April Fool's Day (2008) (V)

Directors:

Mitchell Altieri
Phil Flores

Writers (WGA):

Mikey Wigart (teleplay)
Danilo Bach (story)

Release Date:

25 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

This April Fool's Day, Put All Jokes Aside...Because You May Be Next.

Plot:

The new "April Fool's" revolves around a party given by two rich siblings for their friend. Tragedy...

Plot Keywords:

Party | Prank | Punctuation In Title | Cell Phone | Faked Death

Cast

Taylor Cole	...	Desiree Cartier
Josh Henderson	...	Blaine Cartier
Scout Taylor-Compton	...	Torrance Caldwell
Joe Egender	...	Ryan
Jennifer Siebel Newsom	...	Barbie (as Jennifer Siebel)
Samuel Child	...	Peter Welling
Joseph McKelheer	...	Charles Lansford
Frank J. Aard	...	Wilford (as Frank Aard)
Sabrina Aldridge	...	Milan Hastings (as Sabrina Ann Aldridge)
Tom Barker	...	Photographer
Michael Beasley	...	Kitchen Staffer
Charles Black	...	Judge
Meredith Boll	...	Susan Moyer
Mariesha Crews	...	Blaine's Hot Girl
Dave Gould	...	FX Coordinator (as Dale Gould)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Canada:14A | USA:Unrated | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA (2008) | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Company:

360 Pictures

Trivia:

Frank Mancuso Jr. also produced the original version of the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Desiree first enters the parking garage looking for Peter, she is wearing black high-heel boots. Later in the scene when she is being chased, she is wearing black knee-high socks and black running shoes.

Movie Connections:

Remake of April Fool's Day (1986/I)

Started promisingly, but went downhill and never really recovered

By 2008 many of the classic slasher films from the 1970s about 1980s have been remade or have one on the way. Last year we were treated to a remake of the 1978 hit 'Halloween,' a film that may well be the sub-genre's most influential. But after remaking the classics where do you go next? Apparently you start redoing the slasher films that never would have been had ones like 'Halloween' and 'Black Christmas' never existed. Take this remake of the little known 1986 slasher film from 'Friday the 13th's' home of Paramount for instance. Unlike the other remakes, this one went straight to DVD. As of this writing I haven't seen the original, though I intend to, but after watching this remake I can see why it wasn't given a theatrical release.

Pros: Good job done by the young cast. Fabulous costume and production design. Moves at a decent pace. A very good musical score, frankly better than the film deserves. An OK twist ending.

Cons: No real suspense or surprises. Aside from Scout Taylor-Compton's character the rest aren't really likable. A pretty lame, tired whodunit. Though it moves at an alright pace, most of the stuff that happens between the opening party scene and end is pretty dull. Apart from some humor in the beginning, this film takes itself way too seriously.

Final thoughts: This film actually started out pretty well, and I thought I was in a for a pretty good 90 minutes. Oh how wrong I was. One of the things that makes classic slasher films so much fun to watch is their fun factor, which this film is almost completely lacking, among other things. Just steer clear of this one and re-watch one of the originals or one of the remakes that actually turned out good.

My rating: 2/5