Horror Movie Review: April Fool’s Day (2008 – Remake)

Released in 1987, April Fool’s Day was a quality movie that stood out from the era & genre by being unique & exciting. It had one of the most interesting twists in horror that few would have seen coming. Our review of it can be found here.

Fast-forward to 2008 and like so many horrors before it, April Fool’s Day got remade. Remade in the laziest and most lacklustre way possible. Is this the worst remake? Not quite, that honour still goes to The Fog but April Fool’s Day comes mighty close.

Taylor Cole and Josh Henderson star as Desiree and Blaine Cartier, a pair of richy rich types living in their parent’s huge estate. They’re every rich teenager you’ve ever seen, snobby and wholly unlikable.

On April 1st 2007 they decided to throw a party for Torrance Caldwell’s (Scout Taylor-Compton) debut. A party on April Fool’s Day? I wonder what that could mean? Unsurprisingly the party is a cover-up for a cruel prank but not aimed at Torrance. Instead it’s actually aimed at Milan Hastings (Sabrina Aldridge). She’s a nice girl who Desiree can’t stand so they drug her drink and have her seduced, filming it all on camera.

When the prank is revealed, Milan is beside herself and the drugs in her system cause her to have a seizure. She ends up falling off the balcony to her death.

One year later, everyone involved gets sent a letter. It says that someone knows who killed Milan and they will all die if they don’t reveal themselves. The group dismiss the letter as nothing but an empty threat. However, it’s not long before the body count begins to rise. Just who is responsible?

Yawn…

If the set-up hasn’t had you reaching for the off switch, the boring middle segment that sticks rigidly to the slasher formula will. April Fool’s Day is embarrassingly lazy with almost no stakes because of how unlikable the cast are. There are some bankable names here but nobody tries and all their characters are the same rich, back-stabbing types.

It’s disposable horror that doesn’t put in any of the work required to be mentioned in the same breath as the original. There is no tension, there are no scares and the deaths are so bland, they’re forgotten almost immediately.

Its finale is unearned so when it pulls a twist in the spirit of the original, it’s hard to care. This segment of the movie does bring with it the movies only positives though. There is a twist on top of the twist which is a little bit gleeful and the credits start to roll.