April Fool’s Day

5572-poster
release date March 27 1986
studio Paramount Pictures
director Fred Walton
writer Danilo Bach
starring Deborah Foreman, Griffin O'Neal, Clayton Rohner

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2 comments

  1. Avatar of maynardmorrissey
    Posted By maynardmorrissey on April 2, 2012 @ 4:33 am
    ★★★★☆

    7 years after director Fred Walton created “When A Stranger Calls”, one of the most influential pre-80s slashers, he returned in 1986 with “April Fool’s Day”, a unique and clever blend of mystery-thriller, slasher and horror-comedy, inspired by Agatha Christie’s novel “And Then There Were None”, and also one of 3(!) April-Fool-themed horror films released in 1986 (the other two were “Killer Party” and “Slaughter High”).

    Danilo Bach (“Beverly Hills Cop”) delivered a cool story and a fabulous screenplay full of terrific twists (the double-twist ending is mindblowing!!), funny and very likable characters (especially Clayton Rohner as amusing douchebag Chaz) and a high amount of hilarious one-liners
    (“Hey guy, your fly is open and your Hostess Twinkie is hanging out.” / “I would really like to plow your field” / “Boy, Muffy, you really know how to make a guy look forward to… dessert.” – “Please god, let it be Ding-Dongs!”).

    The first half is a bit too slow-paced, gladly the second half is super-thrilling and extremely suspenseful right to the explosive climax. Charles Bernstein’s (“Elm Street”) haunting score perfectly matches the atmospheric kill scenes, camera work and editing are neat, the acting is great, the girls are all gorgeous and I love, love, love all the April Fool pranks (exploding cigar, leaking glasses, ‘breakaway’ chair…).

    Apart from the mediocre pacing and lack of gore, “April Fool’s Day” is a superbly entertaining and very creative 80s classic, highly recommended to fans of horror-comedies and open-minded slasher buffs.

    http://www.horrormoviediary.net

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