Trivia / April Fools' Day

• Acting for Two: Deborah Foreman plays both Muffy and her evil twin Buffy. Turns out to be this in-universe.
• Actor Allusion:
  • Amy Steel fought off a serial killer in Friday the 13th Part 2 as well.
  • Arch: "Well, at least we don't go in for this your shoelace is untied crap!"
• Approval of God: The cast have given their approval of a B&B run by Lisa Perada-Everetts that's based off the film.
• California Doubling: A line from Kit clarifies that the characters are all New York college students, and Muffy's van has a Maine licence plate (and her maid's New England accent suggests the house is in Maine). The film was shot entirely in Canada, though all the actors were American.
• Creator Backlash: Sort of. The director apologized for making the film in the documentary Going To Pieces (which is about slasher films), but mentioned that it was an interesting concept that simply didn't do as well as hoped.
• Dueling Movies: The also April Fools-centric horror films Slaughter High and Killer Party were released the same year, and were even going to be (respectively) titled April Fool's Day and The April Fool, but were renamed at the last minute due to this film.
• Enforced Method Acting:
  • The cast all stayed in the same hotel together and hung out as much as possible to build up a rapport and make it believable that they were college friends.
  "If we had been shooting in L.A. with the actors going back to their individual homes or apartments every night, there's no way they could have become that ensemble.”
  • Nikki's disgust in the well scene was helped by the fact that Deborah Goodrich had to spend hours in the water, which the crew had all thrown their disused cigarettes into.
• Executive Meddling: The jack-in-the-box ending was insisted by producer Frank Mancuso Jr, and shot months after the film had wrapped.
• Follow the Leader: One of many 80s Slasher Movies centered around 'calendar dates' after the successes of Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: The actors were encouraged to improvise and play off each other during filming.
• Money, Dear Boy:
  • Director Fred Walton mainly took the film on because he was broke and needed the money, though he was drawn to the comedy in the script.
  • Thomas F Wilson had to choose between this and Blue Velvet. As he was getting married soon and needed the money, he chose April Fool's Day.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: The scene with the snake was especially tricky to film. Thomas F Wilson recalls the crew initially planning to just have him in the same shot as the snake in the hopes it didn't bite him, but the snake bit its wrangler literally right before filming - so they had to put a pane of glass in between him and the snake to make the scene doable.
• Production Posse: Amy Steel was offered the role of Kit because producer Frank Mancuso Jr had enjoyed working with her in Friday the 13th Part 2.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: The different hairstyles on Deborah Foreman and Leah Pinsent in Nan's prank on Muffy at the end are because that scene was added in four months after principal photography.
• Reality Subtext: Jay Baker was cast at the last minute because the producers were struggling to find an actor to play Hal. As shooting had already got underway, this helped with Hal's status as an outsider to the group.
• Throw It In!: The scene where Nikki reads a questionnaire from Cosmopolitan magazine came about after Deborah Goodrich was overheard reading one to her co-stars between takes. A few days later Fred Walton, who had overheard them, had Deborah read out another set of questions and the other actresses improvised a scene.
• Those Two Actors: Deborah Goodrich and Clayton Rohner had worked together in Just One of the Guys the previous year.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Deborah Foreman initially didn't impress in her audition for Muffy, and they tested several other actresses for the part. She lobbied for a second chance and blew them away on her next audition.
  • Linnea Quigley was attached to star as Muffy but had to withdraw, due to commitments with Return of the Living Dead.
  • The scene of Kit and Rob discovering Skip's body was supposed to run longer, with Rob jumping into the lake to try and find him. Ken Olandt suspected it didn't get included because the water was cold and full of jellyfish, and therefore he didn't give them anything usable.
  • Deborah Goodrich was sent a script for a sequel several years later, following Nikki and Chaz now married and planning to turn a porno theatre into a B&B. She can no longer remember the names of the two writers.
  • Several alternate endings were planned.
    • After everyone has gone home, Skip attacks Muffy in the closet and cuts her throat...before revealing this as a prank with the friends all still there.
    • Ken Olandt recalls one involving all the characters around a bonfire that was shot months later in Los Angeles and not used.
    • All the guests leave, except for Rob, Kit, Chaz and Nikki - who sneak back in to prank Muffy. However, Skip actually tries to kill her this time, and Rob jumps in to save her, killing Skip in the process. The studio didn't necessarily dislike this one; they just thought the film ended on a higher note without it and saw possible Ending Fatigue. This ending appears in the novelization.