April Fool's Day - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

At a time when theaters were inundated with formulaic slashers, director Fred Walton and screenwriter Danilo Bach (Beverly Hills Cop) dared to do something different with April Fool's Day. Although not a particularly good or memorable movie, it is nonetheless a delightfully fun little romp that aspires to be an Agatha Christie mystery, cleverly toying with familiar conventions and tropes of the slasher and whodunit flicks. 

Set on an isolated island where a group of college friends unite for a weekend getaway, the plot quickly descends into the typical murder mystery. However, an unseen killer slaughters each guest in seemingly more ludicrous, grisly and improbable deaths. As the audience learns more about each character, akin to Christie's novels where everyone is a suspect and has a motive, Bach's story keeps us guessing while simultaneously subverting expectations with misdirection and various red herrings. 

Without a doubt, the movie is best known for its audaciously absurd final twist, arguably one of the most unexpected reveals ever thanks to Walton craftily generating anticipation for the traditional bloody showdown. The ending will leave viewers either hating or loving the movie. But in either case, it works as a meta-commentary on the slasher itself while simultaneously living up the spirit of the titular holiday. We could even take it a step further and say that the movie is one giant prank on the audience themselves. 

Bach weaves the very essence of April Fool's Day into the structure of the plot. It's a time for practical jokes that leave unsuspecting victims feeling hurt and upset by the playful hoax but ultimately laughing that they were swindled in the first place. Heck, the filmmakers even foreshadow this from the very start and keep reminding viewers of the final laugh with a series of smaller pranks played on the guests. Love the twist or simply detest it, but April Fool's Day has earned its '80s cult slasher status, blending comedy and horror with mystery elements. All the while, it subverts genre expectations, turning audiences into the final punchline of one big, diabolical prank. (Movie Rating: 3.5/5)

For another take on the film, check out Matt's review of Scream Factory's 2020 Blu-ray release HERE. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Ultra HD Blu-ray
Kino Lorber brings April Fool's Day to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray as a two-disc combo pack. The triple-layered UHD100 disc and a Region A locked, BD50 disc are housed inside a black, eco-elite vortex case on opposing panels, and the package comes with a slipcover. At startup, the disc goes straight to a static menu screen of the cover art with the usual options along the bottom and music playing in the background.

The cult black comedy slasher pranks Ultra HD with an impressive, highly satisfying HEVC H.265 encode that reportedly comes from a fresh remaster of the original 35mm camera negatives. The native 4K transfer showcases excellent sharp details throughout, exposing every little nook and cranny of the house and the surrounding foliage. In Dolby Vision HDR, the 2.35:1 image enjoys an outstanding contrast and brightness balance with clean, spot-on whites and crisp, tight specular highlights. Black levels are inky and true throughout with strong shadow delineation during the darkest, poorly-lighted moments, providing the image with appreciable depth and dimensionality. The palette is also more vibrant and varied than its HD SDR counterpart with the primaries looking particularly richer and bolder, and facial complexions appear healthy and revealing with accurate peachy-rose tones in the entire cast. (Dolby Vision HDR Video Rating: 92/100)

Per usual, Kino Lorber offers two listening with the first being presumably the original 2.0 soundtrack from the original elements and presented here in DTS-HD Master Audio. It's an excellent track with an appreciable dynamic range that makes excellent use of the entire soundstage. It never feels limited to the center but actually features a good amount of background activity that smoothly moves between the fronts and the off-screen space. 

The second option is a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack that is surprisingly even more impressive although not quite as loud as the former. They've done a fantastic job with this remaster, as it displays outstanding clarity and distinction between the highs and lows without even a hint of distortion. In fact, the lossless track exhibits outstanding dimensionality. While remaining true and faithful to the original sound design, it superbly distinguishes the background activity from the foreground as specific sound effects convincingly pan across the soundstage and in the distance. A few atmospherics lightly bleed into the surrounds but never overwhelm the front action; it's just enough to expand the soundfield without drawing attention to itself, which is outstanding. Meanwhile, vocals are always clean and distinct while a sturdy low-end provides some appropriate weight and heft to the visuals. (Audio Rating: 88/100)

Kino Lorber ports over the same set of supplements as 2020's Scream Factory release with the only exception being a new commentary track available on the UHD disc.

UHD Disc

• NEW Audio Commentary features Mondo Digital's Nathaniel Thompson chatting with writers and filmmakers Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell.

Blu-ray Disc

• Bloody Unforgettable (HD, 26 min)
• Horror with a Twist: Part I (HD, 24 min)
• Horror with a Twist: Part II (HD, 23 min)
• Well of Lies (HD, 17 min)
• Looking Forward to Dessert (HD, 17 min)
• The Eye of Deception (HD, 17 min)
• Trailers (HD) contains a theatrical preview and a pair of vintage TV spots

To borrow from Matt:

"April Fool's Day may not be a perfect 80s slasher film - some may even argue that it's not a slasher film at all - but it's a fun piece of genre filmmaking. It may be too clever for its own good, especially by the time you're coming to the end. The cast is great, the staging is effective, there are some great kills, and the movie is overall quite a bit of entertainment."

Just shy of its 40th anniversary, Kino Lorber pranks 4K Ultra HD with an outstanding Dolby Vision HDR presentation and a pair of highly satisfying DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks. Featuring the same collection of supplements as before, this UHD edition is Highly Recommended.

All disc reviews at High-Def Digest are completed using the best consumer HD home theater products currently on the market. More about the gear used for this review.