# Deadly Lessons

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{{short description|1983 television film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image              = Deadly lessons 1983 film.jpg
| image_size         = 270
| image_alt          =
| caption            = Print advertisement
| writer             = Jennifer A. Miller
| director           = [William Wiard](/source/William_Wiard)
| starring           = [Donna Reed](/source/Donna_Reed)<br />[Larry Wilcox](/source/Larry_Wilcox)<br />[David Ackroyd](/source/David_Ackroyd)<br />[Diane Franklin](/source/Diane_Franklin)<br />[Ally Sheedy](/source/Ally_Sheedy)<br />[Nancy Cartwright](/source/Nancy_Cartwright)<br>[Bill Paxton](/source/Bill_Paxton)
| music              = [Ian Freebairn-Smith](/source/Ian_Freebairn-Smith)
| country            = United States
| language           = English
| executive_producer = [Leonard Goldberg](/source/Leonard_Goldberg)
| producer           = Ervin Zavada
| editor             = Jack Harnish
| cinematography     = Andrew Jackson
| runtime            = 100 minutes
| company            = Leonard Goldberg Productions
| network            = [ABC](/source/American_Broadcasting_Company)
| released           = {{Start date|1983|03|07}} 
}}
'''''Deadly Lessons''''' (also known as '''''Highschool Killer''''') is a 1983 American [made-for-television](/source/television_film) [horror film](/source/horror_film) starring [Donna Reed](/source/Donna_Reed), [Larry Wilcox](/source/Larry_Wilcox), [David Ackroyd](/source/David_Ackroyd), [Diane Franklin](/source/Diane_Franklin), [Ally Sheedy](/source/Ally_Sheedy), and [Nancy Cartwright](/source/Nancy_Cartwright). The film premiered on [ABC](/source/American_Broadcasting_Company) on March 7, 1983.

==Plot==
A teenaged girl, Stephanie Aggiston, is sent to Starkwater Hall Boarding School, a prestigious private girl's academy, for the summer to brush up on advanced French. Stephanie is a country girl and finds the school to be a bit snobbish. She makes friends with Marita Armstrong, Calli and Shama, who is a Saudi princess and her roommate.

Murders began occurring and Det. Russ Kemper comes to investigate. As more girls are killed, everyone worries about who will be next. Stephanie attempts to find the murderer herself. She enlists the help of the new attractive stable boy, Eddie Fox, who falls in love with her for 'not being like the other girls.' Suspicion soon falls on Eddie as the murderer.

As the summer progresses, the girls are slowly evacuated from the school. Marita is kidnapped on the day she is set to leave by the school's janitor, Robert Hartigan. Robert binds and gags Marita in his quarters on campus, somehow deluded into thinking his daughter was Marita's mother (which is not true). When Marita is able to signal for help from her captivity, Stephanie has Kemper follow her as she heads out "alone" to attract Robert's attention, allowing Kemper to make an arrest and save Marita.

Later, Stephanie is ambushed and chased by a mysterious figure, dressed all in black. The person is revealed to be Kemper, the real killer. The first death, Tember Logan, was an accident, as she drowned. It gave Kemper the idea to kill the other victims as a means of getting revenge on Miss Wade, who is revealed to be his mother, for abandoning him as a child. The murders were a means of ruining the reputations of both the school and her. He is apprehended and taken away.

==Cast==
* [Donna Reed](/source/Donna_Reed) as Miss Wade, School's Headmistress
* [Larry Wilcox](/source/Larry_Wilcox) as Detective Russ Kemper
* [David Ackroyd](/source/David_Ackroyd) as John Ferrar
* [Diane Franklin](/source/Diane_Franklin) as Stephanie Aggiston
* [Ally Sheedy](/source/Ally_Sheedy) as Marita Armstrong
* [Donald Hotton](/source/Donald_Hotton) as Robert Hartigan
* [Deena Freeman](/source/Deena_Freeman) as Lauren Peele
* [Vicki Kriegler](/source/Vicki_Kriegler) as Shama
* [Krista Errickson](/source/Krista_Errickson) as Tember Logan
* [Bill Paxton](/source/Bill_Paxton) as Eddie Fox
* [Renée Jones](/source/Ren%C3%A9e_Jones) as Calli
* [Nancy Cartwright](/source/Nancy_Cartwright) as Libby Dean
* [Robin Gammell](/source/Robin_Gammell) as Morgan Rank
* [Rick Rossovich](/source/Rick_Rossovich) as Craig
* [Ellen Geer](/source/Ellen_Geer) as Mrs. Grant

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|title=Deadly Lessons|id=0085410}}

Category:1983 television films
Category:1983 films
Category:1983 horror films
Category:American Broadcasting Company original films
Category:American horror television films
Category:American teen horror films
Category:1980s teen horror films
Category:1980s high school films
Category:American high school films
Category:Films directed by William Wiard
Category:1983 American films

{{US-tv-horror-film-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Deadly Lessons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadly_Lessons) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadly_Lessons?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.