I Know What You Did Last April Fool's Day
I'll be honest I had never even heard of let alone watched the 1986 movie "April Fool's Day" before stumbling across the 2008 remake but after having endured this direct to video modern remake I can only presume the original must have been a whole lot better. This version of "April Fool's Day" is one of the most insipid horror movies I have ever come across and to call it a horror movie is doing a discredit to the genre. It is nothing more than a procession through a standard slasher storyline using a very pretty cast and would have been better called "I Know What You Did Last April Fool's Day" as it is the "I Know What You Did" movies which it closely resembles.
At a debutant ball which Desiree Cartier (Taylor Cole) is hosting for Torrance Caldwell (Scout Taylor-Compton - Halloween) something bad happens when Milan Hastings (Sabrina Aldridge) falls to her death from a balcony. Whilst the autopsy shows that she had taken a date rape drug Desiree and none of her close friends are charged with her murder. A year later and the friends receive invites to attend Milan's burial site where they receive a threatening letter which warns them that unless someone admits to the murder they will die one by one. So Desiree and her brother Blaine (Josh Henderson - Step Up) along with friend Ryan (Joe Egender) try to get to the bottom of who is stalking them.
As I said this movie which have been so much better if it had been called "I Know What You Did Last April Fool's Day" as not only would it have saved it from some of the scathing reviews from those who are fans of the original "April's Fool Day" but at least would have been more honest to audiences over what to expect. Even if it had it wouldn't have helped matters that much because "April's Fool Day" is one of the most insipid movies I have sat through and for what technically should be horror it never once delivers any frights. It simply fails to create anything close to atmosphere and even the attempts to create tongue in cheek humour fall painfully flat making it an utterly forgettable and generic experience. It doesn't even have a memorable scene or anything within the narrative worth pointing out despite it trying to pull of a surprise twist.
What that does end up making "April's Fool Day" is a movie full of attractive young people lead by Taylor Cole and Josh Henderson but also including Scout Taylor-Compton. The characters they are lumbered with playing are completely forgettable and in truth with them playing spoilt rich brats with flashy cars and big houses made me think they belonged in the modern version of "90210". And what is unbelievable is that despite having a lot of attractive young people there is no sex, closest you get is one scene featuring a woman in lingerie and Jordan Henderson walking around with his shirt off.
What this all boils down to is that this modern remake of "April's Fool Day" is simply a waste of time and has nothing which is good about it but worst is that for a horror movie it lacks atmosphere, suspense and simply everything that a horror should be.
