'April Fool's Day' DVD Review

An uninspired remake that deserves the direct-to-video treatment it got.

The Movie

With classic slasher movies like Black Christmas and Halloween having been remade and "reboots" of Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street planned, it's inevitable that Hollywood would make its way down to the second tier of vintage slashers for inspiration. And so we have April Fool's Day.

This remake is more like a "reimagining," with a completely new plot; "new," of course, being a relative term, because in reality, it's a riff on I Know What You Did Last Summer. Instead of accidentally running someone over, though, the kids in this film accidentally kill someone in an April Fool's Day prank gone awry. The "someone" is Milan (Sabrina Aldridge), rival to wannabe Paris Hilton Desiree (Taylor Cole), who teams with her brother Blaine (Josh Henderson) to slip Milan a roofie in hopes of videotaping her in a compromising position. The drugs have an adverse reaction, however, and send Milan tumbling over a banister to her death. A year later, the siblings and their elitist inner circle of friends, who witnessed the prank, all get notes stating that someone has proof of who is responsible for Milan's death, and if that person doesn't confess, they will all die -- which, of course, they do.

The original April Fool's Day was no classic, but this version removes any bite that it might've had -- basically taking an R-rated slasher and rendering it a nearly bloodless, PG-13, CW version of an Agatha Christie story. The deaths are dull and the action matter-of-fact (down to the cutesy musical score), while the plot manages the tricky feat of being both predictable and ridiculous at the same time. It's a shame that directors The Butcher Brothers parlayed the unique (if not wholly successful) film The Hamiltons (featured in the 2006 After Dark Horrorfest) into such sterile, derivative fluff.

The DVD

No special features.

Movie: D
DVD: F