We are back with another entry into our Horror on Tubi feature. Today we will be reviewing found footage mockumentary horror The Death of April from 2022. Yes, I know! Yet another found footage mockumentary from Tubi. I guess that’s kind of what they do now. If you are looking for movies from this genre, Tubi is the place to be.

Low Budget Tubi Horror

And for those of you who are unaware which is, likely, everyone. June is “low budget horror on Tubi” month. Every movie we watch this month will be taken from Tubi’s library of ultra low budget fluff. We won’t be reading reviews before watching the movies. Just reading the synopsis, checking the movie out and bringing you a review.

So far it has been a lot of what you would expect and a fair bit of what you wouldn’t. While movies like Chest, Something Walks in the Woods and The Sleepless Unrest played to type. ReSet, Lexi and the excellent Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism really surprised us for how watchable they were. So what does today have to offer? Well, it’s another found footage so flip a coin.

Older Than it Seems

This is a bit of a weird one. It was originally made back in 2012, I believe. I think it saw something of a limited release but nothing major. Twelve years later, it re-emerged from the found footage wilderness. Ready to scare, or bore as may be the case, viewers all over again.

A strange backstory for any low budget film, really. Whether this didn’t manage to score a distributor back in the day, or not, I am not sure. Either way, it didn’t hit general circulation during the early 2010’s found footage boom. Something that could be looked at as something of a missed opportunity.

Now that Tubi are scraping the bottom of the septic tank looking for treasure. We may see a few more movies like this emerge. Either way, it’s a decade old movie with a 2022 label. It really feels every bit of it as well. Being a complete relic of movies from that era.

Lake Mungo Inspired Mockumentary

Love it or hate it, Lake Mungo is one of the most critically acclaimed horror mockumentaries of recent times. Featuring convincing performances, a disturbing story and a genuinely creepy mood. Lake Mungo really set the bar for how horror mockumentaries should feel. It also did something else. Something entirely unforgivable. It inspired a whole wave of horror mockumentaries that lampooned its style and approach completely.

In fact, we are still in the midst of that now. With movies like Death of a Vlogger showing clear inspiration from the brilliant Aussie found footage classic. While some of these movies are completely watchable. Many of them are pretty awful. Completely missing the point of what made Lake Mungo so effective. The Death of April is one of these movies. Its similarities to Lake Mungo are stark and instantly noticeable. 

The Death of April, Or Is It Meagen?

The Death of April follows the story of teaching assistant Meagen. Hoping for a new start, Meagen moves across the country to the east side of the US. Feeling somewhat confused by her decision, her family are disappointed but support her anyway. Upon arriving in her new home. Meagen begins to experience bizarre happenings. Feeling that the house may be haunted. Meagen investigates the history of the property only to discover that a woman was brutally murdered there. Interest quickly turns to obsession and every moment is documented in Vlog form.

So, the story follows Meagen who is investigating the murder of a girl called April. When information gathering about this movie; after I finished watching of course. I noticed this seemed to confuse a few people. So thought I would help clear that up. The movie features interviews with Meagen’s family. Videos taken by Meagen during her investigations. And videos taken by her brother. All of which hint at something tragic having taken place. The nature of we are not quite sure.

A Fairly Interesting Start

Like many of these movies that throw you in somewhere near the end. The backtracking to find out what has happened makes for an interesting start. The movie actually begins with hope. It is made fairly clear that something has happened to Meagen. We are not sure what that is but we are sure we will find out.

Over the course of the movie, we learn about Meagen’s childhood and about her relationship with her family. We learn about some of the strange things she did as a child. And we also learn about what she is looking for in the future. It is all fairly interesting stuff. Things start to come undone a little bit fairly early on, though. Meagen is a bit of an annoying character. We are spending a lot of time with her and she isn’t someone who you would necessarily want to spend time with. Still, the tantalising prospect of learning what happened to her keeps you watching. Well, that is until it becomes clear that nothing is happening.

