News

For myself and many other horror fans, the 1986 classic April Fool’s Day (watch it Here) is a must-watch every April 1st – and next year, thanks to the folks at Kino Lorber, some of us are going to be able to watch the movie on a brand new 4K Uhd disc! They’re giving the film a 4K Uhd release on January 21st, and copies are available for pre-order at This Link.

Directed by Fred Walton from a screenplay by Danilo Bach, April Fool’s Day has the following synopsis: When a group of college students decides to spend spring break at the secluded island estate of their wealthy classmate, Muffy St. John, what starts out as a fun, hedonistic weekend turns into something more sinister. Muffy is very fond of practical jokes, and sets up numerous gags throughout her mansion. But, when friends begin going missing and turn up dead,...

April Fool’s Day will be the life of the party when it hits 4K Ultra HD on January 21 from Kino Lorber.

The 1986 holiday slasher has been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative with Dolby Vision/Hdr.

From Friday the 13th franchise producer Frank Mancuso Jr., the film is directed by Fred Walton (When a Stranger Calls) and written by Danilo Bach (Beverly Hills Cop).

Deborah Foreman, Jay Baker, Deborah Goodrich, Ken Olandt, Griffin O’Neal, Leah King Pinsent, Clayton Rohner, Amy Steel, and Thomas F. Wilson star.

Disc 1 – 4K Uhd:

4K Restoration from the Original Camera Negative Dolby Vision/Hdr Presentation of the Film Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson (new) 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio

Disc 2 – Blu-ray:

Horror with a Twist: 2-Part Interview with Director Fred Walton Well of Lies: Interview with Actress Deborah Goodrich Royce Looking Forward to Dessert:...

By now, the outcome of 1986’s April Fool’s Day is well known: an heiress’ guests are misled to believe their party is being picked off by a killer among them. However, had the producers not requested a last-minute change, the film would have turned the tables on the elaborate prank’s orchestrator; she would have died for real. Fans had hoped to see footage from this shot-but-unused ending on Shout! Factory’s Blu-ray. No such luck, unfortunately. And it was likely not for a lack of trying on the distributor’s part, either. Although the final cut of Fred Walton’s film features no actual deaths, Jeff Rovin’s novelization was based on an earlier draft of Danilo Bach’s script. Which means this now out-of-print adaptation used that sought-after “lost” ending.

Before taking a deadly turn, the novelization is not all that different from its cinematic counterpart: Muffy St. John...

A new episode of our Best Horror Party Movies video series has just been released, and with this one we’re looking back at the 1986 classic April Fool’s Day (watch it Here). We may be a few days beyond the day the movie is named after, but any time is a good time to watch April Fool’s Day. And to find out how we party to this movie, check out the video embedded above!

Directed by Fred Walton from a screenplay by Danilo Bach, April Fool’s Day has the following synopsis: When a group of college students decides to spend spring break at the secluded island estate of their wealthy classmate, Muffy St. John, what starts out as a fun, hedonistic weekend turns into something more sinister. Muffy is very fond of practical jokes, and sets up numerous gags throughout her mansion. But, when friends begin going missing and turn up dead,...

We have a relatively quiet week of home media releases ahead of us this week, but the titles that are coming out are a rad bunch of films nonetheless. Scream Factory is doing the Dark Lord’s work with both the Collector’s Edition of April Fool’s Day and the HD release of Frankenstein: The True Story. If you missed it in theaters back in January, Nicolas Pesce’s The Grudge (2020) is headed to various platforms this Tuesday, and Arrow Video has put together a stellar Special Edition release of Philip Ridley’s The Passion of Darkly Noon as well.

Other Blu-ray and DVD releases for March 24th include Endless Night, Cabal, Hunter’s Moon, The Zombinator, and The Wizard: Collector’s Edition.

April Fool’s Day: Collector’s Edition

Good friends...with some time to kill. When Muffy St. John invited her college friends up to her parents' secluded...

A film I’ve talked about ad nauseam for like decades now, Fred Walton’s April Fool’s Day has been a favorite of mine ever since I discovered it on VHS during the summer of 1987.

[Spoiler warning if you haven't seen April Fool's Day.] To me, it’s always been the perfect anti-slasher, where no one in the film really dies (unless you count the film’s missing ending), and instead leans into the whodunit aspects that are driving the mystery of just who exactly is terrorizing Muffy St. John (played by Deborah Foreman) and her friends during what’s supposed to be their idyllic lakeside weekend away from the stresses of college life.

