Muffy St. John has invited her friends and a few acquaintances to her private island during April fool’s weekend for some fun and games. The pranks start right away on the ferry over and don’t stop once they reach the house. What starts as kiddie pranks become more sinister as the night goes on. The next day Muffy seems to be acting a bit weird and guests start disappearing and then reappearing in pieces. Will the girl who saved herself in Friday the 13th part 2 save herself here?

One could dismiss April Fool's Day as just another 80’s slasher flick, and pretty much be right but for two things. One is the original twisty ending, and you can argue all you want about how it was stupid but it was original. Two is the kids themselves. Somehow they managed to get actors and write them with enough personality and characteristics that made them a truly fun bunch to watch and wish survival on. The wisecracks and regular dialogue stand the test of time, this stuff is still funny and you really believe these kids are friends.

There is little to no gore, the killings are all off-screen or imagined. What you do see is fairly clean body parts showing up for reveals. No nudity to speak of but the girls are pretty hot, especially Deborah Foreman (Valley Girl) as rich bitch Muffy and Deborah Goodrich as slutty but loveable Nikki. The rest of the faces are pretty familiar also. Thomas F. Wilson (Biff in Back to the Future) is funny as hell and Jay Olandt isn’t too hard on the eyes even in the worst pair of tighty whiteies I’ve ever seen.

Honestly this is one of my favorite movies of the 80’s. I loved the mystery surrounding the whodunits, I spent the entire movie trying to figure out all the clues and red herrings they left scattered around. Seriously it’s a really fun, enjoyable movie.

6 out of 10 movies that show Scream really wasn’t that original.