April Fools Day (2008)

   

Directed by: The Butcher Brothers

Written by: Mikey Wigart

Starring:


Taylor Cole .... Desiree Cartier
Josh Henderson .... Blaine Cartier
Scout Taylor-Compton .... Torrence Caldwell
Joe Egender .... Ryan
Jennifer Siebel Newsom .... Barbie
Samuel Child .... Peter Welling
Joseph McKelheer .... Charles Lansford
Frank J. Aard .... Wilford
Sabrina Aldridge .... Milan Hastings

Release Date: Direct-to-DVD: March 25, 2008

 

Rating:

 

A year after an accidental death of a April fools prank at a graduation party bunch of friends try to carry on with their lives only to be targeted against a killer out for revenge who is linked to this innocent person in which these people are hunted down one by one but this killer is fast. No one can track who's doing this and becomes the next deadly prey.

 

The beginning of the film looked overly long with people partying and someone videotaping on what ehy were doing along with a scene that will catch you on a chef cutting off his finger which seems a bit cheesy but yet a little shocking too only to find out later that it was an April fools prank.
There's more pointless and dull situations on people partying at a pool as so ofourth in which I was nearly falling asleep I was getting that bored and seemed to be a lame excuse to add some time to make this film a feature here.
Yet the story seems to become a bit interesting when two people drink champagne and the girl suddenly starts to feel dizzy as well later getting involved with a prank and falling off a balcony which looked fairly suspenseful here and a bit cheesily shocking too since it draws to the story on what will happen later on. The news report on TV about this incident I must say looked too hokey and unbelieveable.

There's a nice setting taking place a year later in which seriously was well focused on the main characters gathering together to discuss the accidental death in which I thought that the story will look impressive now.
Also there's a situation with the main character Desiree being distracted while driving and accidentally bumping into a pedestrain as this looked good and effective imagining if you did this which is a scary thought here.
Then it gets in the slumps again as we have a stuck up model going to her dressing room and suddenly we spot shots of water on the floor around her with some electricity happening in which this was supposed to look intense when she gets electrocuted to death but however all of this looked terribly phony.
Another lame situation is when we see a van charging towards one of the supporting characters Peter Welling in which this was supposed to look terrifying but it is way too over the top with what we see here that it's hard to take this situation seriously at all plus it was quite a bore yet later on when Desiree tries to chase after this van it does seem interesting later on in which there's a close up shot on that van's driving seat but the window is dark. Yet we spot a woman's head. This makes you wonder who this killer is.
There's a nice still moment when both Desiree and Blaine Carter are spying on Ryan and then a jumping attack by the killer slitting his throat which looked well done I must say but that was one of the only effective moments in this story that seemed to jump right at you.
Things did look quite suspenseful when Desiree is trying to escape from the killer and hide as well as great jumping moment with things smashing near her in which looked believeably distracting and leaves a chill down your spine. However when the killer is revealed things start to look really stale and unconvincing here.
Bottom line is that this isn't really much of a remake to the 1986 flick in which that one wasn't so great itself but this one is a thousand times worst with alot of bad writing and everything else that's negative. Just a few odd scares and shocks especially near the very end with a joke gone wrong but that's it. Making this film was really a waste of time and money. Some things were better off left alone. Avoid at all costs as this one is a bore that tries so hard to be funny as well as scary but fails big time.

The acting is terrible and uninspired in which most of the cast isn't worth mentioning but let me try to dig something up here. Ahh yes the lead actress Taylor Cole (Desiree Cartier) seemed very stiff by trying to act cocky and stuck up as if she was forced to behave like this and not making it look the least bit natural here. However there's some good pointers on her acting shocked or surprised with different moments here in which she showed a decent energy with all of this. She also seemed not too badly whenever she gets terrified or crying emotionally. But even then she seemed to force this a little bit. She needed some acting lessons and maybe she could be convincing as a character actress.
Josh Henderson
(Blaine Cartier) tried his best as you could tell to be someone who is level headed along with showing a concerned type of behavior but yet his expressions seemed to stay the same almost all the way through the film plus his energy was at times lacking. However he does show some nice moments while getting patient about stuff. But his reactions to a gunshot in one scene of the film needed some improvement here.
Scout Taylor-Compton (Torrence Caldwell) was better off in Rob Zombie's Halloween in which she lacks terribly in this flick and wondered what happened here as she seemed too ditzy to carry on a part in this one. It seemed that she wasn't into performing her role in it at all. Her emtional attitude looked terribly amateurish here as well as her psychotic and raging aggressions too. Everything about her seemed plainly wooden which is really too bad.
Samuel Child (Peter Welling) was too over the top with whatever he did here especially a scene when he is hammered and acting obnoxious in which I wasn't convinced by any of this at all. Plus he seemed a little too silly by acting paranoid and anxious with another situation as well as trying to run away from a vehcile that was chasing after him in which his energy was lacking big time and not intense at all like he should've been behving here.

A finger is chopped off only to be revealed as a fake one in a kitchen
A throat is bloodily slit
Someone's head is blown off by a gunshot

We hear alot of sad echoey piano playing along with the smooth violin music during the upsetting moments which worked in well. Also there's some good chiming sounds too along with the odd bonging effects to blend in with the story here. Plus there's great fast paced violin playing for the hide and chase scene's which works in perfectly. There's nice screeching sounds the odd time making it sound perfectly creepy. Also there's some corny composing during a van chasing scene sounding comedic which was okay sounding. Plus we hear the odd string plucking too.