April Fool’s Day (1986) – Fred Walton’s slasher whodunit (The Test Of Time)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

We all have certain movies we love. Movies we respect without question because of either tradition, childhood love, or because they’ve always been classics. However, as time keeps ticking, do those classics still hold up? Do they remain must-see? So…the point of this column is to determine how a film holds up for a modern horror audience, to see if it stands the Test of Time.

DIRECTED BY FRED WALTON

STARRING DEBORAH FOREMAN, AMY STEEL, CLAYTON ROHNER, DEBORAH GOODRICH, JAY BAKER

No japes, jests, or jokes, folks…Fred Walton’s April Fool’s Day (WATCH IT HERE/OWN IT HERE) turns 35 years old on March 28, 2021. Aside from the crushing cruelty of feeling old as hell when reading that statement, as fans of the film rightly know, the whole story functions as one large, elaborate, mean-spirited prank among so-called friends. Indeed, the slick cinematic sleight of hand excels as a practically bloodless pseudo-slasher whodunit made during the halcyon era of the subgenre, effectively snubbing its nose at the abject violence of the time with sheer satirical wit, waggish humor, and unexpected irony.

While most films that rely on a shocking twist revelation do not fare so well upon repeat viewings, as the surprise is inherently unmaintainable, others do everything leading up to the finale so well that part of the fun is going back to see all of the subtle clues and unsubtle hints laid out for viewers to piece the puzzle together. And while April Fool’s Day is no Usual Suspects in this regard, it really isn’t too far behind. Or is it? We’ll find out when we give April Fool’s Day the Test of Time below!

THE STORY: While April Fool’s Day was the first produced screenplay written by Danilo Bach, the scribe conceived the story for Beverly Hills Cop two years prior. This perhaps gives you an idea of how the humor took precedent over the horror from the get-go. However, director Fred Walton, known best for the harrowing and hair-raising When a Stranger Calls, brought the requisite level of terror, tension, and suspense to Bach’s script to create a genuine, well-balanced horror-comedy that is both funny and frightening in equal measure.

Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery whodunit Ten Little Indians, the story centers on eight college students from Vassar who, upon receiving an invitation from the rich heiress and fellow classmate Muffy St. John (Deborah Foreman), attends her lavish island manse for a weekend Spring Break bash in New England (shot in Vancouver). Among the group is Muffy’s cousin, Skip (Griffin O’Neal), hip-yuppie Arch (Thomas F. Wilson), dopey-zany Chaz (Clayton Rohner), uptight Harvey (Jay Baker), popular cool-girl Nikki (Deborah Goodrich), handsome Rob (Ken Olandt), conservative Nan (Leah Pinsent), and the ever-wily Kit (Amy Steel).

As soon as Muffy’s friends arrive, they begin disappearing and dying, one by one, under mysteriously grisly circumstances. After a tone-setting opening scene that toys with audience expectations and leaves a dock worker gorily injured, the first dead body to appear in the mansion is that of Skip. When Kit spots what appears to be his bloody corpse, she freaks the f*ck out and starts looking for answers. Arch and Nan then disappear, prompting an island-wide search for their whereabouts. Nikki searches the water well, only to fall inside and swim around with Nan’s fetid corpse as well as Skip and Arch’s decollated heads. With the phone lines cut, the remaining survivors realize they’re marooned on the island for the entire weekend. An investigation around the property ensues, revealing the hidden secret that Muffy has a psychotic identical twin sister named Buffy. When Muffy’s severed head is found on the premises, the survivors assume Buffy is the killer and has been posing as Muffy the host ever since.

Oh, but what a gigantic head-f*ck-and-gut-punch-rug-pull the movie proves to be in the end!

WHAT HOLDS-UP: Even knowing the conclusion of the film, it’s the purity of the premise, clever originality of the screenplay, and combustible chemistry among the perfectly cast ensemble that makes April Fool’s Day still so fun to watch to this day. The experience of watching the film for the first time differs so drastically from subsequent viewings, yet retains the overall entertainment level for very disparate reasons. That’s a feat unto itself; making a movie so dependent on its twist finale and still retaining the desire to rewatch the film with a recalibrated eye to catch all of the tricksome clues and subliminal hints leading to said finale. There’s something new to catch each time.

