10 More Horror Movies That Lied About Their Premise
9. April Fool's Day Was One Giant Joke
1986's April Fool's Day was promoted as a fairly run-of-the-mill slasher, with the action taking place on the "secluded island estate" of Muffy St. John.
You see, Muffy is a minted sort who invites her cousin and his pals to her lavish mansion for a weekend of fun. Ever the prankster, Muffy has a few tricks up her sleeves for her guests. Well, until the dead bodies start piling up and its revealed that Muffy is actually Buffy, Muffy's murderous twin sister - complete with Muffy's severed head being discovered.
Again, for the time of its release, this was all fairly formulaic stuff. For better or worse, though, April Fool's Day was all built on a lie; a lie that the audience doesn't become aware of until they've sat through the bulk of the film's 90-minute runtime.
That lie is that Buffy really was Muffy, and all of the deaths throughout the movie had been staged as one big trick by Muffy. Oh, how we all laughed...
It's explained that Muffy intends to turn her mansion into a haunted house attraction, and so was merely trying out her gags, complete with Hollywood SFX, and somehow all of her guests were just playing along. Yeah, it makes less sense the more you think about it.
Some view April Fool's Day as having a fantastic twist ending, while others felt they'd totally wasted their time watching a horror movie that technically has zero kills.