Main Characters
Courtney Shayne
Courtney Shayne
Portrayed by: Rose McGowan
- 0% Approval Rating: Courtney is only popular because she is feared around the school, the moment the whole student body discovers she was responsible for Liz's death at prom, her boyfriend abandons her to her fate and the prom-goers quickly turn against her and furiously pelt her with their corsages and call her a murderer, while Marcie does nothing to help Courtney and hides under a table instead.
- Alpha Bitch: Courtney Shayne is the leader of a popular clique at Regan High School. She ruled the school with her friends Julie, Marcie, and Liz Purr, and they were known as "The Flawless Four". Courtney ruled the school with terror and domination.
- Broken Pedestal: To people at who worshiped Courtney, when she was outed as murdered, they turned on her at the end.
- Creating Life: Courtney refer to herself as "God" after "Vylette" makeover.
- Didn't Think This Through: Courtney never stopped to consider the danger of stuffing a jawbreaker inside Liz's mouth before taping it shut until it was too late. Julie immediately calls out Courtney's stupidity after they learn what's making the lump in Liz's throat.
- Deadly Prank: The premise of the film. Courtney and the others were going to surprise Liz for her 17th birthday, while kidnapping her, since the prank has gotten popular with others high schoolers... until the "joke" was on them. Generally, the prank wouldn't have been lethal but Courtney just had to use that jawbreaker without running it by Marcie and Julie first.
- Erotic Eating: Courtney uses it as part of sex play with her boyfriend, using a popsicle. Just to make him mime on what he wants her to do to him.
- Frame-Up: Courtney frame a man by having sex in Liz bed.
- Humiliation Conga: Courtney didn't expect how awful her high school prom was going to be... especially when it is revealed that there was proof where she admitted to have killed Liz. "Eat shit," indeed.
- Invisible Parents: Courtney parents are absent for the entire film
- It's All About Me: The essence of Courtney's sociopathy
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Courtney takes the time to rant about the name Rose, and dismissing it as a potential name for Fern. She's played by Rose McGowan.
- Manipulative Bitch: Courtney manipulates Fern into taking Liz place in the Flawless Four.
- Middle Name Basis: Courtney middle name is Alice.
- Out with a Bang: Courtney tries to set up Liz's death as such. Either to pin her up as being abused or her not being "so innocent and pure as she was thought to be". The catch? It fooled the police. At first, anyway.
- The Prom Plot: The ending scene has the characters attending their senior prom.Courtney ends up being crowned prom queen, but she soon gets exposed for killing Liz.
- Purple Is Powerful: Courtney wear purple cardigan, purple satin capri cigarette pants and a purple neck scarf to symbolize, she is the Queen of regan high. After she takes down Fern, she wear purple again to symbolize her return in power.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Courtney, who is as pale and raven-haired as her portrayer, and accentuates her coloring with bold jewel tones like purple and red.
- Revenge: Courtney gets revenge on "Vylette" by putting up pictures around school showing everyone who "Vylette" really is.
- Shamed by a Mob: Courtney is shamed by the students towards the end of the film after her involvement in killing Liz is revealed.
- Small Reference Pools: When confronting Vylette, Courtney make a reference to Rocky Horror Show.Courtney: I make you and can just as easily break you.
- The Sociopath:
- Does Courtney mourn Liz's death? Just a little. Does she care about incriminating an unknown loser whom she had sex with, just to convince the police that neither she nor her "friends" were related to the case?
- Also, when the girls discover that Liz is dead, she is surprisingly a lot calmer than Julie and Marcie, who are both on the verge of panicking. This could easily be chalked up to her just being in shock, but still.
- Voice Changeling: Courtney imitates Liz's Mom to call in sick for Liz to school.
- Villain Protagonist: Courtney is about as conniving as they get but she also gets a good amount of screen time.
Julie Freeman
Julie Freeman
Portrayed by: Rebecca Gayheart
- Brutal Honesty: Julie is the only one between the four girl who wanted to tell the truth about what happened to Liz.
- Childhood Friends: In the Fourth Grade, Julie and Fern used to have sleepovers and bake cakes together.
- The Cutie: She is describe as doom to be popular because of her face.
- Engineered Public Confession: Before the climax, Julie discovers that an old record-message Birthday Card recorded Courtney's confession to the murder. With the help of Julie's boyfriend, who was on the Theater club, they set the message to play during Courtney's Prom Queen speech.
