This uniformly awful 80's slasher flick has garnered an inexplicably large cult following, so I revisit it every few years to see if I somehow missed the point the last few times I watched it. After this latest viewing, I'm pretty convinced that's not the case, and that this movie is exactly as bad as I've always suspected.
The main draw of the film seems to be the gimmick that ties the whole thing together, but labeling this the absolute dumbest and least plausible twist ending in the history of horror seems like a woefully ineffectual understatement. I'm all for throwing something unexpected at the audience, but it has to work to be effective. The ending of April Fool's Day is not only faulty, it's pretty much insulting. Don't be surprised if you're actually angry when you see how this whole thing plays out, and good luck trying to make sense of the second "gotcha" ending that is tacked on after that.
Stripped of the ludicrous twist, what we have here is a well-below-average dead teenager flick with a cast dominated by thoroughly unlikable characters. Since there's not even any scares of suspense to speak of (you can easily spot the "killer" on the DVD case, and during the movie they pretty much wear a sign on their head that says, "Yep, it's me"), the film becomes a tedious mess that leaves you hanging on only to see how the scenario is wrapped up. Unfortunately, as I've already stated, the ending does nothing to justify this film's very existence.
Surely devotees to this genre have gotten used to accepting nonsense, but in addition to the ending, several plot elements here are so muddled and pointless that dozens of scenes seem to be in place only to pad the run time (I dare you to figure out how two of the disposable chuckleheads in our bunch pull off the knife to the stomach gag on the dock at the beginning of the film). In addition, though the movie starts out on April 1st, the majority of the action here unfolds the day after, which leaves our characters more accurately celebrating April Fool's Weekend. Thus, the big reveal comes about a day late by my estimation.
The film-makers certainly had some money to work with, so the production values are higher than we're used to in slasher offerings. Likewise, they cast some decent actors in a few parts, so the dramatic end of things is handled adeptly. The only thing they didn't spend money on is a script that makes any sense.
Of course, one of the big selling points in this genre is the splatter element. But in April Fool's Day, the series of rote and largely bloodless murders rather negates that aspect. The red sauce is so notably absent, in fact, that a misguided sex scene played purely for laughs seems to have been added for the sole purpose of garnering this film an R rating. Nothing else in this movie even skirts the boundaries of a PG-13. I'm not saying you need a huge body count or scores of spurting jugulars to make a decent horror film, but you need SOMETHING. This film certainly won't appeal to anyone who likes well-crafted stories or ably-executed scares, so the fact that the film-makers also made this film utterly unappealing for fans of the bloodier side of things is a perplexing approach that further makes me question exactly why this film ever got made and released.
The only real piece of interest to be found here is the appearance of both Summer School's Ken Olandt and Amy Steel, who played our plucky heroine in Friday The 13th Part 2. Fans of 80's B-movies will likely enjoy seeing both of these faces pop up here, and they do a fine job of carrying the weaker actors in the ensemble. It's just a shame they wandered into such a wretched movie.
I mean no disrespect to the scores of people who have fondness in their hearts for April Fool's Day, as I have plenty of cruddy films I hold in high esteem. But this is my review, and as far as I'm concerned, calling this movie "crap" is insulting to feces.
The main draw of the film seems to be the gimmick that ties the whole thing together, but labeling this the absolute dumbest and least plausible twist ending in the history of horror seems like a woefully ineffectual understatement. I'm all for throwing something unexpected at the audience, but it has to work to be effective. The ending of April Fool's Day is not only faulty, it's pretty much insulting. Don't be surprised if you're actually angry when you see how this whole thing plays out, and good luck trying to make sense of the second "gotcha" ending that is tacked on after that.
Stripped of the ludicrous twist, what we have here is a well-below-average dead teenager flick with a cast dominated by thoroughly unlikable characters. Since there's not even any scares of suspense to speak of (you can easily spot the "killer" on the DVD case, and during the movie they pretty much wear a sign on their head that says, "Yep, it's me"), the film becomes a tedious mess that leaves you hanging on only to see how the scenario is wrapped up. Unfortunately, as I've already stated, the ending does nothing to justify this film's very existence.
Surely devotees to this genre have gotten used to accepting nonsense, but in addition to the ending, several plot elements here are so muddled and pointless that dozens of scenes seem to be in place only to pad the run time (I dare you to figure out how two of the disposable chuckleheads in our bunch pull off the knife to the stomach gag on the dock at the beginning of the film). In addition, though the movie starts out on April 1st, the majority of the action here unfolds the day after, which leaves our characters more accurately celebrating April Fool's Weekend. Thus, the big reveal comes about a day late by my estimation.
The film-makers certainly had some money to work with, so the production values are higher than we're used to in slasher offerings. Likewise, they cast some decent actors in a few parts, so the dramatic end of things is handled adeptly. The only thing they didn't spend money on is a script that makes any sense.
Of course, one of the big selling points in this genre is the splatter element. But in April Fool's Day, the series of rote and largely bloodless murders rather negates that aspect. The red sauce is so notably absent, in fact, that a misguided sex scene played purely for laughs seems to have been added for the sole purpose of garnering this film an R rating. Nothing else in this movie even skirts the boundaries of a PG-13. I'm not saying you need a huge body count or scores of spurting jugulars to make a decent horror film, but you need SOMETHING. This film certainly won't appeal to anyone who likes well-crafted stories or ably-executed scares, so the fact that the film-makers also made this film utterly unappealing for fans of the bloodier side of things is a perplexing approach that further makes me question exactly why this film ever got made and released.
The only real piece of interest to be found here is the appearance of both Summer School's Ken Olandt and Amy Steel, who played our plucky heroine in Friday The 13th Part 2. Fans of 80's B-movies will likely enjoy seeing both of these faces pop up here, and they do a fine job of carrying the weaker actors in the ensemble. It's just a shame they wandered into such a wretched movie.
I mean no disrespect to the scores of people who have fondness in their hearts for April Fool's Day, as I have plenty of cruddy films I hold in high esteem. But this is my review, and as far as I'm concerned, calling this movie "crap" is insulting to feces.