By Jeffrey Bowers

https://vimeo.com/146832939

April Fools' Day is the best holiday. Despite what some killjoys would have you believe, for the most part, it's an excuse for a bit of good-natured ribbing amongst friends, family, and co-workers. Brands get in on the action, too, using the day as an excuse to imagine hellish creations like a chicken fries shake or a line of WiFi-enabled pants. And while successful pranks are fun, a prank gone wrong is always better.

Take, for example, Google's misguided "Minion Mic Drop."

For the fourth graders in Fool's Day, their prank's failure will stain their memories just as their prankee's blood and guts stained their clothing. Cody Blue Snider's short film focuses on a class of kids who accidentally off their beloved teacher after putting a cocktail of pills, dirt, mouthwash, and God knows what else into her morning cup of coffee. It's not just any ol' manslaughter, but one in which her head explodes, Scanners-style, hurling chunks of brain and buckets of blood all over the classroom. Although the kids are shocked at what they've done, they're more desperate to not get caught by the school's rent-a-cop. What ensues during their mad dash to cover (and clean) up the murder is 19 minutes of pure, black-comedy bliss.Snider's subject matter—exploding heads, death, drugs, blood, and rejecting authority—isn't terribly surprising, considering his father is Dee Snider, lead singer of Twisted Sister. Regardless, with Fool's Day, Cody has stepped outside of his father's permed shadow. After premiering at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, Fool's Day played the circuit for a while, but sat dormant for the last couple of years due to music license issues. Here's to hoping we get more from Snider, preferrably as soon as possible.