Cherry Falls
***
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Odeon (Bromborough)
Released in the UK by Entertainment on August 25, 2000; certificate 15; 92
minutes; country of origin USA; aspect ratio 1.85:1
Directed by Geoffrey Wright; produced by
Marshall Persinger, Eli Selden. Written by Ken Selden.
Photographed by Anthony B. Richmond; edited by John F.
Link.
CAST.....
Brittany Murphy..... Jody Marken
Michael Biehn..... Sheriff Brett Marken
Jay Mohr..... Leonard Markinson
Gabriel Mann..... Kenny
Keram Malicki-Sanchez..... Timmy
Candy Clark..... Marge Marken
Caroline Penneyclear..... Jan
John Inscoe..... Tom Sisler
"Cherry Falls" is a stylish and
forthright slasher pic that knows what it wants, knows how to get it, and
gets us hooting in the aisles like the bloodthirsty fiends we really are.
There are no side romances in this movie, no shots ripped off from horror
classics like "Halloween", no ironic referencing, nobody saying "I'll be
right back..." before getting hacked to pieces. Just a bunch of characters
fed to the proverbial meat grinder by a playfully macabre director and a
screenplay without unnecessary appendages.
The plot gimmick is a wonderful one. As in most
of these movies, a serial killer is going around a small town murdering teenagers
in grotesque ways. Usually we know who these unlucky kids will be -- one
of them will be a close friend of the heroine, one will be an expendable
comic relief character, one will be a slut, etc. But in "Cherry Falls" there
are few scenes marking the characters with easily definable relationships,
no court jesters and all the victims are virgins. Hence the
title.
I have a friend who was recently dumped by his
girlfriend of two years. One of the things that seemed to make him so bitter
about the relationship was that the young woman had a policy of no sex before
marriage. Indeed it's a pattern with this guy -- he seems to have a knack
of attracting frigid prudes. God, he would have enjoyed this
movie.
Then again, so would anyone who likes to see well-made
trash. "Cherry Falls" is efficient in the same way as "Final Destination"
-- both films use their plots to get into a position where they can serve
up violent deaths without apology. It's a lot better than something like
"Urban Legend", which mixes ugly scenes of violence with schlock clichés
and establishes a mood of detachment through laconic one-liners. By the
two-minute mark in "Cherry Falls", a sexy couple are kissing and heavy petting
in a car. Three minutes later, knives are being wielded and throats are getting
cut. This movie is open about its appeal.
The cinematography lights the actors and sets
in the manner of a standard trendy teen flick, but employs the serious camera
angles and foreboding shot movements of a drama. You could argue that the
juxtaposition works because "Cherry Falls" is leading us to expect vapidity
and then surprising us with genuine shocks, but that's bollocks. It works
simply because it's different. This is a silly movie -- gloriously
silly -- and so shameless in its methodical, cartoonish use of violence that
I just smiled and lapped it up.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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