Review of April Fool's Day (1986) by Steve D — 19 Jun 2014

"April Fool's Day" is something of a novelty in the world of '80's horror cinema; a slasher film without a body count. Frank Mancuso, Jr., after producing a number of the "Friday the 13th" epics, set out to do something different with this film. The result is a decidedly mixed bag.

On on hand, I admired the freshness and the emphasis on story over gore. There is very little blood here, so little in fact that the "R" rating seems kind of unwarranted. On the other hand, however, pacing is not director Fred Walton's strong suit and the film is slow-going a lot of the way. Many of the clues that lead up to the twist ending are definite red herrings that make no sense or have nothing to do with the big reveal. And getting to that extravagantly plotted finale relies on far too many coincidences, moments in the film where the characters have to do the right thing at the right time in order to keep the plot moving on its path. There are just too many holes in the plan, and frankly, the movie is not half as fun as it thinks it is.

I enjoyed the young cast, most notably Clayton Rohner and Deborah Goodrich as the group's liveliest couple, but you just can't help feeling let down by the ending. When it's all said and done, you're left with more puzzling questions than answers, like the newspaper clippings or the tape playing the crying baby had to do with anything. One could assume that they were simple ploys to throw the characters (and the audience) off balance. They worked, but in this case, that wasn't necessarily a positive thing. I admired "April Fool's Day" for trying something different, but for a film like this to work, it has to be better executed that this one is.