APRIL FOOL'S DAY

APRIL FOOL'S DAY (1986). Director: Fred Walton.

Muffy (Deborah Foreman), a rich girl who is fond of practical jokes, invites several of her college friends to her family mansion on an island. An atmosphere of foreboding is created when there is an accident involving the ferry that takes the young people to the island. First Skip (Griffin O'Neal) disappears, and his body is found floating under the boards in the boathouse. Other people begin disappearing as well. Finally only Rob (Ken Olandt) and his girlfriend Kit (Amy Steel) are left, and they discover that their friend Muffy might have a maniacal twin sister. But the true explanation for what's going on is even stranger than that!

Surprise: Ken Olandt and Any Steel

When I first saw April Fool's Day years ago I groaned at the ending, which I thought of as an incredible cop-out without even the saving grace of a final twist. This time, knowing what was coming, I was able to enjoy it, although it will never be an especially memorable slasher film. The actors -- including Tom Wilson as the class clown Arch and Clayton Rohner as the resident freak Chaz -- are a spirited and capable bunch. There is one good scene in a well where bodies are discovered, and a funny sequence involving a supposedly severed head. You keep waiting for a pay-off that never quite comes. Fred Walton also directed When a Stranger Calls and its sequel, When a Stranger Calls Back. 

Verdict: A slashless slasher film that still manages to be a bit -- a small bit -- of fun. **1/2.