Cherry Falls review

There's a precariously thin line between ironic and moronic. Geoffrey Wright's horror-thriller Cherry Falls begins the right side of the divide, gradually shuffles towards stupidity, then just keeps on going.

The sleepy town of Cherry Falls is shocked when a serial killer comes to town and starts offing the teenage population. Sheriff Brent Marken (Biehn) suspects the murderer is targeting virgins, and is consequently frightened for the safety of his daughter Jody (Murphy).

Once the students learn of the attacker's modus operandi, they organise a "Pop Your Cherry Ball" where every undergraduate can selflessly surrender their virginity.

But the killer is lurking nearby with and Jody firmly view. The virginity plot is certainly novel - usually the teens who have sex are certain to meet a grisly fate. Yet it's not a large enough hook on which to hang the whole picture. Performances, writing and direction are at best inconsistent, at worst laughable.

Murphy plays her sub-Neve Campbell heroine with a satisfying mix of tears, terror and steely determination. Biehn speaks his lines as if he is reading them off cue cards, investing every clumsy syllable with the minimum of life.

Fans of Psycho, Friday The 13th, Scream and the ilk will foresee every twist and turn, and will figuer the killer and motive early on. And the final reel ends with more of a whimper than a bang, so to speak.