The 2008 horror thriller April Fool’s Day is distributed by Stage 6 Films. Some of its stars include Taylor Cole as Desiree Cartier, Josh Henderson as Blaine Cartier, Scout Taylor-Compton as Torrance Caldwell, Joe Egender as Ryan, and Jennifer Siebel as Barbie. Producers are Tara L. Craig (TV’s This Week in History) and Frank Mancuso, Jr. (Species). This film is directed by The Butcher Brothers (The Hamiltons).
The story begins at Torrance Caldwell’s debutante ball hosted by her friend Desiree Cartier. Other party guests include Milan Hastings, Desiree’s brother Blaine, Barbie Reynolds, Peter Welling, Ryan the cameraman, and Charles the tabloid writer. Unknown to Milan, Desiree has planned a prank for her. Milan is drugged and taken upstairs where she prepares to sleep with Blaine. Desiree’s plan is to catch her sleeping with Blaine to produce bad publicity. But not everything goes as planned. Milan has an adverse effect from the drug and goes into a seizure, causing her to fall off the nearby balcony to her death. All are deemed not guilty, except Blaine, who had previously had sole control of the family’s wealthy estate and, due to his perceived guilt of hers, is forced to pass it on to Sister Desiree. A year later, everyone is still haunted by Milan’s untimely demise. On April 1, Torrance, Desiree, Blaine, Barbie, Ryan, and Peter receive anonymous invitations to visit Milan’s grave at noon. At the grave, they receive another message and a laptop from a delivery man. The note claims to be from Milan itself and says that one of the six is responsible for her death. Each of them will be killed one by one until someone gets in. The laptop proves that she isn’t lying when it shows the death of tabloid writer Charles after jumping into a pool to save the dog from him, knowing he can’t swim. As promised, one by one, they each die until only Desiree, Blaine, and Torrance remain.
The feature that really stood out to me was the story style of the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer. For those who don’t know this movie, several teenagers accidentally run over a man and decide to cover his tracks by keeping it a secret and hiding his body. A year later, the man they supposedly killed returns to stalk and kill them one by one. While it’s clear there’s little cover-up in April Fool’s Day, there’s the same kind of suspense. People who accidentally kill someone and try to deflect responsibility are harassed a year later by the very person they thought they killed.
An interesting character in this movie is Desiree Cartier. At first, she is seen as a spoiled rich girl with no feelings for anyone but herself. As she begins to see each of her friends die prematurely, she seems to be developing feelings of concern for them. Desiree begins searching for those closest to her. She realizes that Milan’s death might not have been worth losing her friends and that there is more to life than inheritance money or fame.
In closing, if you like an old fashioned “whodunit”. movie with some horror and suspense, then April Fool’s Day is the movie for you!