Review #141: April Fool's Day (1986)

Happy April Fool's Day!

For those that don't know me, I usually take this day off from pulling jokes. Think of it as the anti-April Fool's Day. My take on the matter is that I spend the other three hundred and sixty plus days screwing with people and playing jokes on them. So how 'bout a day off when they least expect it?

I haven't played a April Fool's Day joke on some one in several years. Last time I did something...it ended up pretty bad...but funny. It wasn't my fault! I had a WEAK moment! But for the most part, I keep to myself. However...if there is an extraordinary opportunity to do something, I won't pass up...which happened to be the case a few years back.



Cast/Notable Credits:
Fred Walton (Director): When a Stranger Calls (1979)

Jay Baker (Harvey): Sunset Grill (1993)

Deborah Foreman (Muffy/Buffy): Waxwork

Mike Nomad (Buck): Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives

Ken Olandt (Rob): Leprechaun

Clayton Rohner (Chaz): The Relic (1997)

Amy Steel (Kit): Friday Part 2

Griffin O’Neal (Skip): Assault of the Killer Bimbos (1988), Children of the Night (1989), Ghoulies 3 (1991)

Tom Heaton (Constable Potter): The Fly 2 (1989), It (1990), Omen 4 (1991), Slither

Thomas F. Wilson (Arch): Back to the Future Triology, Action Jackson (1988)

Trailer:

Plot:

A group of eight college friends head to one of their friend’s island mansion to celebrate spring break leading up to April Fool’s Day. The owner of the island estate is Muffy. Muffy is already on the isolated island awaiting them and a few pranks are in store for them too.

Bad luck strikes the group as an accident involving one of the transporting ferry’s workers is badly injured. Once at the island the local sheriff orders no one to leave the island until he is done on the accident’s investigation.

Once at the island, it turns out that Muffy has already planned and set up a series of practical jokes on her guests. Some of the pranks are childish and innocent (whoopee cushions, flickering lights, locked doors, dribble glasses) while other ones are a little bit more disturbing in nature.

My favorite prank was the light switch gag. A pair of the friends were preparing for bed, and one turned off a light, which eventually triggered another to come on. He went to turn that one off, and that triggered another to come on. Childish, but pretty funny.

Over the course of the weekend, strange occurrences…such as disappearances and deaths…take place. One by one the guests drop off the face of the Earth. Bodies turn up and then they quickly disappear as the survivors wait out the weekend hoping to see the sheriff. In the center of the bizarre puzzle is Muffy, who everyone thinks is a killer. Clues around the estate also points towards a mysterious twin sister called Buffy.

Villain:

Muffy or Buffy the Friend Slayer! The psychotic duo of chicks (or just one of them) knocks off the guests one by one with various methods of disposal. The pretty little thing is hiding more under her clothes than her fabulous body (Shark Factor)...a little crazy girl in her.

Muffy and/or Buffy had a traumatic early childhood prank played on her involving a Jack-in-the-Box wind-up toy. Years and therapy later, she decided to unleash her fears on her friends.

Cast:

Leading the cast is Amy Steel who plays the character of Kit. Wow. I like her already she’s named after the black 82’ Pontiac Firebird from Knight Rider. Another thing she has going for her is that she was the star of Friday Part 2.

Seriously though...Steel plays a pretty good strong lead female in a film. In AFD she definitely is the strongest character in the film, and best performance. She seems to have a knack for that type of thing.

A treat for me…and probably some others…was the casting of Thomas F. Wilson. “Who the hell is that?” You may ask. It’s Biff from the Back to the Future movies! (Pictured Left) Don’t you remember that famous saying of his, “What are you lookin’ at Butthead?” Wilson plays the group's funny guy Arch. Who would name their kid Arch? Maybe it is short for Archie? Hmm.

The rest of the cast was ho-hum to say the least. The performances were either too over the top or they brought nothing to the character of all. The character Chaz was my least favorite of the bunch.

SFX/Gore:

AFD supported the typical cheesy 80’s SFX such as bad looking blood, and fake rubber dummy heads and bodies in it. It was kind of nice to see some bad effects after watching as many newer state of the art films lately. Overall, there weren’t too many gory moments in the film, which makes it good for cable T.V.

AFD incorporated a few cool ways of dying. The film featured a hanging, slit throat and a death by castration. Ouch. Not a way to go in my book. AFD mostly used the audiences imagination when it came to the death scenes. Nothing was really seen per se, but heavy implication (or dead bodies) was used.

TNA:

There were four hot chicks (Shark Factor) in AFD. The audience was treated to seeing a sex scene (no nudity though...boo!) and a few of the chicks wearing swimsuits in the film. None of the swimsuits are like the fabulous “two piece-ers” we see today. Well I got to give you something to look at here, so here is another woman who played Buffy...the beautiful Sarah Michelle Gellar pictured below.

T.Gun's Take:

April Fool's Day is a classic 80's slasher film. It has a great twist ending that probably excludes it from being in most horror movie categories. I hope that's not too much info, I don't want to spoil it for you.

* Spoiler ending * Highlight to read * The whole film is actually a practical joke. No one in the film dies. That sucks from a horror movie perspective. Muffy has inherited the island estate in her father's will, but can't afford the money aspect of having a multi-million dollar island estate drop in her lap.

In an effort to come up with the dough, she decides to turn the estate into a bed and breakfast "who dunnit murder mystery resort". Muffy uses her friends as "bait" for the outline of the game. They weren't aware of what was going on until...they died.

From that perspective, the movie had some huge brass balls to go down that route. People flocking to the theaters expecting to see a cool slasher film probably was disappointed or shocked to see what the film did. I thought it was a brilliant move on the film maker's part. It's kind of refreshing to see thinking outside the box. * End.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on March 27, 1986 and made $12.5 million at the Box Office ($3.3 million opening weekend)
-Filmed in British Columbia, Canada
-Inspired by Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”
-Thomas F. Wilson attended Arizona State University