Not the first, and certainly not the last, of the Spring Break Slasher flicks, this 1986 kinda-Canadian barker is another one of those lukewarm horror flicks that were churned out during the Slasher Renaissance of the 80s, those carefree days when nobody cared about plot or back story and just wanted to see death and boobs and boobs and death.
(Compare and contrast with the Slasher Reformation which began in 1996 with Scream, where the genre-savvy teenager started both throwing the slasher off his game and, ironically and stupidly, falling into the same damn traps.)
Hello, doctor? Is there a pill to cure unnecessary angst-face?
It's your standard premise, really. A bunch of friends with stupid, stereotypically rich-kid names, Harvey, Nikki, Rob, Skip, Nan, Kit and Arch, take a Spring Break trip to the fabulous island vacation home of Muffy St. John. (Not a cabin this time. Color me shocked.) Muffy, it seems is a bit of a jokester. With a name like Muffy, I'm certain this is a defense mechanism. Much like her drifting into flashback when she finds a Jack-in-the-Box, because you take your happy places where you can get them, I suppose. Anyway, the tone is set when a deckhand gets injured when they pull into the dock.
So, as the night progresses, the intensity of Muffy's pranks gets worse and worse. Heroin left out. Tapes of babies crying. And at some point, Skip goes missing. Bodies start popping up everywhere. Muffy has an evil twin named Buffy. (Also, I'm sure, a defense mechanism.) The deckhand has a creepy brother who's main hobby is being a red herring. All your usual bullshit.
There's a kick to April Fool's Day, though, that threw a lot of folks for a loop and seriously, if you haven't seen this one, far be it from me to ruin the joke. I WILL say that this is not a slasher flick so much as a Scooby-Doo Mystery. Seriously? All these bitches needed was a talking dog and this movie would have been perfect.
That being said, it's not a bad way to spend a couple of hours. If anything, you can always make fun of the 80's fashion, huge hair and tightey-whiteys. Well, maybe not that last part. It was actually kind of refreshing in the middle of all of the horror movies that tried to avoid plot altogether.
Anyway, I have to go unmask some villains and stock up on Scooby Snax.
They would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for us meddling kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment