A Friend to Die For Review: 2 Movies Inspired by a True Story From 1984: Two powerful films—A Friend to Die For and Death of a Cheerleader—recreate the haunting true story of teenage obsession, jealousy, and a tragic 1984 murder.
While browsing on YouTube, I decided to watch a free movie on YouTube. A Friend to Die For is based on a true story, but the names have been changed. I noticed there are two movies, based on this true story. A Friend to Die For is a 1994 movie, while Death of a Cheerleader is a 2019 remake. It is a crime drama about a group of teenage girls in a high school sorority-like club, which is more like an elite high school clique. I decided to post both of the YouTube movies on here.
In the movie, A Friend to Die For, the high school clique, Lark, short for Meadowlark, is centered on Stacy, the most popular girl in school, who often makes fun of Monica because she dresses goth to intentionally look different. Although Angie feels awkward, she is considered by others as “the nice girl.” She desperately wants to be popular as well as liked by others.
A Friend to Die For Review
The movie starts out with Stacy knocking on someone’s door, telling them that her friend is crazy, and she needs to use the phone to call her family. The middle-aged couple let her come inside, and the man offers to drive her to her house. He waits for her to go to her door, but before she reaches her front door, a girl runs towards her and stabs her, and then flees in her family’s car. The man witnessed the murder, but he didn’t see much or even the other girl’s face.
Before Stacy got murdered, Jamie, Angie’s friend, a member of the Lark, introduces Angie to the Lark members at school. Angie starts working at the Attendance Office with Stacy. Angie has too much hopes, dreams, and aspirations to make it big someday. But Angie hangs out mostly with Jill, who isn’t popular.
When Angie is invited to go on a ski trip with Jamie and her friends, she starts working jobs to earn money for the trip. She goes on the trip, but she doesn’t have a good time because her friend Jamie forgets about her. Back in school, she doesn’t make it on the cheerleading squad or the Yearbook editor, even though she is very talented in writing. But she desperately wants Stacy to like her because she thinks Stacy is very popular and perfect. She decides to make up a story to invite Stacy to a party so that they can get to know each other and bond together. When she goes to Stacy’s house to pick her up, Stacy isn’t happy to see her. Angie tricks her to get into the car, and they start to fight inside the car. This fight leads to Stacy getting out of the car and walking to a neighbor’s house to call someone to pick her up. Angie drives off, feeling angry with Stacy. She drives to Stacy’s house, waiting for Stacy to arrive, until she sees Stacy walking towards her front door. She gets out of her car and walks toward Stacy, holding a chef knife. This knife belongs to her sister, who left it inside the car. How convenient for Angie. As Stacy goes to the door, Angie runs towards her with the chef knife, angrily stabbing Stacy five times, before driving off in her family’s car. She returns home, cleans the knife, and places it away, like nothing happened.
Angie attends Stacy’s funeral with the other Larks. The next day, a detective questions Stacy and other girls to seek the killer. Meanwhile, Angie decides to volunteer as a Candy Striper at a hospital as well as a peer counselor at school. The Larks make Angie their secretary treasurer because Angie wants the girls to stick together and keep Lark active. A guy invites her to go to a party. It also appears that Angie is a religious Roman Catholic. I suddenly notice that Angie’s life has improved, and she has assumed Stacy’s identity because Angie has suddenly become popular. It is almost like sacrificing someone to assume their identity, which many dark cult people tend to do. But Angie starts feeling guilty, wishing she hadn’t killed Stacy. At church, she goes into a confession booth to confess her sin.
The FBI questions Angie because they know she lied, but they need her confession. Angie writes a letter to her parents, telling them what she did, and she wants to turn herself in to the police. The Larks find out that the police arrested Angie, and Angie is later taken to trial for murder. Jamie quits the Larks and returns to her old school. She feels sorry for her friend, Angie. The real Angie served her seven-year sentence before being paroled.
The movie was inspired by the real-life murder of Kirsten Costas in 1984, who was killed by her classmate, Bernadette Protti. Directed by William A. Graham, written by Randall Sullivan, and screenplay by Dan Bronson, the movie starred Kellie Martin, Tori Spelling, Valerie Harper, Marley Shelton, Margaret Langrick, Christa Miller, Terry O’Quinn, Andy Romano, Eugene Roche, James Avery, Jenna Leigh Green, Brittney Powell, Kathryn Morris, Tom O’Rourke, Marnie Andrews, Robyn Bliley, and Tom Everett.
There was a remake of this film in 2019. Directed by Paul Shapiro, screenplay by Caitlin D. Fryers, Dan Bronson, story by Randall Sullivan and Dan Bronson, the remake starred Aubrey Peeples, Morgan Taylor Campbell, Sarah Dugdale, Madelyn Grace, MacKenzie Cardwell, Kellie Martin, Kirsten Robek, P. Lynn Johnson, Chris William Martin, Lane Edwards, Lucia Walters, Milo Shandel, and Alison Rayne.
Both movies are basically similar, but they have a different feel. The 1994 movie made Kirsten into a bully, while the 2019 movie made the popular girls appear similar to the group of girls in the movie, Mean Girls.
Kirsten Marina Costas was born on July 23, 1968 in Oakland, California, and she was murdered on June 23, 1984 in Orinda, California at 15 by stabbings with a chef knife. She was on the varsity swimming team and the cheerleading squad. It had taken the police about six months to arrest Kirsten’s killer. Kirsten’s family moved to Hawaii in 1986.
Bernadette Protti was sentenced to nine years in prison for second-degree murder. But she served seven years before being paroled in 1992 at 23. She likely changed her name and moved out of California, although no one is sure about her whereabouts and her current name she now goes by. Some people say her name is now Jeannette Tomanka, while others state that she is now a nurse as well as a medical writer for a scientific journal. She is now married, has kids, and she moved on with her life.
Moreover, this third video explains the real story behind the two movies, A Friend to Die For and Death of a Cheerleader. She talks about the real people, Kirsten Costas and Bernadette Protti. I notice that Kirsten does have a cute face. And, since her birthday is July 23rd, she is under the Leo sign. Most Leos have a strong personality and they tend to be very social, which explains Kirsten’s popularity in school. Bernadette looks plain and ordinary, although she was considered to be very nice, talented, and she was also active in church, school peer counselor, Candy Striper, and babysitting. She appears to be the girl next door. Her birthday is on September 20th, making her a Virgo, and most Virgos tend to be helpful, often overdoing good deeds for others, as well as perfectionists, maybe to make up for their bad, evil, or corrupt acts, like most celebrities and media personalities.
