CHERRY FALLS

In the countryside of Cherry Falls, a quiet town in Virginia, a young couple is about to have sex but is interrupted by a killer who murders them. The case is assigned to Sheriff Marken (Michael Biehn), whose daughter Jody (Brittany Murphy) attends the same school as the victims. The English teacher, Mr. Marliston (Jay Mohr), tries to help the students cope with the tragedy, but shortly afterward, another terrible crime occurs. The murders have one thing in common: all the victims were virgins. When the rumor spreads at the college that being a virgin increases the likelihood of being killed, the watchword will be "sex, and fast" ! Produced and made in (already distant) 2000, "Cherry Falls" directed by Geoffrey Wright (former film critic in his debut behind the camera), has seen the light only now, finding a distribution, and it could not be otherwise, only for the home video market. This is due to censorship issues that almost retired the film; it is enough to think that in the USA it is forbidden to minors under 18 and not for excessive splatter or violence, but simply for the story treated ("cherry" in American is synonymous with hymen/virginity). The protagonists are teenagers from a high school facing a killer who only kills virgins and the only means of salvation for the boys (when you say to extreme evils, extreme remedies) is to lose their virginity, and to do so they organize a mega party in a huge cabin where everyone together must get to work with the first one that comes along ! Now, after reading the plot, one should not stop at appearances thinking of having before a B-movie horror product where the word horror, precisely, is only a pretext to show naked bodies and patinated eroticism to make it resemble some product from the 80s (especially Italian). Certainly, the film presents elements of vulgarity, often the students never say something intelligent until the end of the film, the killer is understood after 10 minutes and after 40 you practically already intuit his story, but all in all "Cherry Falls" is an enjoyable horror; 92 minutes of film that flow easily and in a fun way, accompanied by nice elements such as the scene where at the sound of the bell the high school becomes a delirium of happiness and excitement for the big night organized by the students, or the scene of the party where between music (and yes, why not create a bit of atmosphere too!) and beer there are the first approaches to conclude, bullies or nerds it doesn't matter, all together for salvation ! A conventional product with touches of originality, in which the blood scenes start softly and end abundantly at the moment when the killer, now out in the open towards the end of the film, bursts into the cabin and starts slicing any semi-naked body, trying to escape, that is in front of him. Recommended to all those who attend high schools.