Dir: Geoffrey Wright
Starring
Brittany Murphy
Michael Biehn
Jay Mohr
2000
R, 100 m
RATING: 6 out of 10
The plot is simple: a killer stalks a small town, murdering virgin teens. Michael Biehn stars as a police officer who suspects a person from the town's past, Brittany Murphy as his daughter, and Jay Mohr as a teacher-turned-confidant of Murphy. The entire student body then decides that the best way to ensure they don't become the next victim is to lose their cherry: hence, Cherry Falls. Haha.
Two word describes the whole production: unremarkable and umemorable. There are some deaths that could have been very striking but are instead muted and marred by unnecessary slow motion. Also, it draws on tons of other classic films in some scenes, echoing Heather Langenkamp asking her mother about Freddy in the original Nightmare and also the opening death scene from Scream. The dialogue is trite and wooden, cinematography drab and unimaginative.
In fact, what really makes the film passable is the fact that most of the high schoolers look and act like highschoolers. Jay Mohr also has fun with the cheesiness of the flick, and the last twenty minutes are undoubtably the best, with a pretty good twist and enough gore to satisfy true horror fans.
While Cherry Falls won't be winning any awards soon, and the premise sounds more amusing than it's pulled off, it's still worth a look for Jay Mohr's performance, some gore, and an overall air of fun. At the very least, it doesn't take itself too seriously and never claims it's anything but derivative fun.
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