My dear readers, just because terror is at the very center of my daily endeavors does not mean I am blind to the charms of a good chuckle now and again. Some of our dependable audience members may recall my recollections of a youthful prank my chums and I once pulled off and even to this day, I relish in the opportunity to hear a brand new witty rejoinder or story-driven punchline. In fact, just the other day I heard a ripping good yarn about three gentleman of varying religious backgrounds who enter a pub as a group. The first says something or other to the bartender and then the second one says something as well and while I cannot recall what the third one said, let me assure you, whatever it was really did tie the story together quite humorously. It is an anecdote that I hope to pass on with some frequency.

The upper echelons of adolescent society sometimes find themselves in a bit of a jesting mood themselves. One particularly mirthful group of privileged youths have decided that habitual good girl Milan (Sabrina Aldridge) is a person worthy of a little public dressing down. The most amusing scheme anyone can conjure is drugging Milan and taping her in the act of semi-conscious lovemaking. But what begins as an innocent attempt at sexual assault and victim shaming turns into something rather ugly. In a distinctly non-comical turn, Milan reacts poorly to the chemical cocktail and takes a bit of a tumble out a second story window.

One year later things seem to have settled down a good bit. Desiree Cartier (Taylor Cole), mastermind of the sadly fatal stunt, managed to avoid any sort culpability and has even been entrusted with the management of her absent parent’s considerable assets. Her brother Blaine (Josh Henderson), formerly head of the family trust and would-be sexual assailant, is not particularly thrilled with his reduced role in wealth management but overall, his quality of life is pretty good when you consider the toil other folks endure. At any rate, the Cartier siblings and their various laughter-loving associates find their comfortable lifestyle severely restricted by the sudden appearance of a killer who was apparently not entertained by the group’s comedic antics from a year prior. This judicially-minded murderer pledges to do away with the whole lot of them unless someone comes forward to claim legal responsibility for Milan’s demise.

The original April Fool’s Day, one of the greatest hack and slash films to emerge from the 1980s, features what may very well be the most endearing murder victim roster of the decade. The producers of this late 2000s remake have wisely sidestepped this responsibility, knowing that attempting to match the charisma of its predecessor would be a nothing short of a hubristic catastrophe. Instead, they have devised a positively ingenious experiment in filmmaking -- what if a slasher with one of the most winning sets of characters was remade with a completely unlikable cast? It is a most intriguing idea and the producers manage such a successful execution of this premise that the young Republican, the only personality recycled from the original film, ends up being the most lovable of the bunch. It is an absolutely tremendous feat of character engineering. Obviously, I cannot profess that the overall results are as enjoyable as the charm offensive from two decades prior but it is an inventive and triumphant undertaking nevertheless.

April Fool’s Day runs 91 minutes and does not possess a certified rating in the United States.