Cherry Falls (2001)

If David Lynch made a slasher movie, it would probably resemble Cherry Falls, a devilishly deadpan horror comedy whose title only hints at the cleverness within. When a killer starts slaughtering carnally challenged students at a (where else?) Virginia high school, the innocents decide to take matters into their own hands -- well, not exactly their hands -- by organizing a mass deflowering.

Scripter Ken Selden and ''Romper Stomper'' director Geoffrey Wright deftly pepper this smart upending of the have sex and die convention with eminently quotable dialogue and a palpable sense of the anxiety facing sexually inactive teens and their parents. Murphy, best known as ''Clueless''' tomboy, heads an able low watt cast that perfectly recalls the generic quality of '80s stalker flicks. It's a shame the movie didn't warrant a U.S. theatrical run (though it did screen overseas); it might just be the wittiest, most subversive teen thriller since ''Heathers.''

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