Fred Walton

Wildly implausible, gratuitously annoying and unrepentantly silly, this "slasher" still manages to be more than a touch entertaining. The story by Danilo Bach sees a group of college graduates gathering at the remote island mansion home of Muffy (Deborah Foreman), one of the graduates, over the April Fool's Day weekend. Things quickly begin to go wrong as the friends begin to get dispatched in strangely gruesome ways. There is little doubt the "April Fool's Day" is well-constructed - it is nicely directed by Fred Walton, who imbues it with plenty of mystery in the Agatha Christie mould and it is brightly and cleanly shot by cinematographer Charles Minsky. The young cast is sparky and entertaining and there is a rich seam of humour running through the film. Enjoyment of the piece will, however, be dictated by the willingness or otherwise to buy into the ridiculous plot twist. It is both obvious and risible at the same time and pretty much undercuts everything that has gone before - it's groan-inducing but at the same time highly enjoyable. Given the title and theme of the film it is possibly the only logical way that the filmmakers could have gone with it.… (altro)