Film Review: Cherry Falls (2000)
It is always refreshing to see a film turning one of the most common genre cliches on its head. And it is quite disappointing when such feature isn’t used properly and presence of other cliches turn it into missed opportunity, like in the case of Cherry Falls, 2000 horror film directed by Geoffrey Wright.
The plot is set in Cherry Falls, small town in Virginia which has recently became hunting ground for mysterious killer that is killing local teenagers. Brent Marken (played by Michael Biehn), town’s sheriff, has concluded that one thing that all the victims have in common is being virgins. This discovery doesn’t remain secret for local teen populations and some of them prepare ingenious way to protect themselves from the killer – mass orgy during which everyone would lose virginity and thus stop being targets. Brent’s daughter Jody (played by Brittany Murphy), who is still a virgin and who barely survived encounter with the killer, decides to start her own investigation and soon finds dark secrets that involve most important people in town.
Few years earlier Scream, Wes Craven’s hit responsible for renaissance of teen slasher films in late 1990s, not only explicitly mentioned but also played a little with the popular genre trope of characters in such films not surviving if they are sexually active. In Cherry Falls scriptwriter Ken Selden inverts this cliché, thus creating promising “high concept”. Unfortunately, Geoffrey Wright, Australian director best known for his skinhead-related drama Romper Stomper, doesn’t have ability or inclination to lead this potentially subversive concept to its conclusion. This might be partially explained by increased prudishness of MPAA censors that, unlike in case of slasher films a decade and half earlier, had little tolerance for more explicit depictions sexuality or exploration of sexual themes. As a result, the basic concept is quickly wasted and replaced with uninspired standard murder mystery. Another problem for film is Wright’s inability to walk the fine line between standard horror thriller and its parody. Brittany Murphy as film’s heroine seems slightly miscast and isn’t as impressive as Michael Biehn in the role of her father and Jay Mohr in the role of her English teacher. Poorly conceived and badly directed finale turns Cherry Falls into just another wasted opportunity, unworthy of audience’s attention.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
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