Never received a cinematic release in the US.
Movie producers at Millennium Studios secured permission from Richmond Public Schools to film interior and exterior scenes at Thomas Jefferson High School during Easter Break and the week following. Thomas Jefferson High School shared the building and grounds at the time with the Governor's School for Government and International Studies (GSGIS), a regional school for gifted students. RPS failed to mention this, and the fact that the two schools shared different schedules, to movie producers. RPS also failed to mention that a movie would be filmed on the site to GSGIS administration. As a result, Cherry Falls started filming at the end of the school day, only to be interrupted an hour later when the GSGIS students were released from class. To secure the set, doors had been locked and hallways had been blocked, preventing students from exiting. The confusion was eventually cleared, and the producers provided GSGIS administration with a synopsis of the plot, and details about the time-line, scheduling, and deal with RPS. School administration then included the synopsis in a letter to concerned parents. The synopsis failed to mention the satirical slant of the storytelling, and instead provided the plot as a serious storyline. Parents then complained that RPS allowed porn movies to be filmed on school property.
Due to ongoing censorship issues with the MPAA, the film was never given a theatrical release in the United States and was released as a TV movie on the USA Network. As a result, Cherry Falls is the most expensive television movie ever produced, with a budget of around $14 million.
Michael Biehn initially wasn't interested in the movie because, after reading 15 pages of the script, he thought it was just another slasher movie. His agent convinced him to keep reading. Biehn liked the satirical approach to the genre and decided to do the movie.