April Fool's Day

1986 "Guess who's going to be the life of the party?"
6.1| 1h28m| R| en| More Info
Released: 27 March 1986 Released
Producted By: Paramount
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

As soon as Muffy St. John and her college friends arrive on her parents' secluded island, someone starts trimming the guest list... one murder at a time.

Genre

Horror, Mystery

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April Fool's Day (1986) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Fred Walton

Production Companies

Paramount

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April Fool's Day Audience Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
amgee-89551 It's bad as the remake tbh. It was predictable and slow at points. The characters was annoying I didn't care about none of them. I didn't like the ending. It would of been better and shocking if that blonde girl actually killed muffy. Tbh I thought the remake ending was better and that's saying something because the remake was as bad as the original. It was a let down for me. It was so obvious that it was all a big prank because you actually didn't see them getting killed u only saw them about to get killed.
morrison-dylan-fan With the IMDb October Horror Challenge taking place,I decided to take a look at the Horror section on Netflix UK. Hearing about the movie after catching the tense Slasher/Giallo crossover Happy Birthday To Me,I was pleased to find that the title had recently been put on the site,which led to me getting ready to perform a vicious April Fools.The plot:Celebrating the start of April over the weekend,pals Harvey, Nikki, Rob, Skip, Nan, Chaz and Kit decide to spend time on Skip's sister Muffy's isolated island mansion. Playing April Fools on each other as they take the last boat to the island,which leads to deckhand Buck getting hurt and being rushed to hospital. Shaken by the accident,the gang soon discover that Muffy has transformed the island into a deadly April Fools.View on the film:Talking about Agatha Christie when they find dolls round the dinner table, (for being "dumb kids" their quoting of Christie/James Boswell and John Milton sure looks like a mature reading taste!) the debut screenplay by Danilo Bach holds back on diving into the full-on Slasher gore to instead stab the psychological fear of the Giallo. Opening up the Slasher box of "mommy issues",Bach wonderfully uses the title for a jack in the box Giallo mystery,leaping round via the "jokes" that Muffy has left round the mansion,to the (off screen) Slasher killings cleverly being placed for a completely different perspective being revealed in the richly macabre,Christie/Giallo-style twist ending.Losing its entire third act, (which Jeff Rovin's novelisation shows to be a much darker final to the "upbeat" studio final) director Fred Walton and cinematographer Charles Minsky impressively hold things together by casting an eerie Giallo atmosphere over the title,as gliding shots stylishly display the isolation of the Christie-style mansion. Running on a classy note which keeps all the sexy girls dressed (boo!) Walton gives the Slasher murders tantalisingly brief glimpses,that are finely balanced between offering a body count,and being vague enough to quietly place clues towards the sharp twist ending,as Muffy gives everyone an unforgettable April Fools Day.
bowmanblue Ah, where to begin with 'April Fools Day' – undoubtedly one of the silliest 'slasher' films ever made (and that's saying something!). The usual bunch of overly s*xed and obnoxious teenagers go on Spring Break to one of their houses, conveniently situated on an island – naturally with no escape (and, back in the eighties, they never had to make excuses for 'lack of cell phone coverage!'). Once there – surprise surprise – they start getting picked off one by one.Now, unlike other slasher films at the time, the killer is never seen (until the 'big reveal' at the end, obviously), making it like an early 'Scream' film and part 'who-done-it' as well as simple teen-chopping fun.If you're into your early slasher films then this one is worth a watch. There aren't any stars to speak of (are there ever?) unless you count an appearance from 'Biff' from the 'Back to the Future' films. Plus the death scenes aren't that well done (a bit of decent gore make-up here and there, but the obvious lack of budget does show sometimes). However, just because it isn't that gory (or well acted!) doesn't mean it's not fun.It kind of knows what it is (and what it's not – i.e. High-brow) and plays to its strengths. Without going into anything that may spoil it, it's actually quite clever here and there with a few things that you might not see coming.Naturally, it has all the flaws of the genre, such as the nice girl surviving longest and anyone who has s*x dies first, but if you're generally a fan of slasher films you've long since learned to forgive such traits and should be able to enjoy it for what it is – good, reasonably gory silly fun.
Predrag The slasher boom of the early 1980's had more or less completely curdled by this point, but nobody had come up with anything to replace the long played-out template which had very little influence beyond initiating the replacement of tired stories about sexually neurotic psycho killers with tired stories about sexually neurotic psycho killer monsters. The film contains relatively little graphic gore, no actual nudity, and some pretty good actors, thereby going against the cookie-cutter recipe and, instead, concentrating on the development of likable characters, eerie atmosphere, and some genuinely effective spook-show scares. The plot is quite simple. A group of eight college friends (each more annoying than the next) gather together at an island mansion belonging to heiress Muffy St. John to celebrate their final year of school. They soon discover that each has a hidden secret from their past which is revealed, and soon after, they turn up dead. Yet, are they really dead? Or is it just part of some very real and cruel April Fool's jokes? The hostess, Muffy, is the only one who apparently knows what's going on. But then again, is it really her doing the killing? Fun from beginning to end.Director Fred Walton uses a funny, yet haunting script to create a slasher film with a twist. Nothing too special, for it stills holds very true with the genre, "April Fool's Day" will greatly satisfy fans of a film that combines humor and violence, while others purely dedicated to the slice-and-dice theme might be turned off. There is no argument that "April Fool's Day" was riding in on the wave of 80's slasher films, but that is where the similarity to other genre movies ends. You really have to think at this one. They really want to you ask yourself "is this all a joke?" and "could anyone have actually survived that?" I have to give some credit to the music for setting up some great tension. It adds to the feel without taking you out of the moment.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.