Wampyrii doesn't live here any more. Play nice y'all. :)
Wampyrii doesn't live here any more. Play nice y'all. :)
Member since:15.09.2000
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The slasher movie gets yet another post Scream outing in he form of Cherry Falls, directed by the same guy who brought us Urban Legend. It differs from the usual slasher flick in one rather ingenious way, putting an entire new postmodern spin on the whole thing. Interesting it is in this respect, but sadly there isn't much else to it to keep our interest.
It begins in the town of Cherry Falls, a name which is a play on the main focus of the movie. A killer is bumping off the local high school kids, picking solely on those who are known to be virgins, killing them brutally and carving the word virgin into their flesh. Of course(!?!) in order to save themselves the youth of the town organise a cherry popping party, so that they can all lose their virginity and be safe from the killer....and thats the general premise behind the entire movie. The rest of the plot is pretty much incidental because its all just flashing blades and blood the usual serial killer/slasher movie affair.
Slasher movies are always a pretty hit and miss affair but this one is really very miss and miss again. The fault lies mainly perhaps with the board of censors in the US who demanded the removal of various scenes including a five and a half minutes death scene. The directed had boasted during production that this would be the bloodiest slasher movie ever and yet when finally released the movie comes in at a 15 rating...need I say more? Where the movie does succeed however is in the interesting spin it puts on this old genre. Traditionally slasher movies have been characterised by sex equally death. Couples who are promiscuous have been the target of the killers, the point often being made with the attack taking place whilst they have been in the act of copulation - the message sex = death being clear. Here, sex equals life, the emphasis changed completely which leads to an entirely new set of rules. It also leads to some memorable and amusing scenes. The moment where our heroine's father finds out that she is a virgin is a classic - the look of horror on his face is superb.
Sadly Cherry Falls doesn't build upon this but instead descends into deep mediocrity. It is painfully obvious who the killer is form very early on ad the rest of the movie's attempts to continue to hide him/her is annoying as a result. It needs a strong female lead ala Halloween to work effectively but instead we are given a woman who looks at best confused, at worst almost zombie-like. She is probably the worst actres amongst the whole cast and if you are like me, then you'll find yourself hoping that she gets bumped off so that she can be replaced by one of the movie's more interesting cast members...not that there are that many of them. The rest of the cast are, it has to be said, equally bad, and they are not helped by an abysmal script and laughable plot settings. There is a serial killer on the lose, he is killing daily so of course when presented with a darkened corridor and strange sounds you go wandering off down to have a look...tiresome.
The final nail in the coffin? Pacing. This is one of he most slow movie, boring horror movies I have come across. Perhaps Wright was forced to pad the gorey bits with banal dialogue after the movie was cut about, but there really is no excuse for this level of mediocrity. There are far too many shots of pretty faces sitty around talking and not enough stalking, suspense or just plain horror considering that this IS meant to be a horror movie. Maybe the classification boards and the film studio did kill it off, but they can't have caused this level of damage - it must have been pretty naff in the first place.
Overall then, hardly recommended, maybe to teenagers who have yet to be introduced to such a genre and mummy won't let them see the 18 rated stuff(yeah right). For the rest of us...ugh, give it a big miss.
Verdict: 2/5
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Cherry Falls, the eponymous small town inCherry Falls, has some dirty secrets--secrets ... more
that come to light when a psychotic killer starts killing teenagers. But the killer has an unusual criterion: only virgins are marked for death.Cherry Fallsis a stri...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Cherry Falls, the eponymous small town inCherry Falls, has some dirty secrets--secrets ... more
that come to light when a psychotic killer starts killing teenagers. But the killer has an unusual criterion: only virgins are marked for death.Cherry Fallsis a stri...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon...
Cherry Falls is a quiet little town - until the night that a serial killer begins preying ... more
on its youth. After a third teen is found slain the killer's modus operandi emerges: the victims were all virgins. Sheriff Marken (Michael Biehn) is concerned f...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Cherry Falls is a quiet little town - until the night that a serial killer begins preying ... more
on its youth. After a third teen is found slain, the killer's modus operandi emerges: the victims were all virgins. Sheriff Marken (Michael Biehn), is concerned f...
Advantages: Quite amusing in places - unintentionally of course! Disadvantages: Takes itself too seriously, nothing to make it stand out from any other teen horror.
Pumpkin 05.05.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Cherry Falls (DVD)
![Cherry Falls [DVD] [2000]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78549016.jpg "Cherry Falls [DVD] [2000]")
Oct 3rd, 2001
(Oct 4th, 2001)
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