10 Horror Movie Twists That Rewrote The Rules
3. It's All a Prank - April Fool’s Day (1986)
When someone watches a slasher movie, they’re usually guaranteed to see the central cast get knocked off one-by-one in imaginatively grisly ways until the mysterious killer is discovered. That expectation was especially prominent during the 1980s, when it seemed like a new slasher film came out every weekend.
Much like how Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and A New Beginning circumvented preconceived assumptions by being faithful to the promises of their titles, so too did the cleverly deceptive April Fool’s Day.
How? By not having any killers or murders at all!
The premise – several college buddies spend spring break at the isolated mansion of their friend, Muffy, only to be executed shortly thereafter – was already textbook slasher plotting in 1986. By and large, it plays out as anticipated, with Muffy subjecting her friends to various pranks as people begin disappearing and dying and survival seems increasingly impossible.
Eventually, protagonist Kit concludes that it’s Muffy’s twin sister, Buffy, who’s been slaughtering everyone. Buffy chases Kit through the house with a knife, leading Kit to hide in the living room. Suddenly, she sees her friends alive and amused to reveal that the entire night was an elaborate test run for Muffy’s planned island resort horror attraction.
Like Kit, viewers were shocked to learn that they, too, were being pranked all along.