Movie Review - Cherry Falls (2000)

CHERRY FALLS (2000)

 

Timmy: Holy hymens, Batman - they're killing virgins!

 

So everyone knows there are some pretty basic common rules to follow when it comes to making a slasher flick. The most commonly known rule and one that is thrown around or into slasher flicks alot is the whole sex thing, generally if you get naked, show your tits, go skinny dipping in a lake in the middle of the night, or do the UNTHINKABLE and actually HAVE sex in a slasher flick, you are more then gaurenteed death at the hands of an axe weilding maniac.

which thusly brings me to Cherry Falls, this is a real gem of a slahser flick hiding in amoungst all the Do's and Don'ts of slasher films, like most its a little odd in places but it works brilliantly, the lead girl Jody who is played by the late great Bittany Murphy is quickry and slightly a little off centre but something about her makes you cheer for her throughout the movie.

The basis of the story is surround by the high school is a small town called Cherry Falls, where in the opening scenes we are showen some beautiful scenery that then brings us to a parked car in the woods with two teenagers making out inside it, this of course inevitably leads to their demises at the hands of a killer in a long black wig tights black boots and a black mini skirt. we then get to met Jody and her not so loveable i'm going to break up with you in the beginning of the movie cause you wont have sex with me boyfriend Kenny, in proceeds to go into setting the mood and setting up Jody as the loveable final charactor, we met Jody's mum who returns home just as Kenny is breaking up with Jody in the car, the 3 speak briefly before Jody's mother disappears to the house then Jody soon follows after this then leads us to learning that Jody is actually the sheriffs daughter and he of course grounds her for being home late. We then see Jody sleeping at night and the phone rings her dad the sheriff answer it and is there for informed of two dead bodies found in the woods so he rushes of to investigate.

We are then taken to the high school where is all slowly starts to unfolded the normal school day gives way to the mayhem of everyone knowing that two of their class mates have been murder, we meet some more pivotal charactors that we follow through out the movie, one being a guy who is on the news paper chasing up details of the two murdered teenagers, it basically just follows along this path till the next guy is killed and we come to find that the killer is actually killing off VIRGINS which then ends up in the teenagers deciding to throw a sex party to take themselves of the 'Endangered species list'. we learn more about who the killer is, and what may be the motive for their killings, tying into a back story about Jody's dad the Sheriff and the shcool principle when they where younger. It all leads up to a sort of stalled climax but the final death is pretty swell.

So thats the thing about cherry falls, it follows all the rules to be able to break one ultimate rule to the tee, the simplisticness of the movie makes it easy to watch, there's nothing to fast paced or too gory, most of the kills are off screen you generally just get to the see the bodies after the kill, but the best part about this movie is making it work so that a killer is killing off virgins, that its actually safe in a slasher flick to have sex and you won't die, Brittnay Murphy plays the final charactor of Jody well, she's a little off centre but you get the impression her whole family is like that, she's a fighter she doesn't just lay down and take it.

The reason behind for the killer to be killing is pretty simplistic too, it follows all basic rules of do something in your past (espcially if you live in a small town) and it WILL come back to bite you on the ass, i wont give anything away the whys and whats and whos of it all because i want you to watch it for yourself and go "OOhh yeahhh"

There's not much bad i can say about this movie, although it can get a little be lack lustre in areas and sometimes i think it gets a bit too weird, there are moment between Jody and her Dad that seem a little bit too sexualised for father daughter, but there's not alot of it so ya can kind of ignore it, i think they where just trying to set up that they're where a close father daughter so that the ending had more punch when something is reveal to Jody about her Dad that she trusted him. There aren't alot of kills in the movie, only 4 teenagers get killed for sure, in the end at the sex party the killers chasing Jody through the crowd of teens trying to escape the killer and he's slashing at anyone who is near him, but you dont really see or know if anyone else dies at this point, there is another killing also just before we discover who the killer is but its not a virgin teenager, its actually the principle of the school who does have involvment in whats going on, so its understandable he bites it, i would've loved a bit more kills, a few more non sexed up teenagers biting the dust, but then i love a little blood and guts in my films.

so all in all, this movie is a great little treat for slasher fans, if you haven't seen it i highly recommended it, its definatly up there with the likes of Scream and Friday the 13th, i throughly enjoyed watching it and i think if your a follower of slasher films then you will enjoy this for the bending of the rules. It's a neat little flick in a neat little package, so give it a go, order a pizza grab a beer or a wine sit back put your feet up and ENJOY !!