Cherry Falls

Cherry Falls is a 1999 American slasher film directed by Geoffrey Wright, and starring Brittany Murphy, Jay Mohr, and Michael Biehn.

After being submitted to and rejected by the MPAA numerous times, Cherry Falls was screened at several film festivals in some countries in late 1999 and early 2000, but did not have a theatrical release in the United States.

In the woods outside of Cherry Falls, Virginia, a teenage couple, Rod Harper (Jesse Bradford) and Stacy Twelfmann (Bre Blair) are getting romantic in a car when a black-haired woman appears and murders them both.

Meanwhile, in town, teenager Jody Marken (Brittany Murphy), the daughter of the local sheriff, is with her boyfriend, Kenny (Gabriel Mann), who thinks it is time to "see other people."

At school, Brent sees English teacher Mr. Leonard Marliston (Jay Mohr), who urges him to divulge more details of the murder to students and the town so as to eliminate the possibility of secrets.

Brent confides with an old friend, Tom Sisler, the current high school principal, that the suspect looks like "Lora Lee Sherman."

After catching news of the killer's targeting of virgins, the high school students in town congregate at an abandoned hunting lodge to indulge in a mass orgy.

Brent goes to the school to meet Sisler only to find the principal dead in his office with the words "virgin not" carved into his forehead.

Jody, who has refused to attend the orgy with Kenny, is out riding her bike when she cycles by Mr. Marliston's house and witnesses him dragging a heavy trunk inside.

Marliston reveals that he is Lora Lee Sherman's illegitimate son, and asks Brent to retell the story of what happened that night 25 years ago.

[3] Cherry Falls was shopped at the Cannes film market in 1999, and was sold for theatrical distribution in all international territories across the world.

[12] AllMovie gave it a favorable review: "Of all the teen slasher flicks that premiered after the wildly successful Scream series (Urban Legend, etc.

[13] Derek Elley of Variety called it "a semi-successful spin on familiar material that could build minor cult status".

[14] Chris Parcellin of Film Threat rated it 3/5 stars and wrote that "it aspires to be another Heathers or Rivers Edge, but doesn't make it".

[16] Matt Serafini of Dread Central ranked Cherry Falls number seven in a list of the top ten high school horror films from 1996 to the present.

[22][23] The film was released on VHS by USA Home Entertainment, as well as on DVD in a double feature disc paired with Terror Tract (2000).