April Fool's Day (1986)

Plot Outline: A group of young friends are invited to spend the weekend on a remote island home by another of their friends. The only way to reach the island is by boat. So they all go for a good time full. However one by one, they start to disappear. Someone else is on the island with them and the boat is gone.

The Review: Long before Scream was released, the slasher film had already been parodied in April Fool's Day. It's not particularly great viewing nowadays but for it's age, it's a pretty good if flawed attempt at sending up the genre. The film relies heavily on one underlying theme: the traditional April Fool's prank. We are shown many situations in which things happen and you are left wondering whether or not they are pranks or serious incidents. This works quite well and I can't say too much about it because I will give away the bulk of the plot twists. The similarities with Scream are that it uses the clichés of the slasher genre to give us something new. We have the usual false scares (in abundance). Guess the killer is also here. And the stereotypical characters are also here: the brainy girl, the jock, the slutty girl, the nerd (or in this case, the 'hick nerd') and of course the joker of the group. Whereas in Scream the characters were aware of the clichés that make up horror films, the characters in here play it straight as if they don't know. This is effectively used throughout the film, building up the ending. All of the actors play their roles with relish and they all bring their stereotypes a bit of character. There is a lack of explicit gore and gratuitous sex in this film as well. So it's cleaner than most other slasher films - why it got an 18 rating is beyond me. Most of the deaths happen off-screen which is a bit annoying and some of the females are hot so I feel cheated out of a bit of nudity.

Final Verdict: April Fool's Day is sort of a one-watch film. The first time you see it, it's very enjoyable. But now I know the plot twists, whether or not repeated viewing will be as enjoyable remains to be seen.

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