Cherry Falls

At first sight, "Cherry Falls" is one of the many harmless teen slashers that came out in the late 90s and early 00s in what was called "the horror revival" started by "Scream" back in 1996. While the movie can't hide the trademarks of its generation and it is definitely not very original, it offers some new twists to traditional clichés of the genre and a higher quality than the rest of the slashers of its time. Also, it is fair to point out that the movie we know as "Cherry Falls" is not what its director, Geoffrey Wright, conceived originally. It suffered several cuts to attain an R-Rating losing most of its planned edginess.

The story is set in the small town of Cherry Falls, where suddenly, a mysterious figure begins to kill the virgins in town. Sheriff Brent Marken (Michael Biehn) is specially concerned about the case not only because he knows that his beloved daughter Jody (Brittany Murphy) is virgin, but also because the case brings back memories of a dark event in Cherry Falls past. Meanwhile, the local teenagers organize a huge party to have sex and stop being potential victims.

Written by Ken Selden, the story mixes dark comedy with the horror genre pretty much in the vein of Scream, using a clever twist to the genre cliché of the virginal survivors. The mystery of the killer's identity is very well handled and the story unfolds as Jody's investigation takes her to discover the town's past. Surprisingly, the movie never gets boring or tedious, and it serve sits purpose as a thrilling mystery/horror film.

However, the film promises too much and there is never a proper payoff. Director Wright conceived his film as a comedy/horror about sex and violence in the genre, but the severe cuts the movie received took away all the sex and violence the director intended to portray, leaving an incomplete product that is really unsatisfying. This severely hurts the film, particularly at the finale, which is sad because it is really a very well crafted set-piece of nudity and violence that is badly edited to please the prudish MPAA.

Geoffrey Wright follows a subtle style for the most part of the film, and according to the script, it was done that way because the killings were supposed to be gory. Again, with the edition of this it left the film incomplete with scenes that build up very good suspense without a payoff. The suspense is broken with badly edited cuts that lead to the belief that a lot was missing.

The main cast is very good, particularly Jay Mohr as a concerned teacher who is truly worried about his students. Brittany Murphy is very good in the lead role is quite believable as a common teen girl (something not all slashers can say). The rest of the cast do a very good job but nothing really outstanding outside the leads.

"Cherry Falls" is a sad testimony of what further edition to a completed job can do. It certainly turned a promising great movie into an slightly above average horror film. Hopefully, a Director's Cut will be available someday but by now, "Cherry Falls" remains as a movie that could had been a lot better if it had remained true to its director's vision. 6/10

Maybe I should start by saying I'm not the biggest slasher fan around here. Sure I can appreciate the classics like Halloween and the original Friday the 13th but they were never top of my list. And the post-Scream era has blown it all. Since this movie, everybody thinks they can make a horror film. The only thing they need is a few good looking girls who can yell very loud and a stupid outfit to give to the killer. This is kinda also the big idea behind CHERRY FALLS but, compared to most others, there are several good aspects and twists in this one. The story for starters... The killer's targets are exclusively virgins. This of course give a lot of opportunities to insert all sorts of humor. (shy girls, computer geeks who never get laid, slutty girls) It's all pretty predictable but it works. For example, I laughed pretty loud when some character said about another : " She thinks Fellatio is a characters in a Shakespeare play" As most films in the genre, the film tries to be as violent as possible, I was one of the lucky ones who saw the uncut version. If you're planning to see it, try to get your hands on this version.

The story develops pretty well. The killer's background gets revealed bit by bit and it's scary enough to keep you interested. A few good twists too, I may say. Cherry Falls stars a few very decent actors. Michael Biehn ( always one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood, IMO ) is very convincing as the sheriff who discovers the truth behind the gore murders. His teenage ( virgin, of course ) daughter is played by Brittany Murphy. She gained fame and fortune lately by starring in that stupid Eminem film and a few others. She wasn't that famous yet when she did Cherry Falls, so I could enjoy her part. Her boyfriend ( named Kenny ) looks a lot like a young James Spader. So if they wanna do a remake of Secretary withing 15 years, they know who to cast... I also recognized a dumb looking DJ Qualls ( Road Trip, The New Guy, The Core) I think this guy is doomed to play the nerd for the rest of his life. Oh well... In general: Of the thousand stupid slashers who got released over the past 8 years, this certainly is one of the best. You'll forget about it pretty soon, but it'll sure give you 90 minutes of fun and violence.

The success of the `Scream' series spawned many clones, this being a reasonable attempt. The makers of such scream clones were obviously faced with a dilemma, how not to stray too far from a winning formula – yet be original at the same time – therefore in this one they give the story a little twist. Here, the preposterous twist is that the killer only kills virgins! – sending the youths in the local village sex mad - in order to save their life, obviously!!.

As bad as it sounds, its not all bad, especially when the absolutely delicious Brittany Murphy is the lead role as the daughter of the local sheriff (Michael Biehn) who is investigating these grisly murders – and guess what, she's a virgin!!. The final twist is pretty good, although if you really think about, the killers motive for hating all virgins isn't really that convincing, Fun though if you take it for what it is, enjoyable rubbish!!

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 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!!!!!