OK, no idea why I’m in a mood for
Ten Little Indians knockoffs today, but I just finished
April Fool’s Day (1986).

Now
this is how you do a
Ten Little Indians knockoff.
Plot: A bunch of college goofballs go to a
Pacific Northwest Maine island for April Fool’s weekend, where they get murdered off one by one…
Fun little slasher flick, starts off kinda stupid but builds to good humor and genuine suspense. This is surprisingly well-directed, with solid shot choices and
far better acting than you’d expect from the premise—and a zillion times better than
Friday the Thirteenth. Also surprisingly, but welcomely, the gore isn’t gratuitous.
As for the twist: It’s unoffensive, unlike Identity’s. It’s done more satisfyingly than you’d expect, for one thing, and at least it leaves the viewer with a grin on his face. That said, I would have appreciated including a twist-on-the-twist, which according to Wikipedia was in the original script: “A third act of the film present in Walton's original cut had the group leaving the island, and Skip enacting an actual murder of Muffy, wanting to take their familial inheritance for himself. Paramount executives disliked this dark turn in the plot, and mandated that this final act be excised so that the film could end on a high note, with the characters celebrating after the revelation of Muffy's elaborate prank.” Really too bad that wasn’t included.
Still, this was a lot of fun. Definitely recommended for viewing around April 1.