April Fool's Day

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Fred Walton directs. Charles Minsky behind the camera. Charles Bernstein scores. Bruce Green cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 189 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 240 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 3Directed by Fred Walton, shot by Charles Minsky. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Charles Bernstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Bruce Green shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Amy Steel and Ken Olandt and Deborah Foreman carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "Guess who's going to be the life of the party?".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0090655 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Charles Minsky

Original score

Charles Bernstein

Editing

Bruce Green

Makeup / hair

Martin Becker

Sound

David Lewis Yewdall

Runtime

89 min · 1h 29m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$5,000,000

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

April Fool's Day (1986) ↗

Metacritic

49/100

IMDB rating

6.1/10 · 19,407 votes

MPAA

R

US box office

$12,947,763

Also by

Fred Walton

• 
  Miami Vice

  1984 · ★ 7.5
• 
  The Sitter

  1977 · ★ 6.8
• 
  Trapped

  1989 · ★ 6.3
• 
  When a Stranger Calls

  1979 · ★ 6.2
• 
  The Stepford Husbands

  1996 · ★ 6.1
• 
  When a Stranger Calls Back

  1993 · ★ 5.9

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  APRIL FOOL'S DAY: Behind The Scene with Deborah Goodrich Royce

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  April Fool's Day 1986 TV trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2014-11-02
  ★ 7/10

  Muffy the ham-pie slayer! A group of college buddies convene at a friends isolated abode and get killed off one by one… Great fun, Fred Walton, Frank Mancuso Jr. and Danilo Bach tap cheekily into the 1980s obsession with slasher films, and produce a self aware horror movie of mighty dark comedy proportions. Quite often when film makers try to laugh as they bite the hand that feeds them they fall flat on their faces, not so here. Ok! It’s hardly genius film making but the makers instil their picture with interesting killings, twists and turns, and even an audacious narrative that would only be appreciated some years later. Horror movie conventions are adhered to with tongue stuck in bloody cheek, none more so than with an ending that will infuriate some, but conversely will bring on the chortles in others. 7/10

  Read full review ↓
• JPV8522020-03-14
  ★ 8/10

  Fun horror movie that is on the predictable side but I still found it pretty entertaining. The ensemble cast was alright with the most well known face, at now, is of course Thomas F. Wilson (Biff). Not sure how high up this is amongst the holiday horror movies, but I liked it. 3.75/5

  Read full review ↓
• Wuchak2020-08-18

  April Fools slasher Ten youths about to graduate college celebrate at a remote island mansion in the Great Northwest, soon to be inherited by one them (Deborah Foreman). Unfortunately, they start getting hacked one-by-one. Who’s the killer? "April Fool’s Day" (1986) is a slasher/horror in the cabin-in-the-woods mold; it’s just that the ‘cabin’ in this case is a magnificent mansion. The presence of Amy Steel, who played Ginny in “Friday the 13th Part II” (1981), brings to mind that series but, besides Amy, the female cast isn’t as notable, although it’s okay. You might remember Deborah Foreman from “Valley Girl” (1983) and “Real Genius” (1985). On the other side of the gender spectrum, Ken Olandt is a Kevin Bacon lookalike while Clayton Rohner is reminiscent of Val Kilmer. Regrettably, the pacing is off and so not enough suspense is worked up. Any “Friday the 13th” flick is all-around more entertaining, not to mention “Slumber Party Massacre II” (1987), which has similarities. But “April Fool’s Day” gets points for the outstanding location and something revolutionary that happens, which I can’t give away. The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot at St John estate, Victoria, British Columbia, with additional studio stuff done in Los Angeles. It was rebooted or reimagined (not remade) in 2008. GRADE: B-

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• YC

  YCTM

• HO

  Hometown Films

• 

  Paramount Pictures

  US

Key crew

• Makeup EffectsMartin Becker
• CastingFern Champion
• Makeup EffectsBettie Kauffman
• ProducerFrank Mancuso Jr.
• Set DecorationDella Mae Johnston
• EditorBruce Green
• Makeup EffectsJim Gill
• Makeup EffectsChristopher Swift
• CastingPamela Basker
• Art DirectionW. Stewart Campbell
• Makeup Effects DesignerMartin Becker
• Special EffectsMartin Becker
• Makeup Department HeadTodd McIntosh
• Sound DesignerDavid Lewis Yewdall
• Sound EffectsF. Hudson Miller
• Sound EngineerJonathan D. Evans
• Production ManagerRandy Cheveldave
• Assistant Set DecorationRoger Dole
• Set DresserD.N. Pettipas
• Supervising Sound EditorR.J. Palmer
• Sound MixerPeter Shewchuk
• Casting AssociateMark Holub
• CastingMary Jo Slater
• Casting CoordinatorSue Swan

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• island
• murder
• teen movie
• slasher
• april fool's day
• canuxploitation
• college friends

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1986-03-27R

Also known as

International titles

• Weekend of TerrorUS
• The Horror PartyDE
• Die Horror PartyDE
• Die Horror-PartyDE
• Pesce d'aprileIT
• Week-end de terreurFR
• A Noite das Brincadeiras MortaisBR
• 죽음의 만우절KR
• エイプリル・フールJP