The First of April and So Goes the Fools..

April Fool's Day (1986)

I've been trying to not spend way too much time in the news while I'm working from home as part of social distancing (although it is just impossible not to think about this fucking virus as it destroys lives and the economy; my own state's governor finally has decided to issue a shelter-in-home decree), and yesterday evening after work just enjoying the Twilight Zone marathon helped. The effects and ramifications of this virus on my country, as well as so many others across the globe, will be felt for quite some time. I admit that what is happening to families, with all the sick and dying, creeps into everything and I can't help but think about the death toll as it rises and reading / watching clips here and there just re-emphasizes the damage of the virus. So I try to find content to assist in trying to take my mind off this fucking virus whenever possible. While I'm not the biggest fan of Fred Walton's "April Fool's Day" (1986), I did notice tonight that it is over quite quickly. I noticed the running time is 91 minutes but it feels way shorter. I credit Walton and his filmmaking team for the good pacing, but I think the film's cast really is why I consider "April Fool's Day" as memorable as it is. By this time, too, a lot of slashers were already getting the MPAA censorship of violence so "April Fool's Day" being absent any wasn't too big a surprise if you were a slasher genre fan around 1986. Few films, unless they just went unrated or direct to video, survived after 1984 without demands by the MPAA to "cut it out" in regards to gory ultra violence and bloodshed. So any film where it looked as if there was a killer and he or she was bumping folks off but the before the violence the film cuts away, it wouldn't be too uncommon. So this film, even though it gives you the twist in the very title, could play on the MPAA's restrictions and still toy with a viewer that wasn't in on the gag. I just liked that Amy Steele--my favorite final Friday the 13th heroine--was in this and it has some recognizable faces you have seen in television and film (Foreman of "Valley Girl", Olandt of "Summer School", Wilson of "Back to the Future", Goodrich  of "Just One of the Guys", Rohner also in "Just One of the Guys" and with Foreman in "Destroyer", O'Neal of "The Wrait"), especially in the 80s.And even those you might not remember left some mark on the film including Jay Baker as the Texan looking to be hired as a hopeful Junior Executive at Foreman's father's business and Leah Pinsent as the serious and bookish drama theater friend of Foreman. So despite some obvious decapitated head props and face makeup grue, the film goes for the mystery of what is taking away the cast (or "killing" them, with a mock hanging by rope and crotch mutilation added to the "body count") rather than centering on some psychopath popping up and stabbing folks. I think some of the cast perhaps leave the film a bit too early--Wilson is quite funny and O'Neal is often his partner in prank--but Foreman rigs the house appliances (a knob that falls out of a door, a sink knob that sprays, a chair that throws its sitter out onto the floor) and leaves "clues" throughout each room and house (bloody Barbie dools, news clippings, a baby sound maker, chalk outline of "twins" being checked for their growing height) so despite missing a key component slasher fans look for, "April Fool's Day" is peppered with other things that might retain interest. It helps that this was another holiday "horror" film, so that allows Walton's film to remain "annual". And I have noticed that this does have its fans. I would love to have seen the missing footage of actual horror that was filmed as an alternate cut. But that isn't available, lost to mismanagement. The cast is all in which I liked, but there are some cringe moments where some of the characters aren't altogether close to Foreman (or each other) so as a congregation you can sense awkward discomfort and a "feeling out" process. Rohner is a pervert who would probably not be invited at a party today (he shows Pnsent's Nan a magazine with a naked woman on the front while she's reading "Paradise Lost" as they ferry to Foreman's island estate) while the obvious privileged class (Wilson's Arch even comments as such when they are at the table) enjoy Foreman's fancy summer house. Rohner and Goodrich practicing some awkward Kama Sutra, Baker gnaws on a cigar that blows up in his face. There is a painting with its eyes cut out (a cat clock's eyes moving back and forth to give Olandt and Steele the creeps) for a little extra. So the film definitely exceeds its quota in making sure to emphasize the holiday. Which might be important to those who watch it...and why it remains such a film favorite with a cult following.