April Fools Day - Old school slasher fun

Ah, where to begin with ‘April Fools Day’ – undoubtedly one of the silliest ‘slasher’ films ever made (and that’s saying something!).  The usual bunch of overly s*xed and obnoxious teenagers go on Spring Break to one of their houses, conveniently situated on an island – naturally with no escape (and, back in the eighties, they never had to make excuses for ‘lack of cell phone coverage!’).  Once there – surprise surprise – they start getting picked off one by one.

Now, unlike other slasher films at the time, the killer is never seen (until the ‘big reveal’ at the end, obviously), making it like an early ‘Scream’ film and part ‘who-done-it’ as well as simple teen-chopping fun.  

If you’re into your early slasher films then this one is worth a watch.  There aren’t any stars to speak of (are there ever?) unless you count an appearance from ‘Biff’ from the ‘Back to the Future’ films.  Plus the death scenes aren’t that well done (a bit of decent gore make-up here and there, but the obvious lack of budget does show sometimes).  However, just because it isn’t that gory (or well acted!) doesn’t mean it’s not fun.

It kind of knows what it is (and what it’s not – i.e. High-brow) and plays to its strengths.  Without going into anything that may spoil it, it’s actually quite clever here and there with a few things that you might not see coming.

Naturally, it has all the flaws of the genre, such as the nice girl surviving longest and anyone who has s*x dies first, but if you’re generally a fan of slasher films you’ve long since learned to forgive such traits and should be able to enjoy it for what it is – good, reasonably gory silly fun.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that