The true story this movie is based on occurred at Miramonte High School in Orinda, California. Bernadette Protti murdered Kristen Costas in 1984.A review of this movie posted by an IMDb user reads (in part) as follows. To read the rest, view the IMDb page for A Friend to Die For, also known as Death of a Cheerleader.
"Death of a Cheerleader" is about Angela, a high school student who's life goal is to 'be the best' in every possible way. She wants to become one of the 'cool' kids and join the 'in crowd'...she wants to become a member of the snotty, elite social club The Larks, she wants to be editor on the paper, she wants to be a cheerleader...she wants to be Stacy Lockwood. Stacy is everything Amanda isn't, rich, beautiful, popular...she's also a class A bitch and takes delight in constantly making cruel remarks to Monica, a goth girl who everything thinks is psycho and weird just because of how she looks.
Angela wants nothing more than to be Stacy's friend and tries to hang out with her crowd but they just snub her or make little jibes about her being poor...determind to become Stacy's friend, one night Angela tricks Stacy into going to a party with her, but once Stacy discovers neither Angela nor herself were properly invited, she changes her mind and yells at Angela to take her back home. In the end Stacy flips out and screams at Angela, telling her she's weird and a freak. Stacy walks off and finds her own way home, but later when she reaches her house Angela makes one last attempt, begging Stacy to be her friend. Stacy refuses and mocks and insults Angela. Angela, in a fit of rage, stabs Stacy to death with a knife.
I'm not sure why this is a hot search topic for today, but if I figure it out, I'll let you know.I've never much cared for Tori Spelling's abilities as an actress, but Kellie Martin, I have enjoyed watching.
In searching this story, I came across some interesting information. A great write-up of five real-life murder cases that have been made into television movies can be found over at this wordpress blog. The sad fact is, for every five cases made into a tv movie, there are many more never made into movies, never to be heard about again.
The real life photos of Bernadette and Kristin were found here. Unfortunately, no credit was given to their source, so I cannot credit the original. If you know it, please leave a comment and I'll add it.
