It’s all fun & games until someone loses an eye. Literally. 1986’s April Fool’s Day is an entertaining, novel sendup of the slasher genre that accounted for a lot of early 80s horror. Like its contemporaries, April Fool’s Day follows a group of college students traveling to a remote location, who there fall prey to a mysterious murderer. The veneer applied here is the holiday & some truly twisted pranks. It’s so thoroughly of its time that it almost feels like a pastiche, a trait that will no doubt either endear or annoy viewers. Personally, I fall in the endeared camp. The over the top nature of the characters & premise are half the fun, & the resolution is legitimately astonishing. Light on gore & delightfully dated, April Fool’s Day is an ideal movie to watch with your horror-averse friends.
