Cherry Falls

[KLAXXON]

A killer murders only virgins at a high school resulting in local teenagers arranging a party in order that they might lose their virginity and no longer be targets...




"Cherry Falls" is a stylish and forthright slasher pic that knows what it wants, knows how to get it, and gets us hooting in the aisles like the bloodthirsty fiends we really are. There are no side romances in this movie, no shots ripped off from horror classics like "Halloween", no ironic referencing, nobody saying "I'll be right back..." before getting hacked to pieces. Just a bunch of characters fed to the proverbial meat grinder by a playfully macabre director and a screenplay without unnecessary appendages.

The plot gimmick is a wonderful one. As in most of these movies, a serial killer is going around a small town murdering teenagers in grotesque ways. Usually we know who these unlucky kids will be -- one of them will be a close friend of the heroine, one will be an expendable comic relief character, one will be a slut, etc. But in "Cherry Falls" there are few scenes marking the characters with easily definable relationships, no court jesters and all the victims are virgins. Hence the title.

I have a friend who was recently dumped by his girlfriend of two years. One of the things that seemed to make him so bitter about the relationship was that the young woman had a policy of no sex before marriage. Indeed it's a pattern with this guy -- he seems to have a knack of attracting frigid prudes. God, he would have enjoyed this movie.

Then again, so would anyone who likes to see well-made trash. "Cherry Falls" is efficient in the same way as "Final Destination" -- both films use their plots to get into a position where they can serve up violent deaths without apology. It's a lot better than something like "Urban Legend", which mixes ugly scenes of violence with schlock clichés and establishes a mood of detachment through laconic one-liners. By the two-minute mark in "Cherry Falls", a sexy couple are kissing and heavy petting in a car. Three minutes later, knives are being wielded and throats are getting cut. This movie is open about its appeal.

The cinematography lights the actors and sets in the manner of a standard trendy teen flick, but employs the serious camera angles and foreboding shot movements of a drama. You could argue that the juxtaposition works because "Cherry Falls" is leading us to expect vapidity and then surprising us with genuine shocks, but that's bollocks. It works simply because it's different. This is a silly movie -- gloriously silly -- and so shameless in its methodical, cartoonish use of violence that I just smiled and lapped it up.






Brittany Murphy ...  Jody Marken
Jay Mohr ...  Leonard Marliston
Michael Biehn ...  Sherrif Brent Marken
Jesse Bradford ...  Rod Harper (as Jesse Watrouse)
Candy Clark ...  Marge Marken
Amanda Anka ...  Deputy Mina
Joe Inscoe ...  Tom Sisler, Principal
Gabriel Mann ...  Kenny Ascott
Natalie Ramsey ...  Sandy
Douglas Spain ...  Mark
Bre Blair ...  Stacy Twelfmann
Kristen Miller ...  Cindy
Michael Weston ...  Ben
Keram Malicki-Sánchez ...  Timmy
Joannah Portman ...  Sharon




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