April Fool’s Day 2008

When I first watched April Fool’s Day 2008, I thought it was a remake, maybe a sequel. But it’s not a remake. It’s a sequel in that it deals with April Fool’s Day, and a twist ending. None of the same actors or intent. But, it does have Scout Taylor-Compton in it.

<img src="Aprilfoolsday2.jpg" alt="April Fool’s Day.">

Photo Credit: 360 Pictures

Released: Mar 25, 2008

Runtime: 91 mins

Director: Mitchell Altieri, Phil Flores

Writer: Michael Wigart, Danilo Bach, Mitchell Altieri

Actors: Taylor Cole, Josh Henderson, Scout Taylor-Compton

PLOT

An April Fool’s day prank goes wrong for a group of friends. One of them dies. A year later and someone is getting even with the friends for the death.

MY THOUGHTS

So, it’s a little difficult to review April Fool’s Day 2008 without giving away the twist. But I will try. There are eight (?) kills. Just like the 1986 movie, most of the kills are off screen. The two we do see are of Milan who does a head dive into the floor over the balcony. But you really don’t see any blood. Now with Desiree, there is blood. Well, considering she was shot in the head, of course there's blood. Not a huge amount of blood in the movie. There's drowning, hit by a car, electrocution, and of course, shootings.

The acting was meh. We do get Scout Taylor-Compton (known for Rob Zombie’s Halloween and Halloween 2 remakes) playing Torrance, the naive actress. And there’s Taylor Cole (from the Ruby Herring mystery movies) playing Desiree, the bitchy leader of their group of friends. However, even though she’s the bitchy leader, she also seems to feel very guilty for the death. 

It’s April Fool’s day, also Torrance’s Coming Out to Society (some rich tradition that the girls are paraded around because they are now women sort of thing). Meanwhile, Milan, who seems to be rich, shows up but doesn’t feel like she fits in. She likes to help people and charities. Doesn’t like how the rich act. A prank (not really a prank, she was roofied) is played on her, but she has a reaction to the drug and falls over the balcony to her death.

A year later, nobody has been punished legally for Milan’s death, and somebody doesn’t like this. All the “friends” receive notes that if the guilty person who killed Milan doesn’t come forward, they will all die on April Fool’s day. Of course nobody confesses and one by one, secrets come out and they start dying off.

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I wanted to take a quick break to let you know I found these great deals on Amazon for April Fool’s Day 1986 merchandise. I’ve applied to Amazon’s affiliate program and if I can get three purchases I will be accepted into the program. This will be of tremendous help with starting my small business.

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Sigh. I wanted to like this movie. The story isn’t that bad but I feel like the execution and the acting don’t help this movie. For me, it was pretty obvious what was going on and why pretty early in the movie. We get kills, but barely any blood or gore so that can’t save the movie. I hate to say it but I would pass on this holiday horror.

And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:

  • Frank Mancuso Jr. also produced the original version of the film.

  • The score is a variation of the original April Fools Day (1986) theme.

  • Milan Hasting's headstone dates her as being born in 1986. 1986 is the year that the original April Fool's Day (1986) was released.

  • During a newscast, the crawl at the bottom describing a non-specific political race refers to a poll in which a "generic Republican candidate" is beating a "generic Democratic candidate."

  • Was originally to be a direct remake of the 1986 April Fool's Day but was rewritten to bring on a much more modern twist to April Fools.

  • The costume department gave the female leads each a color that would dominate their costumes and set the tones for their characters. Desiree dresses in red as her character is determined and confident but slightly vicious. Barbie dresses in pink as she relies heavily on her femininity and sexuality as a pageant queen. Torrance starts off with white as she is pure and innocent and eventually black as she reveals herself to be the opposite of what Desiree thought her to be.

Check out my other reviews here: Forever Final Girl

Let’s get into the rankings:

Kills/Blood/Gore: 2.5/5

Sex/Nudity: 0/5

Scare factor: 1/5

Enjoyment factor: 3/5

My Rank: 2.2/5

IMDB: 3.7/10

Rotten Tomatoes: critics:  –/10  audience:  –/10

Letterboxd: 1.7/5