April Fools! Did we get you? We hope we got you. Perhaps the buck should stop at Friday the 13th.
No joke, Sony has picked the right day to announce their April Fool's Day remake for a 2022 release. Not only was John Carpenter's Halloween a genre-redefining success in 1978, but it also kickstarted a wave of slasher movies in the 1980s. From the Friday The 13th franchise to more obscure entries like Happy Birthday To Me or Edge Of The Axe, it was something of a golden period for the genre. Many of these films took the basic formula of Halloween - typically involving a masked killer and teenage victims - and set them around a particular holiday or event.
Notable examples include My Bloody Valentine and 1986's April Fools Day, with the latter being one of the more unique entries in the slasher genre. The setup sees a group of friends head to an island for spring break, where a series of silly April Fool's Day pranks quickly give way to murder. The major twist of the movie is that it isn't a slasher movie at all - the ending reveals it was all an elaborate prank and nobody actually dies during the story. This reveal proved divisive among viewers, but the movie is considered a cult favorite now, and Amy Steel - AKA Ginny from Friday The 13th Part 2 - appeared in a major role.
While April Fool's Day wouldn't be considered a classic like Halloween, its sheer uniqueness has seen it being reappraised in recent years. On that note, Sony Pictures couldn't have picked a better day to announce a new remake of the movie, which is set for release on April 1st, 2022. Jay Baruchel will write and direct what is described as a contemporary take on the concept for the "Fake News" generation which will greatly blur the lines between fact and fiction.
While Sony has stated the new April Fool's Day will draw inspiration from the 1986 original, the bodycount will also be "significantly" higher than zero. Jay Baruchel is best known for his comic performances in the likes of This Is The End, but he's a very smart choice for a modern update of April Fool's Day. In 2019 he wrote, directed and starred in Random Acts Of Violence, a Shudder exclusive that offered a similarly meta - and gory - subversion of the slasher genre. He also, lest anyone forget, appeared in four episodes of kid's horror anthology Are You Afraid of the Dark? during the 1990s.
Hopefully, Jay Baruchel's new take on April Fool's Day fares better than Sony's previous remake attempt, which arrived straight to DVD in 2008. This version starred Josh Henderson and Halloween 2007's Scout Taylor-Compton, but despite some tweaks to the original concept it proved to be a glossy, suspense-free slasher that was quickly forgotten. If the new remake proves to be a success, it may even launch a horror franchise for Sony, after recent efforts like The Grudge failed to make much impact.
Source: Sony Pictures