April Fool's Day
by Fred Walton (II)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Deborah Foreman, Deborah Goodrich, Jay Baker, Lloyd Berry, Pat BarlowDirector: Fred Walton (II)
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-09-03
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of April Fool's Day
Movie Review: A Creative Sleeper Gem of an 80s Slasher flick
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, it should best be said that the filmmakers did this film a giant disservice with the front cover movie art, being that it makes this sleeper hit come across as just another run of the mill cheesy slasher flick that most people just ended up ignoring. That being said, I was greatly surprised by how creative, well written, well acted, and well paced this film was. For all those who got tired of seeing the same lame movie roles and characters from all those Friday The 13th type slasher flicks, what April Fool's Day does differently is offer up what is presented on the surface as something that might be similar, but more intelligent movie fans will notice something different about this film. First off, the cast comprising of mostly 80's B-movie stars puts on excellent performances as a gang of college seniors taking a trip to a friend's lake house (Deborah Goodrich and Clayton Rohner of 1985's 'Just One of the Guys' and Thomas F. Wilson who played Biff in the Back to the Future films). At this lake house they will find themselves being conned into April Fool's jokes that seem to grow more disturbing as time goes on. Eventually they begin being killed off one by one. Fans will also notice that while this may seem as it will come off as a cheesy flick, it actually is not cheesy at all, but does take itself rather seriously. Characters have their own personal life issues and dilemmas to deal with, but are also for the most part very likable as people. This helps the characterization greatly. Even the "bad boy" types don't get on your nerves, because they don't take themselves too over the top - no obnoxious sex (although there is one sex scene which is sort of purposefully laughable), no drunken meathead jerk personalities, no snotty spoiled bratty girls. Dialogue is very real and interestingly written as well.
The film then becomes a whodunit flick where the killer is left mysterious and those who die, die, and those who survive need to figure out the mystery of the house's hostess and what her connection may be with the killings. This all culminates to a very surprising plot twist of an ending that is perhaps one of the most creative plots twists I've ever seen in a movie, and should be placed right up with those such as The Sixth Sense and The Untouchables. The idea for how this comes about goes with the movie's theme and is nothing short to me than genius. While this film is still kept at a slasher flick "level," it begins to take itself more seriously as a movie, which is a good thing. You can tell the filmmakers were trying to genuinely make something refreshingly good, and they succeeded. The movie is fairly bloody but not to a tacky level; it makes sure to keep things to just the level they should be, and does not try to show off itself with over the top killings or ridiculous music. It doesn't need to, the writing and stellar acting holds it own for the entire duration.
In total, I would say to seriously check this one out, it is a sleeper hit not many have seen or heard of, but definitely deserves to be seen. While at the surface level it does come across as another cheese B-movie 80's slasher flick, this film actually on a deeper level has much more to offer.
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