirsten Costas by classmate Bernadette Protti in suburban Orinda, California, was the inspiration for this, the ne plus ultra of Lifetime true-crime telefilms, starring Tori Spelling as the ill-fated “Stacy Lockwood” and Kellie Martin as “Angela Delvecchio,” the surly sophomore whose doe-eyed idolization of Lockwood takes a sinister turn.

“Maddie’s Secret is perhaps most indebted to the subgenre of made-for-television movies that haunted my adolescence: those that concerned the perils of eating disorders (most notably 1986’s Kate’s Secret about a bulimic housewife). They presented themselves as educational, but were downright perverted at their core. Death of a Cheerleader, though not about eating disorders, is a prime example of this creepy moralism. It’s also a prime example of the ingenuity of a crew tasked with reproducing the visual and emotional expressiveness of the classic melodrama on a shoestring budget. Kellie Martin’s performance is totally genius and unsettling and a huge inspiration for Maddie.” —John Early

Please Note: This special members screening is general admission with no reserved seating.


Introduction by John Early.

Part of Thrust It! The Films That Inspired Maddie's Secret