A little bit of background before we get into this: Paramount released a film called April Fool’s Day way back in 1986. It was a slasher film coming out towards the end of the time that slashers were of mainstream popularity. It was different, though, in a very important way which I wouldn’t want to spoil for people who haven’t seen it, but for its inventiveness in this area, I didn’t particularly like it the first five or so times that saw it (yes, I am a masochist and will rewatch things I knowingly don’t enjoy). The movie about to be reviewed was originally billed as a remake when it was first announced – A fact I was perfectly fine with because unlike Halloween, The Fog, or Black Christmas, it wasn’t remaking a film I particularly held dear to my heart. Soon afterwards though, no one was willing to call this a remake any longer. I presume it was because of bad publicity and reviews on recent attempts at remaking horror films, but I don’t honestly know. Even the press release that came with this screener doesn’t mention the earlier film at all.

But I know better. I’m not young and naïve because I’ve seen the original, own the DVD of it, and even have the fucking one-sheet, so you can’t fool me! You shouldn’t be fooled either. This is a remake because the overall concept is the same. (Or if you prefer to sound coolly vague – a reimagining).  

What is admirable, though, is that the ending (or more accurately, the twist of an ending) was the only thing that was kept. Viewers who have never seen the original might be a bit shocked, but people intimately familiar with it won’t be and will, in fact, be expecting it the whole time. 

So here’s your set up, the rich kids in town have one of those typical rich kid parties where everyone goes no matter the fact that half of them don’t like each other. The point of this particular party is to welcome Torrence (Scout Taylor-Compton, who also played Laurie Strode in the Halloween remake) into the in-crowd (off topic: The In Crowd was an overlooked little thriller with a hot cast, go rent it). The “Kennedy’s of the Carolinas” are putting this little shindig on for her, and it’s being done on April 1st so that they can all have a good laugh on one another. Or so it seems. The queen here, Desiree Cartier (Taylor Cole, All You’ve Got) has another motive. She can’t stand the non-materialistic Milan (the smokin’ Sabrina Aldridge, Deck the Halls) who has managed to do something with her life and wealth by actually helping people, so she slips her some roofies in hopes to get her caught in a bit of a sex scandal to mar her spotless image. Things go sour as Milan accidentally falls backward over a balcony landing on her back atop a champagne glass pyramid, killing her instantly. This whole film starts so 90210 that I was just waiting for Luke Perry to appear and start crying, and I wanted to cry along with him. 

One year later… 

The Cartier family has been rocked by scandal and the events still haunt them. That morning, all the youths in the inner circle get letters from the deceased that say, “I know what you did last summer April Fool’s Day!” and further warns that if one of them doesn’t confess to the crime, all of the people involved will be killed before the day ends.  

It’s here where the film dives into typical horror film slasher clichés and mostly works as a direct copy of the aforementioned, I Know What You Did Last Summer straight up until its final act. The film has us follow Desiree Cartier on the whole voyage of discovery, someone that we’ve known from the start is the “guilty” party. There is a lot of running and driving from place to place as people that she knows are innocent of the crime either get killed in front of her as she manages to narrowly escape, or are found dead when she tries to run to them for help. If the first act was only missing Luke Perry, the rest of the movie is only missing that scene where Desiree is bouncing around a side street screaming, “What are you waiting for!” at the top of her lungs while the camera zooms up overhead. 

Seriously… It’s almost like they weren’t clear which movie they wanted to remake. 

The end of the movie, which truly is the only sequence lifted from the original, plays out to a pretty decent effect. I really don’t want to delve too much into it and spoil not one, but two different films for you, but thankfully, this remake goes an extra bit farther with the ending, providing some real mischievous and earnest maliciousness. The true ending, which I indeed didn’t see coming, had me grinning from ear to ear. I haven’t had that happen in many recent horror films that I’ve seen, so for it to come from a thinly-disguised remake to a film I had no real affection for was a bit of a surprise to say the least.  

I’m recommending you give April Fool’s Day a chance. This was a barely there recommendation for a lot of reasons but the ending sold me and I’ll admit that I enjoyed the build up because I stand alone as a fan of those late 90’s post-Scream horror films with stylish direction and incredibly hot cast members. (Neve Campbell, please come back to us) In fact, because of this DVD, I watched the 1986 film immediately afterwards, and while, like I said, there are more differences than there are similarities, I found myself with a newfound appreciation for the original that I never had before, despite seeing it enough times to develop one. It’s still a non-classic, but something about it is compulsively watchable, which also goes for this new version too. 

April Fool’s Day is a 90 minute boredom killer. Don’t knock down an old lady to get to Blockbuster, but if you have nothing better to do, you could find a great many worse things to watch. 

Presentation
There is nothing abnormal with the presentation here. The transfer looks close to greatness, as can be expected from almost everything Sony Pictures releases. The video is anamorphic and OAR, the colors look great, particularly with all the posh outfits that the characters wear throughout. The audio is more mixed, but it isn’t so much because of the DVD, but with simply the film itself. There isn’t much going on to push the 5.1 sound, ambient or otherwise. When there is a jump scare, as clichéd as possible you can expect artificially increased volume, but nothing about the audio wowed me. Even more disappointing was the lack of English subtitles. The only hearing-impaired people that can enjoy April Fool’s Day are the French.  

Extras 

Previews
Want some other trailers for other films? Then you’ve come to the right place, pal, because here you can view promo spots for the likes of: Loch Ness Terror, Revolver, Southland Tales, Boogeyman 2, Zombie Strippers, Bats: Human
Harvest, Gabriel, The Tattooist, 30 Days of Night, Damages – Season One, I Know Who Killed Me and Fearnet.com. You also get the message that Blu-ray Disc is High Definition! which April Fool’s Day and most of the other advertised films aren’t available on, by the way. 

Sad as it is to say, this is still more features than the original April Fool’s Day received, but at least that DVD had English subtitles. 

The Bottom Line
There are worse remakes than April Fool’s Day, and there are certainly worse movies. That doesn’t make this one a genre-defining must see film. It works as a diversion but it’s a diversion best served when it shows up on cable or OnDemand. It isn’t really worth going out of your way to purchase or even go to a store to rent. It's movies like this that Netflix was made for.