Review Cherry Falls (2000): Slasher that is too much PG and therefore ruins everything that could have made it real fun

genre: slasher, horror, thriller

This movie had a lot of potential to become a great horror movie. Because the story is pretty good and has a nice twist. The fact that this twist can easily be predicted if you are a fan of the genre doesn't have to ruin the experience. 

The acting isn't half bad and even quite enjoyable. The problem with Cherry Falls, however that it is lacking in so many other factors. First of all, the suspense. There are just some touches of real thrills in this movie. The mystery concerning the killer is important and interesting, but somehow doesn't provide the suspense to stay hooked on the story. The lack of a real threat and danger also ruins this movie. You just know when something will happen. Only two chase scenes were exciting to see. And the number of kills could have been higher. If only to symbolize the threat. But the real killer of this movie is the lack of gore. Let's face it. Cherry Falls is a slasher movie. And a slasher movie always should contain a certain amount of blood and gore. We don't get to see limbs chopped off or blood spilled. (And I am making this statement knowing very well I usually prefer the mystery over the gore. For me to accept the PG violence, the mystery has to be really compelling. In this case, it's not compelling enough.) 

Like I said earlier, the twist is quite nice and enjoyable if you don't expect too much. Personally, I would have liked to see a better explanation of the killer's motive. Especially since the motive doesn't really coincide with the murders. There is one element in this movie that could have saved it, but for some reason never gets used. I don't know if it was intentional or just Brittany's way of acting. But Murphy doesn't seem to be 100%. Picture the scene where Brittany Murphy seems to be sleepwalking and saying Oh, daddy or something like that. I thought that was very creepy. Using this element and the twist combined could have provided a much better ending than it did.

In short, this will be worth your time, but do keep your expectations low; it won't blow you away. 

Don't read beyond this if you haven't seen this film yet. This is how I would have ended it.

Leonard Marliston and Jody Marken are actually brother and sister. (Brent Marken also raped Marliston's mother). Marliston and Jody fall in love and discover this fact. Repulsed and mad that they can't be together, they both decide to get revenge for this terrible crime. To force a confession out of Brent, Jody acts like she doesn't know anything about the rape. Once he confessed, Marliston killed Brent. Now Jody realizes that she doesn't need Marliston anymore. She convinces him that he has to chase her and try to kill her, and that she has to stay in character to mislead the others and thus provide more victims. But she actually is planning to kill him when he is off guard. When she manages to kill him, everybody will have the illusion that the town is safe again. We know better. She will continue the killing!