The sizable balls to make one large cinematic prank in the guise of a slasher film, doing so at the time the subgenre was at an all-time high when audiences demanded excessive gore, is nothing short of brilliant. April Fool’s Day emerged from an oversaturated sea of far inferior slasher imitators and occupied a lane of originality while doing so. While some voiced their displeasure over being fooled by the gimmicky charade at the time, it’s been retroactively received as one of the coolest aspects of any so-called slasher made during the 1980s. And rightly so!

The more you watch the film and become inured to the faux-violence and duplicitous finale, the more the experience becomes a basic hang-out movie. While that may sound reductive, the killer cast actually elevates the material in such a likable way that makes you want to return to the party over and over again. Credit goes to Walton for assembling such a fun and eminently watchable who’s-who of 80s actors. We’ve got Biff from Back to the Future (Arch), final girl Ginny from Friday the 13th Part 2 (Kit, suggested by F13 producer Frank Mancuso Jr. who also produced this film for Paramount), the narcoleptic male stripper from Summer School (Rob), Oggie from The Wraith (Skip), and my personal favorites, Rick and Deborah from Just One of the Guys (Chaz and Deborah) – the collective camaraderie of which is truly a joy to watch.

And of course, we have Foreman as Muffy/Buffy, a role that was originally offered to genre queen Linnea Quigley before she declined to make Return of the Living Dead instead. Foreman infamously blew her initial audition before knocking Walton out with her second chance. Seriously, the playful alchemy between the acting ensemble in April Fool’s Day is among the chief reasons to return to the movie on an annual basis. Even with minimal graphic violence, hanging out with these wise-cracking pranksters would be a goddamn blast!

Due to its preponderance of invisible off-screen violence (the tone-setting dock sequence is still pretty gnarly, however), April Fool’s Day was able to frequently air on mid-night cable, which helped it foster a cult-following that remains to this day. While everyone remembers the shocking revelation in the end – where Muffy not only reveals she has no twin sister, but that with the help of her acting partner Nan, orchestrated the entire weekend as one large April Fool’s Day prank to serve as a dress-rehearsal for a murder mystery resort she plans to open – it’s interesting to note the considered alternatives as well.

First, it’s worth extolling the post-revelation addendum that does appear in the film, in which Muffy goes up to her room and has her throat slashed by Nan, who credibly returns the lethal prank to her friend by using a fake razor blade. Most people remember the scene where all of the so-called victims laughingly appear alive and well in the mansion after Kit’s frenzied chase scene, but this final trick is just as mordantly mendacious and frighteningly unforeseen. However, an initial draft of the script had Skip (not Nan) burst out and slash Muffy’s throat before the gang of survivors show up and begin mocking the whole scenario as staged.

Even crazier to consider, a different and much more insane finale was originally scripted and even filmed before being dismissed as being too dark by Paramount. After the grand charade is revealed, everyone leaves the island except for Chaz, Kit, Rob, and Nikki. The foursome returns to the house to play a vengeful prank on Muffy. Hell-bent on becoming the sole heir to the St. John fortune, the insidious and invidious Skip, suddenly goes postal, lunges out, and tries to murder Muffy on the spot. The foursome returns just in time for Rob to interrupt the attack, fatally subdue Skip, and save Muffy in the process. When this ending was deemed too disturbing, the finale seen in the film was shot three to four months later. While that would have been quite the killer show-stopper, the tone, and tenor of the rest of the movie unwarranted its inclusion. The reshot ending was not only wise at the time, it’s one of the reasons the movie still holds up so well.

WHAT BLOWS NOW: Given its aim and the target it hits with bullseye precision, there really isn’t much to whinge about April Fool’s Day 35 years after its release. What does blow is the 2008 remake, that's for goddamn sure. But that there could have potentially been a sequel back in the day also kind of sucks. According to Goodrich during a 30th-anniversary reunion panel, she received a script several years after the release of the film. The sequel would have focused on Nikki and Chaz years later as a married couple who purchases a slimy porno theater on 42nd Street in New York with plans to renovate the building as a bed-and-breakfast. When Chaz’s collegiate relatives arrive, another round of murderous April Fool’s Day pranks ensues. Pretty cool idea that went for naught.

THE VERDICT: 35 years later, April Fool’s Day still retains its high entertainment value as tightly-wound horror-comedy. It does so through its inspired premise, overarching mystery, Walton’s sly misdirection, ceaseless repeatability, and most importantly, the top-notch cast members and their deviously droll interplay.

Happy April Fool’s Day yo!