Plot
A killer is killing off the virgins of a small town high school.
Release Year: 2000
Rating: 4.8/10 (6,338 voted)
Director:
Geoffrey Wright
Stars: Brittany Murphy, Jay Mohr, Michael Biehn
Storyline A psychotic serial slasher starts a bloodthirsty murder rampage at Cherry Falls high school that only kills the local high school virgins. This leads to the local teenage population organising a sex party in order to lose their virginity and thus no longer be targets...
Cast: 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
Opening Weekend: £241,171
(UK)
(27 August 2000)
(106 Screens)
Gross: £818,465
(UK)
(10 September 2000)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
This movie is one of the few movies out there where the credits run backwards (top to bottom; not the normal bottom to top).
Goofs:
Continuity:
In the scene where Jody is with her boyfriend on his bed, he repeatedly changes from having his hand on her neck, to having his hand on her shoulder.
Quotes: Ben:
She thinks fellatio is a character in Shakespeare.
User Review
Severely edited, but still not bad
Rating: 6/10
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
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