(Call me old-fashioned, but my idea of an April Fool‘s Day joke doesn‘t involve severed heads. Wait. That was a fake head, right? Right?)
CAST: Ken Olandt, Amy Steel, Deborah Foreman, Clayton Rohner, Tom Wilson, Deborah Goodrich, Leah King Pinsent, Griffin O‘Neal, Jay Baker.
DIRECTOR: Fred Walton.
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and rather messy practical jokes mixed in with some serious shit - straight ahead…
The last time I went on an island vacation recently was to Orcas Island - but before I’d spent barely 12 hours there, I was rushing back to Seattle to catch the finale of the Seattle Sounders vs. Chicago Fire match that saw our visitors from the Midwest getting their collective asses spanked by our local heroes. Needless to say, it wasn’t much of a vacation, but having the Sounders trounce the Fire was more than worth it. Note to self: next time, plan around the soccer matches, dumbass.
But that’s nothing compared to what happens to the characters of our next review, the underrated and ahead-of-its-time horror comedy APRIL FOOL’S DAY. We have our standard group of horny, mischievous college students on Spring Break who head to what looks like the San Juans but not as pretty or welcoming. These islands are smaller and, well, more scary-looking. Does that stop our partying students, though? If you think so, then you have obviously never seen a slasher movie. Suffice it to say, the sketchy isolation of their destination actually seems to excite them even more.
Our motley crue is comprised of: (1) Muffy St. John (Deborah Foreman), nuclear-hot brunette who loves practical jokes as much as she loves sex; (2) Rob Ferris (Ken Olandt), nuclear-hot poor boy on a scholarship who wants to go to med school; (3) Kit Graham (Amy Steel), nuclear-hot blonde who loves Rob; (4) Chad Vyshinski (Clayton Rohner), preppy rich prick who waltzes around with a mid-80’s video camera that’s bigger than most portable refrigerators; (5) Nikki Brashears (Deborah Goodrich), nuclear-hot slutty chick who’s banging Chaz; (6) Arch Cummings (Tom Wilson), nuclear-hot jock who fully intends to live up to his surname several times during the weekend; (7) Skip St. John (Griffin O’Neal), nuclear-hot cousin of Muffy’s who seems to be majoring in alcohol consumption; (8) Nan Youngblood (Leah King Pinsent), nuclear-hot bookworm whose surname pretty much guarantees she won’t be needing a seat on the ferry back to the mainland; (9) Hal Edison (Jay Baker), somewhat-hot Brooks Brothers-type who’s got dead meat stamped on his forehead.
Anyhow, our group arrives on the island where the only building is the St. John mansion. As you can imagine with an inveterate practical joker like Muffy, they all pretty much get a not-so-welcoming barrage of the following: (1) exploding cigars, (2) collapsing chairs, (3) champagne glasses that leak, (4) faucets that spray right into your face, and my favorite: (5) whoopee cushions. Hey, look, I’m old-school, alright?
Fortunately for Muffy, she’s so hot that her friends don’t take these trinkets and stuff them down her throat. Which is exactly what would have happened if she’d been any less attractive. Unfortunately, before too long, the jokes start turning real. As in, they find: (1) Skip’s dead body in a boat, (2) Arch’s head in a well, and (3) Nan’s corpse floating nearby. Seems like someone else has shown up uninvited to Muffy’s private island party. This is pretty much the buzz-killer to end all buzz-killers
Who is the killer? And why is he (she?) targeting Muffy and her friends? Is it the ferryman who got horribly injured in one of their practical jokes? Has he come back for revenge? Or is it the local constable who wants to teach them a lesson? Or is it… one of them? Who will get off the island alive? And who will just, you know, get off?
Come on. We’re talking Spring Break vacation with a bunch of college kids. You know someone’s getting off.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Way before SCREAM came out in 1996 and successfully combined scares and laughs to redefine and reinvigorate the Horror Genre, APRIL FOOL’S DAY came out in 1986 and tried to do something different with the Slasher Formula. Upping the humor quotient, lessening the gore, and shaping the characters better, this movie proved to be a breath of fresh air for the genre. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save the Slasher Genre which was becoming increasingly moribund and finally petered out by the late 80’s - and stayed that way until SCREAM arrived.
APRIL FOOL’S DAY is not as self-referential or post-modern as SCREAM, but it has a lot of the same light humor that allows us to bond with the characters. The crew of people in this movie are all extremely likable despite their varied personalities. It helps that they are played by a cast of young performers who are several notches above the typical actor that appears in this type of film.
Deborah Foreman is a sexy hoot as the rich practical joker Muffy St. John, and is just ambiguous enough to make you wonder if she is a victim like the rest of her friends - or if she is the cold-blooded killer behind the whole thing. Amy Steel, an alumnus of FRIDAY THE 13th PART 2, makes a great heroine and show’s Kit’s smarts by being the one who unravels the mystery. Ken Olandt as Rob best exemplifies the All-American Boy Next Door, and proves to be a solid hero. Clayton Rohner and Deborah Goodrich as Chaz and Nikki make for an amusing “glama” couple, while Leah King Pinsent, Tom Wilson, Jay Baker, and Griffin O’Neal (the late son of Ryan O’Neal) all nail their very different characters to round out the colorful cast.
Indeed, the main reason APRIL FOOL’S DAY rises above the average, past above average, and lands in the good category, is because of its sharp cast and the very appealing characters they essay. So amiable is this crowd, that you actually root for all of them to figure out what’s going on and survive their weekend. That’s rare for a slasher film, which usually sees us praying for the characters to be knocked off as soon as possible.
On one last note, there is a very persistent rumor about a lost ending to APRIL FOOL’S DAY that adds another twenty minutes to the film. This longer ending is in the novelization of the film, which is based on the script, so there may be something to this rumor. If this is true, APRIL FOOL’S DAY would have been a much darker, and different film. As it is now, it’s the right blend of serious and funny. Perhaps that’s why the producers decided to nix that extra twenty minutes: they didn't want to mess with a good thing.
Bottom line: if you like SCREAM, you should appreciate APRIL FOOL’S DAY. It may not be as hip or glossy, but it sure is entertaining and enjoyable.