And Then Fairly Boring

We then find ourselves in a cycle of Meagen filming herself as fairly inconsequential things happen. The character becomes more confident with the camera. Her personality comes out more and she becomes infinitely less tolerable. The random things moving on tables and doors shutting behind her. Now seems like an awful reason to keep watching this annoying person talk.

We learn more about Meagen and the information hints at a deep darkness inside of her. The problem is, it is almost impossible to care. She is overly bubbly and the goofiness of her character doesn’t support this fact. It is impossible to imagine Meagen being anything other than cheesy and annoying. When she turns to look at the camera in one moment of, supposed, sinister and bizarre behavior. It is hard to take her seriously at all. A major problem considering the theme of the movie.

And Then Pretty Annoying

All of this goes on for a significant amount of time. The movie bounces between Meagen’s family talking about the change in her. Scenes of Meagen acting a bit weird. And scenes of spooky things happening, once again, with no consequence. The stakes here are tremendously low. There is no real reason to invest in the character of Meagen and the things happening to her don’t feel threatening.

There is so little in the way of explanation for why Meagen is acting the way she is. A desperate attempt to throw in some bullshit about psuedo-mental illnesses feels forced. While an appearance by a paranormal expert feels incredibly tacked on. The movie hints at a number of different possibilities without ever really committing to one. Leaving up to the viewer to make up their own mind. Lazy writing indeed and given that there are no scares. It is fairly hard to forgive. Especially when you have been dealing with the movie repeating itself for the past 30 minutes. On top of all this, my fiancee fell asleep so I had nobody to laugh at it with.

Despite the dragged out nature of the build up. The ending feels like it comes out of nowhere. Since most viewers will have likely checked out by now. I doubt anyone will really care when the someone unexpected events play out. The fact that they come so far out of left field makes it feel like the movie was cut massively short. 

Acting is Okay, Direction is Mixed

Acting is what you might expect from a movie like this. Some people seem more comfortable than others in the interview setting. Something that is really common with Mockumentaries. Katarina Hughes, as Meagen, feels like a weird casting choice. She seems like a really nice person. I couldn’t imagine her having a dark side. She’s just so goofy and bubbly. Making some of the movie’s scenes feel a bit silly as well as robbing the movie of gravity. 

I found many of Meagen’s Vlogs annoying. Like she was told to just fill time so she filled it with awkward improv. You can see Hughes become more comfortable with the format as the movie goes on, though. Some tighter scripting would have been good to keep the story on track. Amy Rutledge has a brief role as something of a medium. You may know her from Rent-a-Pal, a movie we reviewed awhile ago. She was decent in that and she is fine in this.

Side characters are all fine. Stephanie Domini, as Meagen’s mum, and Chelsea Clark, as Meagen’s friend Heather, are both fine. Seeming fairly natural in front of the camera. Travis Peters, as Meagen’s dad, seems a little less natural. This helps his part feel a bit more authentic, though. The most comfortable in front of the camera is Adam Lowder as Meagen’s brother. His character is pretty annoying but Lowder does a nice job.

As far as direction goes. This one is a real mixed bag. Ruben Rodriguez’s pacing is a little off. The movie drags massively in the middle and will likely lose much of the audience around this point. His focus on story over scares was a big misstep. It’s a shame because the mockumentary setup is well done. Feeling pretty authentic and drip feeding the information in a satisfying manner. The movie just begins to repeat itself after awhile which is a big issue. As for cinematography. There isn’t a great deal of shaky cam but this is very 2012. Interview segments are fine but the Vlog segments are ultra low quality. 

Final Thoughts and Score

The Death of April is just another Found Footage Mockumentary. Very middle of the road, very average and very little to recommend. A promising opening quickly evaporates. Devolving to basic writing, boring Vlog content and a mystery that just isn’t that interesting. While the interview segments are pretty well done. The complete lack of scares and poor pacing make this one a difficult movie to get through.

If you have a high tolerance for Mockumentaries, you may enjoy this. There are lots like this but some people may be looking for as many as they can find. I would easily recommend Lexi over this, however. Especially if you are looking for something on Tubi. Otherwise, The Death of April is just too hard to recommend. There just isn’t that much here to grab onto.