Week-end de terreur

Heiress Muffy St John invites a group of college friends to spend the weekend on her island estate. But it is the First of April and some of the jokes begin to get out of hand.

Slasher film of the 80's without a copious amounts of blood is rare, and April Fool Day is one of those rarity. It's a slightly offbeat film, comes across as more of a mystery than a slasher and the last minutes in particular is quite tense. It can be a bit slow and non-event with some characters acting silly in the beginning but it progressively gets watchable and ends with a twist. One thing though the characters come across real even if they are the usual nerd, lusty or nutty teen.

This is one of those "almost" movies. April Fool's Day has a very likable cast, a good plot and wonderful setting what is doesn't have is a lot of suspense and scares.

It looks like a lot of time was put into this film to make it a classy horror picture. Perhaps that's the reason that none of the kills are very interesting, while there is some gore the death scenes themselves seem to have been edited out. Perhaps this was due to the print used on the DVD, maybe there's a better version...I don't know.

The ending itself may put off hardcore horror fans but I found it quite amusing and it helped to make the rest of the movie gel together and answers some questions/concerns I had about about the movies story.

Overall April Fool's Day is quite enjoyable. The young cast is a lot of fun to watch and a few notches above other 80's horror fare, the story is original and the local, a secluded beach house is quite nice. However, it could have been much, much creepier! With more suspense and good scares April Fool's Day could have rated higher. April Fool's Day rates a 6 out of 10.

Ten youths about to graduate college celebrate at a remote island mansion in the Great Northwest, soon to be inherited by one them (Deborah Foreman). Unfortunately, they start getting hacked one-by-one. Who's the killer?

"April Fool's Day" (1986) is a slasher/horror in the cabin-in-the-woods mold; it's just that the 'cabin' in this case is a magnificent mansion. The presence of Amy Steel, who played Ginny in "Friday the 13th Part II" (1981), brings to mind that series but, besides Amy, the female cast isn't as notable, although it's okay. You might remember Deborah Foreman from "Valley Girl" (1983) and "Real Genius" (1985).

On the other side of the gender spectrum, Ken Olandt is a Kevin Bacon lookalike while Clayton Rohner is reminiscent of Val Kilmer.

Regrettably, the pacing is off and so not enough suspense is worked up. Any "Friday the 13th" flick is all-around more entertaining, not to mention "Slumber Party Massacre II" (1987), which has similarities. But "April Fool's Day" gets points for the outstanding location and something revolutionary that happens, which I can't give away.

The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot at St John estate, Victoria, British Columbia, with additional studio stuff done in Los Angeles. It was rebooted or reimagined (not remade) in 2008.

GRADE: B-

If you're looking for a fun film with a lot of twists and turns, then give April Fool's Day a watch. A group of friends go to spend spring break at a friend's house on an island her family owns. Of course this vacation happens to fall on April 1st. There's definitely going to be pranks, but as someone starts picking off the friends, it's quickly becomes a nightmare.

The whole movie keeps you guessing. It's a fun slasher, but with so many surprises. It's hard to say much about this movie without spoiling it, so just take my word for it and give it a chance. There's a couple plot flaws, but it does not take away from the enjoyment of the film.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs n was totally surprised. This movie came during the era of slashers but the kills were offscreen n the nudity nada. Revisited it recently n liked it very much. A group of friends take a trip on an island estate, on their way due to a prank gone wrong, a deckhand gets seriously injured. Later on the estate, one by one starts disappearing. The film has lots of twists n turns n a solid ending which was very surprising for those days. The location of the island estate is done well n the mansion really beautiful. It is a very different take on the slasher genre n a very clever one.



I think Michael Douglas' The Game is inspired by this movie.