April Fool's Day (1986)

Ok, ok, so let's not beat around the bush. "April Fool's Day", directed by Fred Walton, is not always very scary. However, for a slasher flick, you could do worse. Trust me.
Jumping on the holiday horror themed bandwagon, "April Fool's Day" is a small little slasher flick about (surprise!) a group of college students who plan on spending the weekend at an isolated mansion to celebrate Spring Break. How does April Fool's Day figure in? You guessed it. It's the weekend leading up to April Fool's Day. Needless to say, the group's host, Muffy St. John (Deborah Foreman), has some gags planned. When the gang gets to the mansion, after a frightening accident involving a local deckhand, the games begin. Chairs with retractable legs, whoopie cushions, that sort of thing. And oh yeah, murder. But hey, that comes later. First our cast of characters are established as being the best of friends. We have Griffin O'Neal as the token druggie. Ken Olandt and Amy Steel as the handsome, "perceptive" couple that get a first taste of the murderous deeds being committed. Leah Pinsent stars as Nan Youngblood, the mawkish, book-wormy girl whose presence seems totally out-of-place. And oh yeah, Thomas F. Wilson as Arch Cummings, the jokester, horny boy (wait, isn't that an accurate representation of all the males in this movie? oh, never mind.). There are other characters in the film that I'm too lazy to go into detail about, but yeah, there's that couple we get to see having sex. Real important, right?
So, yeah, people start dying. Blah blah blah. They need to figure out who's doing it. Blah blah blah. As you an tell, the plot's not very original or at least until the end. I mean, it was only ever meant to serve the purpose of putting a bunch of horny young-ins in an isolated mansion so murder will inevitably ensue, right?
Well, surprisingly, the performances aren't terrible. Nothing to write home about but really, they didn't make me want to cry. That's always nice. Foreman's performance is a little obvious but hey, being a slasher afficionado for years, and sitting through many terribly slice-and-dicers, I've learned to pick and choose my battles. Foreman is warm when she needs to be, and is appropriately stressed/de-glammed when she needs to be. I appreciate that. Pinsent's absolutely fine. Again, for a film like this, I'm not especially picky. Actually, thankfully, no one was truly horrible enough to warrant a bad mention. Yay!
Ok, now you're wondering, does "April Fool's Day" deliver the goods? Well, it has some nice atmosphere and occasionally some nice suspense. On the murder front, the film is lacking. It's purposeful (damn, I'm trying not to give anything away, I feel like I already have, crap!) but still lacking. The gore quotient is almost nonexistent unless we're counting stab wounds and that sort of thing. However, there really are some nice set ups. A scene in which our "perceptive" couple goes to the attic looking for clues is effectively handled. The dark attic, shadows, a creepy painting. What more could you want! The climax that ensues is both scary and funny. Think of that! Unfortunately, some of the stuff surrounding these scenes aren't terribly engaging. The whole "oh, let me go down the well, that's a good idea, right?" ploy doesn't work on seasoned horror veterans any longer. Other murder scenes like when Arch gets his while searching the woods was just kind of dumb. And because the murder scenes are short and not very expressive, one feels they've been cheated out of a pay off. However, on the plus side, being one who doesn't mind but doesn't especially love gore, the whole less is more idea (or at least concerning the gore content) was pleasing.
The ending is really a reason to see this film. Some may feel cheated, and some will love its twisty-ness. I thought it was both stupid and fun at the same time. I kind of scoffed at its "aha!"-ness but also enjoyed that the film didn't feel the need to play exactly by the book. Ultimately, it may be the ending and the emphasis on build up rather than gore which sets this apart from the glut of 80's slasher flicks.
It's not perfect entertainment but it is entertainment all right. And that's all it ever had to be.