'Cherry Falls' came out at a time when slasher movies were coming back into style and with bigger budgets, slicker style and a wicked sense of humor. 1996's 'Scream' brought the subgenre back and whether you like that film or not it's hard to deny its influence. Unfortunately like the 1980's slashers, there were simply too many thrown at us in such a short amount of time that it quickly became tired and fatiguing for audiences and 'Cherry Falls' fell out of memory for many due to its late arrival. It's a real shame too because the film is a pretty clever and well made piece that deserved a lot more praise. The film was butchered for content and released quietly on the USA network never to be heard of again. Until it came to DVD that is and while we still haven't gotten to see the full cut yet it's nice to finally see 'Cherry Falls' the way it was intended.
The film for the most part follows your typical slasher formula: killer stalks teens at a school/campus while the kids party and have sex however 'Cherry Falls' pulls a fast one on us with the killer's motives. See, this killer only kills virgins and soon enough once this information is spread to the various teen characters only one solution comes to mind: orgy. Yeah, at the time this was a very unique idea and while I've seen more clever takes on the slasher genre, 'Cherry Falls' still gets a kudos from me for trying something new even if it came out in the late phase of the 90's craze. It also helps that the film has a better cast than other slashers of the time with Brittany Murphy and Michael Beihn giving some of their best work. It's a real shame Murphy passed so young as she really was a talent despite the material she'd be given and while I won't say 'Cherry Falls' is high class entertainment she gives her best like a champ.
Now while the concept is unique, I can't say the same for the rest of the film. It follows your typical tropes such as false scares and stupid characters and the trimmed down gore is really a pain. I can't imagine what possibly could have been in this that would be any worse than 'Scream' or 'Valentine' but in slasher films the kills are the highlights. Other horror films don't always need gore or boobs to work but films like 'Cherry Falls' do and don't understand why the MPAA doesn't get it! 'Cherry Falls' isn't Shakespeare or anything, but as far as 90's slashers go I think you'll get a kick out of it especially if you're a fan of 'Scream'. Check it out if you've gone through your other horror flicks this Halloween.
( B )
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