SPOILER ALERT ⚠

3 Stars

Book – April Fool’s Day

Jeff Rovin’s April Fool’s Day is an adaptation of the 1986 slasher pic that was loosely based on Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None. But while Christie was a master of characterization and suspense, April Fool’s Day —the book—just doesn’t compare, not to Christie’s book nor the ’86 film, starring Scream Queen Amy Steele and many other young B-movie actors from that era.

Mind you, it’s not a bad book; it’s one I’m happy to have read, but if I had to choose, I’d favor watching the movie again as opposed to re-reading the novel.

If you enjoy references to 1980’s pop culture like soaps like “Search for Tomorrow,” Heavy Metal cassette tapes, and tongue-in-cheek references to Ed Grimley, I must say, this might be an interesting trip down memory lane. It’s also noteworthy that despite rose-colored nostalgia goggles, it was not a simpler time, as some “kids” were doing the same things back then that they’re doing today.

The setting is an isolated island filled with hard-drinking, pot-smoking, partner-swapping, rich, young college students named Muffy, Evelyn (Skip), Arch, Harvey (Hal), Nichelle (Nikki), Chaz, Nan, Kit and working-class outsider, Rob, and each character has a unique role in this deadly tale.

Opinion of April Fool’s Day

As the title is April Fool’s Day and it’s part of the horror/slasher genre, expect some violent murders and outlandish twists. Personally, as a horror film buff, I hated the movie the first time I saw it. But then upon a couple of re-watches, I realized how funny and dark it was. However there were missing pieces that never quite made sense. Those missing pieces were either never filmed or left on the cutting room floor. Reading the novelization filled in those missing pieces (especially about Nan and Skip), yet it took away much of the delight and silliness of the original premise.

SPOILER ALERT:

If I hadn’t seen the movie and had read this book when I was younger, I would have enjoyed it very much. But I’m old and judgmental, and you can’t create a crew of awful, rotten kids without (SPOILER) killing all of them off one by one in truly gory fashion like you would in a real slasher film (/SPOILER)

I’m glad I read this, but into the eBay box it goes to find a new home.