The New Movie of the Week: April Fool’s Day x 2

Horror movies based on holidays are nothing new and are always fun to watch as that special day approaches, in this case, April first otherwise known as April Fool’s Day.  A day in which pranks abound and deception rules.  In late March of 1986, a movie named after the aforementioned holiday was released and did reasonably well, twenty-two years later the film was remade with a direct to video release.  This article will look at both films and what separates them from one another.

April Fool’s Day (1986)

On April 1^st, a group of collage kids are taking the ferry to an isolated island estate owned by their friend Muffy St. John (Deborah Foreman).  Muffy is a rich heiress who is about to become very rich, but there may be a dark secret that she harbors.  The invited guests include Harvey (Jay Baker), Nikki (Deborah Goodrich), Rob (Ken Olandt), Skip (Griffin O’Neal), Nan (Leah Pinsent), Chaz (Clayton Rohner), Kit (Amy Steel), and Arch (Thomas F. Wilson). On the ferry ride, an April Fool’s joke leads to one of the ferrymen getting badly injured.  Later that night, as the group of friends settle in, they discover all sorts of small “jokes” have been scattered throughout the property.  Some of them seem to allude that Muffy may know more about her guests’ dark secrets and is trying to leverage them for some nefarious reason.  Along with the pranks, there are also clues scattered around the house that may indicate that Muffy is not whom she appears to be but might in fact be her mentally unstable twin sister, Buffy!  The guests begin to disappear, and bodies begin to be found.  Eventually only Rob and Kit are left as they try to survive and escape the island with the sheriff.  Of course, on April Fool’s Day, nothing is as it seems, and the film ends with a definite twist.

The film got mixed reviews with some praising the acting, directing and the lack of gore when compared to contemporary films like Halloween and Friday the 13^th.  Others slammed the film calling it witless and uninteresting.  I remember watching this film when it was first released and enjoying it, although I have to say that watching it now, it kind of bored me.  The suspense was often muted, and the plot was a bit muddled.  There were several aspects of the film that could have been highlighted that were alluded to and then never really followed up on.  The twist ending is fun and overall the film is enjoyable, its just a bit bland.

April Fool’s Day (2008)

On April 1^st, 2007, ultra rich snob Desiree Cartier (Taylor Cole) is hosting a debutante ball for Torrance Caldwell (Scout Taylor-Compton) with all of their high society friends in attendance, including, Desiree’s brother Blaine (Josh Henderson); senate candidate Peter (Samuel Child); his beauty pageant fiancée Barbie (Jennifer Siebel); their poor videographer friend, Ryan (Joe Egender); society reporter Charles (Joseph McKelherr); and Desiree’s society rival, Milan (Sabrina Ann Aldridge). Since it is April Fool’s Day, pranks and jokes abound and in an attempt to discredit Milan, Desiree uses the ball to pull a prank where she plans to catch Milan having sex with Blaine on video, but the plan goes wrong and Milan ends up dead, with the actual killer being unknown.  Blaine loses control of the family fortune which goes to Desiree, but otherwise the death is ruled an accident.  A year later, the group receives notes to meet at Milan’s grave, where they are given an ultimatum, Milan’s killer must come forward or they will all die one by one, included is a video of Charles being murdered.  As Blaine and Desiree begin to investigate who killed Charles, the rest of the group begin to die leading to a showdown between Milan’s actual killer and the one hunting the group of friends.  Of course, it is April Fool’s Day, so nothing is as it appears and the film ends with a couple of twists and turns.

The film is described as “Mean Girls crossed with horror”, and that is a very apt description.  As with its predecessor, there is little gore in this film which I liked and quite a bit more action and excitement.  The suspense in the film is more palpable, but the mystery is less intriguing.  Where I found this version more enjoyable to watch, the main problem I have with it is there really isn’t a character to root for.  The leads, except for Ryan and Torrance, are all rich selfish snobs who are mainly out for themselves.  This is done on purpose as the plot is really a revenge story with all those who were involved in Milan’s death getting their comeuppance.

Both films have their positives and negatives and in a plot twist worthy of both films, I probably prefer the remake to the original, which rarely happens.  The original film does have that nostalgic 1980s horror vibe, but it just moved painfully slow and I was honestly bored.  The remake is much more exciting, but the characters are less likeable.