You would think that after all this time, characters in horror movies would finally realize that making deals with witches are bad news. Yet these people still keep on making these deals in exchange for their souls, their firstborn, and so on. The line needs to be drawn, folks! Unfortunately, people didn’t listen in David Keating’s Cherry Tree, which made its international debut at this past year’s Fantasia International Film Festival. Sadly, the continued problem of people making deals with witches pales in comparison to the film’s bigger issues.
Faith (Naomi Battrick) is a fifteen-year-old high school student living in a town called Orchard. Sadly for Faith, her father, Sean (Sam Hazeldine), is dying from leukemia. Faith confides her situation in Sissy (Anna Walton), her field hockey coach. Sissy reveals that she can help Faith’s father, but for a price. Turns out that Sissy is actually the head of a witch coven, and that the price for helping Faith’s father is for Faith to have a “special” baby for the coven.
Cherry Tree scores points mainly in its presentation. In particular is the witches’ coven, which worships at the roots of a cherry tree. It’s appropriately dark and creepy, with plenty of giant centipedes. These creepy-crawlies are the familiars for the coven, and they’re everywhere. There’s no shortage of shots (including some great close-ups) involving these myriapoda crawling over everything, which will no doubt make a few viewers shudder. Apart from the usual expectations of witches, such as lesbian moments, sexy dresses and candlelit rituals, we’re also treated to some cool practical makeup effects that bear a little resemblance to some of the creature effects from Nightbreed. Nicely done.
Fans of Anna Walton’s turn in Hellboy II might not be onboard for the wispy-voiced actress hamming it up as Sissy, but given what’s asked of her, she delivers while chewing the scenery. Honestly, I give her credit for keeping a straight face in that shot where she’s lit from below and the camera is pointed up her nose. In contrast, Battrick is downright boring and devoid of emotion as Faith. There’s little if any energy in her delivery, and it’s difficult to make me care that this character is making a deal with the devil. For argument’s sake, even if the character is one of those reserved serious types, I’d at least try to have an expression on my face that didn’t read “half asleep”.
I suppose Battrick’s expression results from Brendan McCarthy’s script, which is the film’s biggest problem. The overall feeling is that the script is unimaginative and lazy, reusing the same clichés that we’ve seen before in other films without doing anything new with them, and the general “coincidences” that happen (Faith’s pregnancy lasting six weeks, six days and six hours, for example). While the use of the centipedes is pretty cool, the constant reliance on them for symbolism, and need for them to be shown in almost every shot with Sissy and the coven comes across as being heavy-handed, and in turn get old fast. But perhaps the most damning thing about the script is its pacing and continuity. The film’s narrative goes a mile a minute, causing things to be rushed. Faith doesn’t get all that much time to debate Sissy’s offer. She just goes and screws her best friend on her 16th birthday (again, what a coincidence!). This in turn also leads to another hole in the script of any sort of moment with Faith coming to terms with her predicament, or her father’s miraculous recovery. It just steamrolls along, trying to cram a two-hour film into 90 minutes.
Cherry Tree just ends up being a big frustration. The cool presentation and Walton’s performance go to waste thanks to a script that feels like someone took a marker and cut out all but the essential stuff. There’s little in the way of build-up to key points, and the constant reliance on the aspects that are interesting wear out far too quickly. See it for Walton hamming it up and the makeup effects. Everything else, much like how the script treats the story, is a throwaway.
Rating: 2/5 Skulls