Happy April 1st, everybody! I hope my readers didn't get pranked too badly (or do any dangerous pranks or jokes of their own). Today, we have an article I've wanted to write for the past few years, the original 1986 film April Fool's Day. I always thought this was something of a forgotten classic, until the 2008 remake, that is. So, let's have a look!
The film is about a group of wealthy (barring one or two exceptions) college kids getting together for Spring Break at their friend, Muffy St. John's, house on her family's private island. On the ferry ride over, two of the friends get into an argument, one of which gets a knife thrown into his stomach, who ends up falling off of the boat. Several people jump in to try to help him, but it turns out to be a prank. One of the rescuers, Buck, stays in the water to try to tie off the boat, but ends up between the boat and the pier, severely injuring him.
After Buck gets taken back to the mainland for medical attention, Muffy greets her guests and they get settled in. The guests find various pranks and jokes set up at dinner and in their room. The next morning, however, finds one of their number missing. And why is Muffy acting so weird all of a sudden?
The film was an interesting exercise. Barring the faked knifing and Buck's accident, there's very little gore to the film. What it lacks in blood, however, it does make up for with tremendous suspense. The acting is well-done, and the characters are believable, if somewhat hard to identify with, not having a similar background, myself. The ending itself was somewhat controversial, but without spoilers, I can't go into it.
Deborah Foreman plays hostess Muffy well. She handled the weird mannerisms of the character really expertly. At one time considered a promising, up and coming actress by ShoWest, her career sort of stalled out. She did appear in one of my all-time favorite horror films, Waxwork, as well as Lobster Man from Mars, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat and Lunatics: A Love Story. Her breakout role was in Valley Girl opposite a young Nicholas Cage. Ken Olandt made his film debut here (after a number of TV roles). His biggest movie role was in 1987's Summer School, but he went on to act in 1993's Leprechaun alongside Jennifer Aniston and Warwick Davis. Griffin O'Neal portrays Skip, Muffy's cousin. Son of Ryan O'Neal, he also played in Assault of the Killer Bimbos and the third Ghoulies film. Clayton Rohner played Chaz, another of Muffy's guests. He also starred in Destroyer (alongside the aforementioned Deborah Foreman and Anthony Perkins) and The Relic (aka the Film That Light Forgot, as I've nicknamed it).
I give this film a 3 out of 5. It was enjoyable, much of the cast went on to bigger things, but it wasn't completely perfect. So, now for my big April event. Throughout the month, I'll be reviewing various horror comedies. I may not get as many sequential days as I did in October, but I will be doing quite a bit of posting. Take care of yourselves and this is Red Hawk signing out!
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