Happy April Fools' Day! Let's see what's on the Holiday Horror Shelf!
I just realized that April Fool's Day, released in late March of 1986, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The film is a horror-comedy, but it was marketed as a straight up slasher, and horror fans didn't like the surprise ending. I think the film's title should have tipped the audience off. That, and the fact that all of the "kills" happen offscreen.
The Jeff Rovin's novelization of the film was based on the original screenplay that ends on a darker note. Some copies of this book have movie stills on the back cover that aren't in the movie, but they match what is in the book's plot.
So, what's up with The Sound of Music Blu-ray and The Pacifier DVD? Those aren't horror movies.
I thought you'd never ask.
Our family tradition at the theater is to give each movie trailer either a thumbs up or a thumbs down when it's over. That helps us plan what family movie we could all see next. We also did this with the trailers on the DVDs I'd bring home from the library. We watched a trailer for The Pacifier when Charlotte was in 4th grade. Char really laughed at Gary the duck and the dirty diaper jokes. Daphne did not. At the end, Char and I gave the movie trailer a thumbs up, and Daphne was decidedly at thumbs down, "That movie looks terrible," she said. I secretly gave Charlotte a wink, and she nodded at me.
Later, when I went into Char's bedroom to say goodnight, we hatched our plan for April Fools' Day.
The next day I found a copy of The Pacifier at Urbandale's public library and hid it at home in my backpack. At dinner that night Charlotte casually asked her mom if she could watch any movie at home, what would she pick? Daphne responded, "Oh, I haven't seen The Sound of Music for a long time. That would be a fun one."
Char replied, "Okay, let's watch that tomorrow night." Char secretly winked at me while her mom was clearing the dishes. I was impressed. She had a pretty good game face for a ten-year-old.
That was March 31.
I found our Blu-ray of The Sound of Music the next day after school. I loaded The Pacifier DVD into our player, clicked past the previews and the menu, and set it so the movie would begin right after the Walt Disney Productions logo. Since the Blu-ray player has place memory, I ejected The Pacifier DVD and put it in the case for The Sound of Music. I was fairly confident the movie would start right where I hit "Stop". I put The Sound of Music case on the kitchen counter, and waited for Daphne to come home.
Our trap was set.
We gathered in the living room after dinner. I made a production of pulling the disc from the case, and placing it in the player while the girls were watching me. I hit "Play" on the remote, and the movie started where I had hoped it would. Daphne knew she had been had about 30 seconds in. She yelled, "Oh nooooo! Not this movie!" when Vin Diesel appeared on the screen.
Char and I yelled, "April Fools!" and Char laughed and laughed and laughed. I did, too. Daphne took it in stride (her yell was mostly fake) and agreed to watch the movie with us.
I probably wouldn't even be writing this story if that was all. But our movie-switch wasn't the only surprise. In The Pacifier, one of the teenage characters that Vin Diesel is supposed to be protecting has secretly joined an amateur production of The Sound of Music, and when the director quits, Vin takes over. At the end of the movie, we get to see the cast perform a scene from the musical. None of us saw that one coming. Turns out Char and I weren't really lying.
Secondly, Daphne was surprised that she enjoyed the movie as much as she did. She asked me when it was over, "Is Vin Diesel in any other movies like that? If he is, then I would watch them with you guys for sure." Unfortunately, this is his only family-friendly comedy.
This afternoon I asked Char if she remembered pranking Mom with this movie six years ago. She nodded her head, "That's the movie where mom got to see The Sound of Music anyway."
So, yeah, The Pacifier might not be an April Fools' Day movie at your house, but it sure is at ours.
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