 
A beautiful and popular
girl Carol Manning (Caroline Munro)
makes some moves on a nerd Marty
Rantzen (Simon Scuddamore) as he thinks
that she has the hots for him and leads
him into the girls washroom making him
take all his clothes off as a joke since
it's April fools day as her friends catch
him there taking pictures and videotaping
him as well as dunking his head in a
toilet and flushing it.
Later on he is given what looks like
marijuana as he smokes it while finishing
off school work in a science class and
gets sick by losing control which causes
a fire with the equipment around his
along with acid being splashed on his
face causing him to end up 6 months in a
hospital getting plastic surgery.
Ten years have passed and a group of
friends are invited to their reunion not
knowing who invited them at their school
which is now abandoned as one of the
friends Skip Pollack (Carmine
Iannacone) claimed that Marty lost his
sanity after his plastic surgery
treatment.
While the friends are partying and having
a good time the clock strikes midnight
which means that it's April the 1st and
one of them Ted Harrison (Michael
Safran) drinks what seems like a can of
beer only to find out that it's acid and
his stomach explodes.
While the rest try to escape they
realised that they are locked in and that
Marty is turning the tables on them for
humilaiting them as they try to survive
till 12 noon but are slayed away one by
one by a bath of acid, electrocutions or
hangings. All of this is created by a
killer weraing a jester mask in which one
of the students wore while humiliating
Marty before the tragedy happened at the
school.
One of those
cheesy films with alot of stale dark
comedy that isn't very funny which seemes
to spoof other horror films both slasher
and non slashers.
There's a cheesy discussion between Carol
Manning trying to come on to Marty Rantzen which looked very hokey
and cheesy.
There's many good camera takes on the
mean kids grabbing Marty from the
shower and flushing his head in the
toilet which looked believeably
humiliating with bullies against a nerd.
Of course there's some cheesy elements of
Carrie used in it with
kids picking on a misfit nerd Rantzen and
pulling a prank on him with a gym coach
making them do push ups too. Good camera takes on the coach
scolding the teens
with camera shots slowly zooming on each
of them as well as shots on them doing
push ups.
a good close up shot on Rantzen in a science room smoking a joint and
trying to light it with a bunsen burner
as well as him coughing and choking plus
good shots on things spilling with a fire
happening as well as acid crashing down
and landing on his face. Then there's some tense moments with
him being scarred alive by an
accident in a science room showing good
effects on some fire explosives which
looked quite intense but yet there were
odd moments when this was supposed to
scare you and in most moments it doesn't
at all except to see the results on
him. Plus a good shot on a
highschool hallway with the flames
burning from the doorway.
A good shot on the science room
with a fire happening as well as a good
shot on Rantzen on the floor with the
side of his face scarred screaming in a
rage which looked quite spooky.
A good shot on him taken away in a stretcher with a shot on
the teens zooming by as well as a good
close up shot on Carol looking
at him apologising with a nice shot on
his hands grabbing her throat which was
supposed to be a jumping moment but that
failed.
The highschool ten years later that's
abandoned looked incredibly creepy in
which the set designers deserve a pat on
the back and then a thunderstorm occurs
which seems a little too obvious as well
as fake sounding thunder, but yet the
dark hallways with the lights on had a
perfect touch to the film as well as
candles in certain areas of the abandoned
classroom while these formers
highschooler's are partying out which
almost makes you feel like watching a
highschool version of Friday the
13th.
A nice camera shot looking down
on two vehicles parking at the closed
down school as well as a camera shot
inside a school window staring outside
which leaves a nice impression that
someone is watching them.
A great close up shot on Joe wearing a Jason hockey mask
inside the school to try and scare others
which seemed quite impressive.
Good shot on a locker that
belonged to Rantzen along with others
talking about it daring one of them to
open it as well as a good jumping moment
on a rat jumping out as well as good
scared reactions on the teens.
Also a good moment with Skip Pollack by telling the story about
Rantzen and about him going crazy during
his plastic surgery as well as looking
for revenge trying to joke around and
scare the others which looked well
done.
A nice shot on Ted Harrison drinking a can of beer as well as his
painful reactions after drinking it.
There's a good camera shot looking up on
him after he rips his shirt open and his
stomach bulging.
There's lots the odd shocking moments
with deadly pranks like mentioned on these characters
plus we have a long bathtub scene with a
woman cleaning herself up from some blood
and of course a couple has to get it on
with one another in a bed even if they
know they're trapped in the school with a
killer on the loose seeking revenge which
makes it look like a typical no brainer
slasher like anything else you've watched
back during this era.
A nice dark shot on one of the women walking
through a hall spotting a picture of
Rantzen on the wall and appraching closer
with a good close up shot on arms
breaking through the walls which looked
creepy and a good moment for a horror
flick.
There's a great anxious moment with Stella losing control of the murders
screaming towards Carol and Skip accusing them of doing the joke towards
Rantzen. This was high on energy and well
done making it effective for a slasher
flick.
A nice moment with Stella running away as well as her running outside and
spotting uncredited supporting the killer wearing a Jester
mask and trying to get away from him and
then falling into a dirty water pit with
good shots on her trying to struggle to
get to the top and then a nice camera
shot looking up on this maniac putting
his foot on her head and pushing her back
down.
