You probably went to high school with a few mean girls — maybe even a whole squad of them. But chances are, you don’t remember their names…unless, of course, they murdered someone. Mean Girl Murders (now streaming on Hulu) depicts harrowing real-life situations where teenage jealousy and high school drama spiraled into deadly violence.
Opening Shot: The opening shot features a quote from the iconic 1988 mean girl film, Heathers:
“I just killed my best friend.”
“And your worst enemy.”
“Same difference.”
We then jump back in time, to Fort Wayne, Indiana in August 2002. Sirens blare as police cars, an ambulance and firemen respond to a call.
The Gist: In the early 2000s, Fort Wayne High School “could be ripped from any classic teen movie.” It’s the textbook all-American setting: cliques, rivalries and Friday Night Lights abound. Stacy DeGrandchamp is a 17-year-old junior there — a pretty, blonde girl-next-door type, in the prime of popularity. When she starts dating 20-year-old graduate Brandon Muff, she falls in with the party crowd, led by queen bee Holly Boisvert.
Holly, who had dated Brandon before Stacy, quickly becomes jealous of the unsuspecting junior. The pair had a history of dislike for one another, including a period in junior high when Holly bullied Stacy.
The rivalry comes to a head after Stacy ends it with Brandon. Weeks later, Brandon claims he wants to win her back. Stacy and her new friend, Abby, end up at a house party with him and the rest of her old crew. Here, Holly picks a fight. Stacy tries to stand her ground, but eventually passes away from stab wounds to the chest.
For over a decade, Holly and the rest of the group get off scott-free despite mismatched stories, as no murder weapon was found at the scene of the crime. But Jamie McMillen, Stacy’s cousin and close friend, doesn’t let go that easily. When Detective Brian Martin reopens the cold case in 2019, Jamie gets answers at last.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Harking back to the opening quote, Mean Girl Murders is what Heathers and Jawbreaker would be if they were pitched as docuseries.
Our Take: The premise of this show is undeniably attention-grabbing. I think it’s safe to say that everyone has encountered a “mean girl” in their lives at one point or another — the idea of what could happen if that behavior goes too far is certainly compelling.
While the pilot episode’s storyline leans on the side of cliche, it delivers Stacy’s story in an intriguing and even shocking way. The episode thoroughly explores each individual involved in or at the scene of the crime, incorporating interviews, whether firsthand or pulled from police footage, with many of them. If the series continues to tell these stories in an insightful, narrative-driven way, while also diving deeper into the psychology of “mean girl” behavior, it has the potential to enthrall, rather than devolve into the kind of documentary that’s just background noise to fall asleep to.
Sex and Skin: None.
Most Pilot-y Line: “Being a pretty, popular girl, comes with its downsides.” This line describes a cliche trope, instead of adding any sort of depth to Stacy’s story.
Parting Shot: “There are families that never get justice for their lost loved ones, and so at least Stacy got something,” Sara Patterson, a friend of Stacy’s, says of Holly’s sentence, though many feel that her killer’s consequences were not up to par. Jamie then reads a poem she wrote for her cousin, “Her eyes so bright, her smile so wide. We always let her know that we were right by her side. To never forget her, never let her leave your mind, tell her you love her just one more time.”
Our Call: Mean Girl Murders unpacks the familiar high school hierarchy trope in a chilling true-crime context. There’s nothing like it out there, and that’s why you should STREAM IT.