Sex oder stirb

I have been waiting for quite a while for this movie to be released in Canada, and after skipping a theatrical release, it finally lands on video today. Since I work for a video chain, I was able to get my hands on it early and I am so glad. I watched it twice. Having read other people's reviews, I can see their point-of-view. Due to reviews I had read, I too knew who the killer was before I even popped the tape into my VCR, but if I had not known anything about the movie, I probably wouldn't have figured it out that quick.

Of all the reviews here, not one person mentions Gabriel Mann. Who is he? He plays Kenny Ascott (the boyfriend) in Cherry Falls, and within the year he will probably be a household name. Having previously appeared in films such as I Shot Andy Warhol, High Art, Great Expectations and Outside Providence, he will be featured in Summer Catch, Josie and the Pussycats and Buffalo Soldiers in this year alone. His charm and acting ability are the qualities that put this movie over the top into something I would actually buy and watch over and over again. If you haven't seen any of his movies, I urge you to check them out because he just rocks!

I am still curious to see the DVD for this movie however, because from some of the reviews I read, I thought this movie was going to be a lot more graphic (in both sex and horror) than it actually was. Running at a mere 92 minutes, I am led to believe that there is more to this movie (hmmm maybe we'll get to see more Gabriel??). In any event, I am counting the days until it is released on DVD.

Great fun both to see Brittany Murphy and to see this flick. It's like a comedy visual with a drama soundtrack. A serial slasher targets teen virgins in small town high school USA. In an attempt to thwart the killer all the kiddies have a deflowering fete which, I gotta say affords some of THE BEST stampede scenes.

This movie rocks. I loved every second of it. Very scary and funny, with some great performances and a clever script. The killer is a great addition to the scream psycho pantheon. Britany Murphy is very good in this, as is Jay More and Candy Clarke. The movie is well paced and never boring. There is gore for the hounds, sex for the horns, and some cool twists along the way. The story is much more interesting then typical slasher fare, and would have played well to a theatrical audience. They should have sent it out instead of dumping it on video.

I highly recommend this as the best in the post Scream neo slashers of the 1990's.

A teenage couple is killed while making out by the lake in small town Cherry Falls. A further murder points the police to suspect that someone is killing virgins. While the towns' teenagers prepare for a sex party to protect themselves, the sheriff's daughter, Jody Marken, follows a clue that may unmask the killer and her motives.

One of the spate of `knowing' teenage slasher movies, Cherry Falls got some publicity from it's twist on the usual horror cliché that `sex = death'. Pointed out in Scream, whenever you have sex in a horror movie you mark yourself out as a victim, however here the twist is that virgins will die and those having had sex will live. The film is quite enjoyable and has the odd tense moment, but quickly falls into line with every other horror cliché in the book – right down to the big twist over the killer's identity and, true to Scream, it's a big leap!

The film is a little modern ironic but doesn't get much mileage out of it. More interesting to me was the angle that, in this day of AIDS and STD's, those HAVING sex were actually protected while those saving themselves and being careful were actually risking death. I'm not sure if this angle was thought of when making the film but it didn't get any significant air time or comment – I guess the film only wanted to be ironic or post modern if it didn't involve any thought or effort. That said it still sort of works, even if it doesn't really stand out from the rest of the teen slashers (but then, what does?).

The cast are so-so. Murphy is OK in the lead and Biehn is a familiar face as her father. Jay Mohr has a small role but happily isn't awful. The rest of the teens tend to fall into high school stereotypes of jock, nerd, joker etc and only really serve to be victims rather than characters. There are no really gory moments but there are lots of quite cruel ones which happen just offscreen but are no less horrific for it.

Overall the film is OK but can't really do anything intelligent with it's unique twist. I knew it was clever to do things like this, but the film gets no mileage out of the wider ideals (AIDS etc) and quickly falls into being a standard teen horror movie complete with shadows, twisty end and so on. Still worth a watch if you like this sort of stuff but it really could have been better than this.

This movie is great, and quite underrated. I am a huge horror fan and also a fan of the recent "teen slasher movies" and Cherry Falls deserves to be up there with the Screams of this world. The whole "killing virgins" thing is totally original in this genre, as the great Randy Meeks said "sex equals death" so Cherry Falls goes totally against the rules. All in all I would give this a 9 rating because the acting is fresh and the script is sharp. Long live the Teen Slasher Flick!!!!!