There's lots of good dark shots
surrounding Carol trying to
prepare for the killer holding a bat as
well as a shot of a basketball rolling
towards her in which offered that nice horror tradition before
the killer comes out to attack. There's
also good shots on lightbubls blowing out
with the killer coming in for the kill
with a wooden pole along with a nice shot
on Carol trying to escape
walking backwards and running away.
A nice shot on Rantzen standing in a classroom with mist
floating around and thenthe teens rising from
the mist as zombie's walking towards him
giving it a good change of situations with
the film.
Great shots on the hallway with
the lights turning on and off as well as
the staircases with the cast trying to
run away which looked like a total Friday the 13th type of
direction with the good dark low budget
direction with this.
Alot of the scene's was cloned heavily
from an obscure supernatural 1978 trashy
flick Redeemer: Son
of Satan which was also known as
Class Reunion Massacre
when it came on to VHS. There's also alot
of touches on the 1980 film Terror
Train since there was a prank on
a sorority pledge whom was also a nerd
that went wrong and seeks revenge on
everyone else by killing them. I also saw
a bit of Prom Night too
with the low production values even if
that movie was by far a better one.
Bottom line is the film is very 80's
cheese and fun to watch like others that
came out during this time which were so
bad it's good but and came out the same
year as April Fools Day,
but it doesn't take itself seriously at
all with the corny dialogues and
performances by these characters. It's a
cult favourite to people who enjoy non
mainstream low budgeters but not a
classic in any format. Plus there's a
twisted ending too which almost seemed to
borrow a bit off the Elm Street
flicks. (Watch this movie and you will
see what I mean).
The acting is
quite cheesy and some of it a bit bad but
they try the best they can do as most of
the cast members remained virtual
unknowns which seems to be normal for a
low budget slasher film. Trashy cult
scream queen Caroline Munro (Carol Manning) seemed quite okay playing the
Jamie Lee Curtis type of character
in the film although she looked too old
to play a teenager in the prologue of the
film. She sometimes lacked energy with
her screaming or getting freaked out in
alot of spots of the film though. She was
never a terrific actress and so far I
found this one to be her best horror
films since the others were big time
turkeys. This character seemed to mold
around the types of roles she portrayed
in other horror flicks.
Carmine
Iannaccone (Skip Pollack) came across
nicely in the film as a goofball although
sometimes he tried too hard in certain
spots but seems to pick it up a bit. He
can pass being considered a character
actor and does well in his prologue as
one of the mean kids playing tricks on
outsiders and not really outgrowing it
ten years later. So he knew a thing or
two by portraying this part.
Donna Yeager (Stella) brought some good
intensity in her part showing alot of
great energy to her role and could see
her getting more work by having
supporting roles in low budget flicks or
even bigger budgeted one's just moving on
her way up but she sadly never did. She
shows great fear in her part and was a
real key role to the plot. A great reaction
after she spots a yearbook on markings of
pictures finding out that she will be the
next vicitm with her running away and
behaving more energetic which looked
great.
For the one's that lacked a bit that's
worth mentioning:
Kelly Baker (Nancy) just seemed to have the
lustful looks which works for a victim in
a slasher film but she seemed incredibly
annoying in her part always whining when
she talks. However, she was meant to be
one of those types. She didn't do much
for me though and was a bit too
melodramatic.
And last but not least the late Simon
Scuddamore (Marty Rantzen) who played the main
supporting character of the film Marty
Rantzen as he was overly melodramatic as
a nerd during the prologue in the film in
which you picture his part in those awful
made for video comedy dud's with all what
he was doing. He didn't seem to pull it
off naturally. But wait, ten years pass
in the film and he played a demented nerd
seeking revenge in which he seemed to do
okay and came off nicely as a horror
character in the film. Still he's no
award winning by any means but he does
fine for a cheesy low budgeter slasher
flick like this one. He seemed to study
who the killer was in My Bloody
Valentine while delivering his
lines on his revenge. A shame he took his
own life before it's release.
There's a full frontal nude
body shot on Simon Scuddamore in
a shower of the girls' room getting
caught as a practical joke as well as a
butt shot on him being dragged out and
having his head flushed in a toilet.
Josephine Scandi is bare breasted
while taking a long bath.
Kelly Baker is bare breasted in bed
as well as a butt shot on John Segal
while fornicating with her.
Marty Rantzen's
face is scarred in a science room.
Ted's stomach is ripped open after
drinking acid which he thinks is beer
with his insides spilling out.
A woman's skin is torn apart in a bath
full of acid.
Two people in a bed are electrocuted to
death with their bodies fried.
Skip has his head whacked by an axe.
Carol has her stomach stabbed by a wooden
pole.
We have Friday the
13th composer Harry
Manfredini doing the music for this
one using alot of the same elements too
with the killer coming after their
victims with the high picthed violin
screeching sounds along with the low
trombone playing and high pitched horn
music too. It's like watching a Friday
the 13th film but in an
abandoned highschool.
During some comedic scene's of the film
we hear some silly funky close to disco
music during the gymnasium scene's and so
fourth. There's some low electronic
cheesy horror sounding keyboard playing
which was interesting to hear as well as
some of the theme song clarinet music
too.
Plus we listen to a cheesy 80's type
songtrack theme song composed by him
during the opening and closing credits
which we hear high pitched synthesizer
music that sounded slightly corny but
neat at the same time.
Marty
Rantzen: I showed ya!!! April
fools!!!! April fucking fools ya
motherfuckers!!!! I showed ya! Me Marty
Rantzen!!!! |
