April Fool's Day
- Fundamentals, reception.
- American live action feature length film, 1986, rated R, 89 minutes, comedy, horror.
- IMDB: 6.2/10.0 from 8,449 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 5 million USD.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 36% on the meter; 48% liked it from 13,233 audience ratings.
- Netflix: 3.2/5.0 from 184,011 audience ratings.
- Directed by: Fred Walton.
- Starring: Amy Steel as Kit, Deborah Foreman as Muffy/Buffy, Deborah Goodrich as Nikki, Leah Pinsent as Nan, Pat Barlow as Clara, Griffin O'Neal as Skip, Ken Olandt as Rob, Mike Nomad as Buck, Clayton Rohner as Chaz.
- Setup and Plot
- Eight college-age young adults travel to a friend's mansion on a remote island.
- The place is loaded with practical jokes: dirty water from the kitchen tap, turning off one light turns on another, a tap in a room sprays the user, S&M gear in the chest of drawers, newspaper clippings left where they are meant to be found; that sort of thing.
- Of course, the ferry does not come everyday, and the cops are not easily available. It seems like three of them get killed early on, but then other evidence denies that. For example, Rob talks to the cops by phone, indicating Buck is dead. Cop replies, I'm looking at Buck, alive, right now, in the hospital. Inspires confidence, eh? Something is clearly wrong with the narrative, but the pacing gets rushed, and nobody seems to notice.
- The elimination derby continues, or is it just trickery?
- Conclusions
- One line summary: Young adult elimination derby film with a comedic ending.
- Three stars of five.
- Scores
- Cinematography: 6/10 As viewed on Netflix streaming, the visual quality was better than VHS quality, but not by much.
- Sound: 6/10 The dynamic range was way too large.
- Acting: 6/10 Mediocre. Some actors were fairly skilled, but others were downright poor.
- Screenplay: 5/10 Has a beginning, middle, and a sharp turn at the end. Those who enjoy practical jokes will probably like this one more than I did.
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