April Fool's Day

1986’s April Fool’s Day is a horror comedy that delivers a big punch. Deborah Foreman (3:15, My Chauffeur, Valley Girl) plays twins Muffy/Buffy. As Muffy she is an heiress who invites her college buddies to her parent’s island home for a party. Strange events occur from the moment the classmates arrive. One by one, guests are being murdered by an unseen killer. Before they die they express unbelief and horror at discovering who is behind their demise. The survivors begin to notice that there may be a little something not right with their hostess. Who is whacking the classmates and what do they all have in common?

We do have some awesome preppie names to go with our rich and privileged students. Of course Buffy, Muffy, Skip (Griffin O’Neal-The Wraith)  and Chaz (Clayton Rohner-Just one of the Guys) are some of the rad cast names. In the close group of friends we have the gnarly characters that make for good chemistry. Being an April Fool’s Day party weekend, collapsing chairs, whoopee cushions and other friendly pranks are sprinkled throughout the film.

The group of friends include a nature girl and her rugged boyfriend, a bad boy complete with a pompadour/mullet, a country boy, the rich heiress, several preppies, and a woman of questionable (well she pretty straight forward) morals.

There is hardly any 80’s music. The score is timeless and cannot be pinpointed to any 80’s culture. On the other hand, we are reminded of the decade of indulgence by the girls’ pants with ultra high waistbands, head bands, loose legged tight cuffed sweat pants and sweater vests.

As with other movies in our favorite decade, the Cold War was still going on as bitchin as ever. There are several defeatist comments about Nukes and nuclear war, something on everyone’s mind.

I admit that in the 80’s I had a crush on Molly Ringwald. I watched every movie that I could with her in it and more than one. Lately I find that Deborah Forman is a talented actress with so much to offer. In fact, I’ve written reviews of three of her movies and look forward to a couple of more opportunities.

I saw this movie when it first came out in 1986. Nonetheless, I had forgotten the entire movie and was again surprised by the ending. This movie is worth seeing. The twists and finally are part of the formula that makes this movie so appealing. In fact, it has a rather large cult following.

April Fools Day is rated R for bad language and adult content.