What it may lack in an official body count, April Fool’s Day more than makes up for with its whip-smart script, charismatic performances, and a whopper of an ending that I certainly wasn’t expecting at all the first time I saw it.

If you've listened to our Corpse Club member-exclusive audio commentary or you've read Heather Wixson's 30th anniversary retrospectives on the film, then you know we're big fans of Fred Walton's April Fool's Day here at Daily Dead, so we're especially excited that Scream Factory has revealed a March 24th release date and new cover art by Yannick Bouchard for their Collector's Edition Blu-ray release of the 1986 horror comedy. Scream Factory provided us with the official release details, including the list of bonus features:

Guess who’s going to be the life of the party? On March 24, 2020, Scream Factory brings the fan-favorite 1980s mystery slasher April Fool’s Day to Blu-ray™ for the first time! This Collector’s Edition release includes a number of brand-new bonus features including new interviews with director Fred Walton, actress Deborah Goodrich Royce, actor Clayton Rohner, composer Charles Bernstein, and cinematographer Charles Minsky, and more!

A film that has been a longtime favorite of mine ever since I discovered it on VHS as a kid decades (and decades) ago, April Fool’s Day recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. To mark the occasion, I was fortunate enough to round up several cast members, as well as director Fred Walton, to chat about the horror comedy that dared to turn the slasher subgenre on its head back in 1986.

April Fool’s Day brought together a talented crew of young actors, including Deborah Foreman, Amy Steel, Tom Wilson, Deborah Goodrich, Ken Olandt, Clayton Rohner, Leah Pinsent, Jay Baker, and Griffin O’Neal, who all gathered on Victoria Island in British Columbia to create a mystery-fueled horror comedy that’s hugely underrated and was certainly ahead of its time.

For many of the cast, the twists and turns of April Fool’s Day were part of the film’s...

Creating a slasher movie in 1986 wasn’t a monumental feat, as the horror genre had seen its fair share of cinematic killers over the years, but it was a culmination of many elements that made April Fool’s Day one of the best of its era. With a focused and experienced director at the helm, a clever script filled with laughs and unexpected thrills, and an affable ensemble of actors who were infectiously likeable and endlessly talented, April Fool’s Day is an underappreciated gem and is truly unlike any other genre film of its, or any, time.

Written by Danilo Bach and directed by Fred Walton, April Fool’s Day follows a group of college students—Kit (Amy Steel), Rob (Ken Olandt), Nikki (Deborah Goodrich), Chaz (Clayton Rohner), Arch (Tom Wilson), Harvey (Jay Baker), Skip (Griffin O’Neal), and Nan (Leah Pinsent)—who head out to their pal Muffy...

Today, the cult horror comedy April Fool’s Day celebrates its 30th anniversary. Written by Danilo Bach (Beverly Hills Cop) and directed by Fred Walton (1979’s When A Stranger Calls), the film follows a group of college students who spend spring break at their friend Muffy St. John’s family estate, unaware that the weekend will be filled with frights and unexpected surprises.

Released the same weekend as The Money Pit, April Fool’s Day became a modest success for Paramount Pictures, taking in $13 million during its three-week theatrical run and finding even more of an audience once it was released on VHS. Even though it has largely flown under the radar over the last 30 years, Walton’s slasher send-up with an Agatha Christie flair has remained a beloved cult film among genre fans and this writer in particular.

Looking back at the horror comedy, Walton discussed how his involvement...

The year was 1987. Kevin Dillon (better known as Johnny Drama from the HBO series "Entourage") was just a pup, and Squirm director Jeff Lieberman would pit him against an alien invasion. Any of this sound familiar? Well, if it doesn't, get ready to rediscover a long lost classic.

Lieberman dropped us a line to let us know that he has personally produced a 25th Anniversary Edition of his Eighties favorite Remote Control, and even cooler? You can order the movie here - Right Now!

The flick also stars Jennifer Tilly, Deborah Goodrich, and Christopher Wynne.

Synopsis

Video store employees Cosmo Diclemente and Georgie go to one customer’s house to drop a video off, only to see the girl’s boyfriend strangling her. They discover that videos of the 1950s science-fiction film ‘Remote Control’ contain subliminal mind-control messages that turn all who view the film into mindless killers. As they investigate further,...