- Establishing Character Moment: While Julie doesn't stop to help like Liz, she still steps over Fern's dropped papers rather than on them, a subtle hint that while not as nice as Liz, she still has it in her to be kinder than Courtney and Marcie.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Julie find out Courtney frame a man by remembering what she said about Liz being fasley raped.
- Fallen Princess: After the prank goes wrong, Julie stops hanging out with the popular girls and is shunned by them; even having her seat taken from her in class. Played with however in the sense that this is self-inflicted, and she's actually happier afterwards.
- False Friend: Julie reveals to Zack that her friendship Courtney and Marcie was bullshit and that Liz was her only friend.
- Goth: Julie befriends the Goths at school after she falls out with the clique.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Julie have blue-eyed and of varying degrees of innocence.Julie pulls a Heel–Face Turn after seeing Courtney show no remorse for killing her childhood friend.
- Token Good Teammate: The relatively nice and kind member of The Flawless Four
- Took a Level in Kindness: Julie started off as a mean girl but soon Julie stops hanging out with the popular girls due to Courtney killing Liz, and start to befriend and be nice to other students.
- True Blue Femininity: Julie primarily dresses in blue.
Marcie Fox
Marcie Fox
Portrayed by: Julie Benz
- Beta Bitch: Marcie is just as mean as Courtney and, although shocked by their accidental murder of Liz, is perfectly fine with covering it up once she thinks they'll get away with it.
- Brainless Beauty: Marcie is attractive but is the most moronic member of her group of friends. She usually blindly follows whatever Courtney says or does.
- Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Marcie wear a necklace that say "FOXY".
- Even Evil Has Standards: Marcie isn't going to be dragged into Courtney's nightmare at the end.
- Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: Marice is a fan of Tiffany.
- Karma Houdini: Marcie doesn't really receive any comeuppance for her hand in things, as everything else is aimed at Courtney. Then again, she did decide, Screw This, I'm Outta Here.
- Living Legend: She describe as this in her own mind.
- Missing Mom: Marcie's mother is out of the picture and she is quick to remind her dad that he's a single parent.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Marcie like to be know as Foxy.
- Popular Is Dumb: Marcie is a little too willing to go along with whatever Courtney says.
- Worrying for the Wrong Reason: Marcie began to worry about "Vylette" new behavior, Courtney tells her she has no reason to worry because "Yvlette is still Fern.
Fern Mayo/"Vylette"
Fern Mayo/"Vylette"
Portrayed by: Judy Greer
- Ambiguously Bi: Fern was positively enamoured by Liz, and admits to staring at the beauty marks on her neck whenever she sat behind her. And although she flirts with Zack because it's expected of her, she does seem to find him attractive.
- Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: Fern, as Vylette, once when she realizes that she has the power to overshadow Courtney, takes advantage of the attention given to her. That's when Courtney knocks her down a peg.
- Beautiful All Along: Fern's makeover into Vylette is a textbook case; she goes from wearing heavy sweaters and long skirts with mousy brown hair to a stylish blonde with glamorous outfits.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Fern's liking of Liz was because she was nice to her. Even helping her gather her homework together when Liz's posse knocked it down.
- Childhood Friends: In the Fourth Grade, Fern/"Vylette and Julie use to have sleepovers and bake cakes together.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Fern Mayo dropped off Liz's homework because she had a crush on her.
- Girliness Upgrade: Fern's makeover to become Vylette involves lots more pink.
- The Makeover: Fern's transformation into Vylette, in a rather... surreal sequence.
- Meaningful Echo: Fern says the page quote to Detective Cruz while being interrogated about Liz. The same line is repeated at the end.
- My Nayme Is: Fern's alter ego is named "Vylette" rather than "Violet".
- Narrator All Along: Fern, although it's not a huge surprise when you pay the slightest bit of attention in the first scene.
- One Name Only: Fern's new identity as Vylette doesn't include a last name. Other characters lampshade this, comparing her to Madonna.
- Pink Is Feminine: Fern, after her makeover into "Vylette" dresses in varying shades of pink.
- Smoking Is Glamorous: Fern starts to smoke after "becoming" Vylette.
- Shrinking Violet: Fern is your standard shy and quiet girl from High School that is not as beautiful as the Girl Posse and would be unnoticed by the crowd and the rest of her classmates. As a way to silence her about Liz's death, Courtney convinces her to "transform" into a different person. And this makes her more confident... and it works pretty well, even with a name such as Vylette.
- Stalker with a Crush: Fern Mayo was this to Liz Purr. She even calls her "The Cat's Meow"
- Vanity Plate: When Fern starts to embrace her new identity as “Vylette” she gets a red convertible with a vanity plate that reads “BITCH”
