Cherry Falls
The film opens up with various shots around the sleepy town of Cherry Falls. As night falls, the storyline unravels as Ron and Stacy, two high school teenagers, are shown making out in the backseat of a car in the woods. Obviously pressuring Stacy too much, Ron causes Stacy to step out of the car, but they return to the car shortly after. As the two talk in the front seat, a car slowly drives up behind them and shines their headlights throught Ron's car. Ron, thinking one of his friends is playing a joke, gets out of the car, only to have someone brutally attack him with a knife. Still inside the car and screaming with fright, Stacy locks all of the doors. Stacy is forced to open the driver's door when she hears her badly-injured boyfriend. Unfortunately, both of the teens meet a gruesome fate.
Cut to another teen couple just arriving home from their late-night date. Jodie (Brittany Murphy, Clueless, Girl, Interrupted, and TV's King of the Hill) has just found out that her boyfriend Kenny wants to start seeing other people, because she won't have sex with him. Not knowing of the night's recent crime, Kenny asks Jodie if she's afraid she'll die a virgin.
The next morning, the town is buzzing with news of the brutal murder of Ron and Stacy. Soon, another female student is found murdered in another gruesome manner that shocks the town once again. Jodie's police officer father conducts a town meeting in the high school gym to discuss the terrible occurences which have plagued Cherry Falls. Jodie's father then tells the horrible news that the killer is stalking virgins and carving the word VIRGIN in their thighs. Of course, this brings a lot of tension and fear among the parents and students of the small town, and the students form a sex party to prevent themselves from being the killer's next victims.
Soon enough, the killer's sights are on virginal Jodie, who uncovers the shocking, 25-year-old secret, involving the rape of a female senior, Laura Lee Sherman, who the killer patterns their disguise after. Maybe Laura Lee could actually be back for revenge after all these years...
This film, directed by Geoffrey Wright (Romper Stomper), has suffered countless attacks by the MPAA for its graphic violence and sex content. Finally, Cherry Falls was aired on USA Network cable TV on October 20, 2000, but was severely edited of course. The gore is the main thing which is so controversial, one death scene rumored to run over five minutes! At last, though, the film was recently released to video and DVD...
ALso starring Candy Clark and Jay Mohr, the movie's pace is pretty good, and the humor thrown in makes it even better. Brittany Murphy's character is a bit strange at some times, especially in one scene where she makes her ex-boyfriend bite her toe! The idea of the killer knocking off virgins is a good one, but is never really understood after the killer is revealed. This movie is one of the best horror offerings to come about in awhile, amidst the revived horror genre. Definitely recommended, look for it recently released to video and DVD, featuring footage previously unreleased.
