Review of Cherry Falls (2000) by Steve M — 19 Nov 2005

Cherry Falls.

Starring: Brittany Murphy, Michael Biehn, Jay Mohr, and Gabriel Mann.

Director: Geoffrey Wright.

When three teens are tortured and murdered in the small Virginia town of Cherry Falls, it quickly becomes evident that the victims are linked by two things: They went to the same high school and they were virgins. What dark secret are the leading citizens of Cherry Falls keeping that's getting their (non-sexually active) children killed?

"Cherry Falls" is a mildly suspenseful slasher-flick that's remarkable first by the fact that it takes a prime convention and turns it upside-down: The promiscuous kids are safe in this one... it's the ones that are keeping their pants on that are at risk; and second that the characters are actually intelligent. Only once does a character fall show traits of "horror movie braindeadness" where they go into a dark and creepy place... but it's in a spot where she has no reason to suspect that any danger could be lurking.

Good acting from an attractive cast and a well-written script make this film worth seeing. it's not a masterpiece, but it's not bad either. It's low on bodycount--but what kills it does feature are quite brutal and shocking--but high on well-done twists, so that is also something to take into account when deciding if this is a film for you.