I've had good luck with frozen fries using that trick. I go for 400 degrees and knock a couple minutes off the regular time, but I give the basket a good shake halfway. They get way crispier than the package says and I haven't had any explosions like with cheese sticks.
My roommate tried that trick with mozzarella sticks last week. They came out SO crispy but also exploded cheese everywhere. Now we just accept the extra wait time for less mess.