Director: Kyle Day
Cast: Julin Jean, Nick Manning, John Gabriel Rodriguez, Allen Hackley, Jeremy James, Douglas Norton
Well Go USA / Region A / Unrated / 2.35:1 widescreen / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 & Dolby Digital Stereo / 82 minutes
Extras: Audio Commentary w/ Director/Producer Kyle Day / Outtakes / Deleted Scenes / Alternate Ending / Trailer
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I had such high hopes for this one. A smoking hot chick on the cover posing with a giant gun. A rape revenge flick with promises of Death Wish-like coolness. I got it in the mail and my eyes lit up and my brain says to me, “YAY, SEXY SKRIPPERS KILLIN’ MOTHERFUCKAS!” Carnage! Sleaze! Tits! Maybe even a dick or two getting cut off! As I started the disk, the first scene stoked the fire in my belly even more as our anti-heroine “Cherry” drives down the road dragging some poor rapist soul behind her. But as the film continues, I am hit in the face with reality; this fucking movie doesn’t bring the goods. That’s right, Cherry Bomb is a cherry dud. And honestly, I don’t really understand why the filmmakers pussed out on me. There are some very good aspects to the movie that could have carried a more graphic load.
Raven haired stripper Cherry does a solid for her girlfriend Ginger and takes a room full of dudes up to the Champagne Room for a good time. The dudes are doing cocaine and it’s not long before things turn violent and Cherry wakes up in a hospital bed after being raped and beaten up (mind you, none of this is shown except for safe little flashbacks later). Cherry’s brother Brandon finds out who was in that room with her and goes to one of them to, not beat his ass or kill him, but to get money for her hospital bills. Things go awry and he ends up killing the slime ball. Upon hearing this, Cherry escapes from the hospital to join her brother for some ass-kicking vengeance. So they find an arms dealer and buy up an arsenal with money Brandon stole from the dude he killed. After the first couple of killings, the head bad guy hires his own mercenary to track the revenge-minded siblings. Mayhem ensues… right?
Well, in theory, yes. They shoot, stab, run over and burn the sickos who perpetrated this awful crime that the crooked cops won’t do anything about. But, aside from the film’s climax, none of it is shown in any detail. It’s all very safe and sanitary to the point that it could almost be a PG-13 rated action flick if it wasn’t for the implied sexual assault content. There are a couple sets of boobs in the beginning and two relatively gory scenes at the end but this is nothing a wee teen couldn’t handle. If you cut out the 10 seconds of boobs, this could be shown on broadcast TV. That’s not to say the film is without merit. The overall look of the movie is very slick and could pass for a bigger budget movie. First time director Kyle Day along with director of photography M. Andrew Barrera made this film look very cool and they could have pulled off much more with the talent they obviously have. The acting itself was fine, if not a little uneven at times, but it did bring up some questions.
Were they trying to play it straight or was it supposed to be a little cheesy? It was both, by the way which helps detract from the overall tone. Did they try to make a “safe” rape revenge film? I was more than a little confused as a watched beautiful, scantily clad hotties running around in stripper outfits but never really doing anything with it. GET NAKED… HAVE SEX.. BLOW A BITCH’S HEAD OFF AND WATCH THE BACK OF HIS NOGGIN EXPLODE OPEN LIKE A POPCORN POPPER! Don’t just imply it unless you want to be shown on Lifetime TV next week as a cautionary tale for all of the soccer moms out there daydreaming about being a stripper. Unfortunately the supplements on the Blu-ray don’t make up for the lacking film. The only vaguely interesting one is the “alternate ending” which is actually just a continuation of the original ending that plays through the credits. It gives a little “feel good” closure you don’t get with the other, more “riding off into the sunset” conclusion.
