Graduation Day (1981)

Pretty Good

hyped garbage

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

By 1981, all manner of slasher had been slashed. From dates on the calendar to holidays to high school, college, probably every trade schools, if you could kill someone someplace on some special day, there was a great chance that cinemas, drive-in and video stores had documented evidence of the murders. But a track team getting offed? What a twist!At one of their track meets, star runner Laura Ramstead collapses at the finish line, pushed too hard by her coach and dying of exhaustion. Soon, her sister Anne is on leave from the Navy, back home with the mother and stepfather she desperately wanted to leave behind.Meanwhile, a killer is wiping out the track team one by one, complete with giallo-like black gloves and a stopwatch. With each kill, he or she uses bright lipstick to cross another member off of the team's photo. If Anne has gloves just like the killer, is it all a coincidence? Hmm?There are all manner of people of interest, from Kevin, Laura's boyfriend, to Dolores (Linnea Quigley!) the team's bad girl and Principal Gugilone (Michael Pataki, who is in almost every movie that we watch), who has a stopwatch and plenty of knives in his desk drawer. And oh yeah, Coach Michaels (Christopher George, Gates of Hell/City of the Living Dead, Day of the Animals, Mortuary, Pieces, pretty much every movie that I watch that doesn't have Michael Pataki in it, so this is a rare crossover), who isn't allowed to coach any longer, despite the fact that it was a blood clot that really killed Laura.Hey look! There's Vanna White as a school bully! And more dead bodies! Soon, Kevin and Coach Michaels get into a huge argument over who the killer is, but the cops get there and shoot the wrong guy. Yep, it's Kevin and he has Laura's corpse all made up in her graduation cap and gown. He also has a sweet Vampirella poster on his wall.A fight ensues and Anne ends up pushing Kevin into spikes - but not before body after body is revealed. That night, he comes back to kill her - an undead version of him at least - but it's all a dream. It's just her asshole stepfather, which makes it even easier to leave the town behind forever.I ended up liking this one way more than I thought that I would. It has some elements of style, plenty of gore and lots of ridiculous moments, like a bed of spikes killing a high jumper. Plus, there's a heavy metal concert with the band Felony, a roller disco scene and a combination football/knife murder weapon. Truly, something for every member of the family to enjoy.

"Graduation Day" centers on a southern California high school where the track team's star athlete dies during a race. Her Navy sister arrives in town after the event, and the remaining track athletes begin getting picked off one by one leading up to the high school's graduation day.An early follower of the slasher trend that dominated the early eighties, "Graduation Day" has the distinguishing element of being anchored in a significant event in any teenager's life—their graduation—but the truth is, the film could have realistically taken place at any point in the school year, as, save for one plot point, the graduation date plays a very insignificant role in the narrative. Its commitment to the "graduation day" event is more a spin on the slasher trend to set films on holidays or around significant cultural calendar dates; "Graduation Day" takes its cues from the following year's "Prom Night" rather significantly. As much as the film is in imitator, that's not where its issues lie; rather, the film is styleless to a fault. Save some hokey synth pieces and a couple of effective POV shots, the film is aesthetically bland, and also suffers from distractingly sloppy editing that detracts from even the most tense of scenes. There are a handful of amusing and relatively violent murder scenes, but the general tonal pallidness of the film is ever present. Christopher George plays a sleazy coach here, with Patch Mackenzie who is mildly likable as the overbearing elder sister of the deceased track athlete. The finale has a couple of grotesque moments, but the showdown is ultimately anticlimactic, all things considered.Overall, "Graduation Day" is one of the more middling slashers of its era; it's certainly not the worst, but it's not among the best either. There are a few moments that are worth seeing for genre completists and fans, but the film generally feels uninvolving and stylistically lazy. I'd recommend fans give it a go at least once, but it's one of the less memorable of its peers, and with good reason. 5/10.

Spoiler Alert!!! I see why so many people hate this movie and I really understand that it does have it's moments where it drags on. I mean seriously the suspect couldn't be more obvious. It's pretty obvious that the only person closest to the girl who died was the killer and that's the bf. Seriously, I guessed it right from the start and I just waited for each one to die to prove my prediction. Anyway, most of the deaths were pointless and the characters were completely innocent. The killer had no reason to kill anybody but himself. This whole movie was pretty much a waste of time but I really liked the costume that the killer used. It was unusual and really creative at the time. However I don't think a sword is the best weapon for a sadistic serial killer. I sort of liked this movie despite how stupid it is at times. I give it a 4 out of 10.

This movie was sheer, slow, plodding torture. Not being a fan of slasher films, and preferring classic horror, I may not be the best judge. Slasher fans may enjoy this as an early entry into the slasher genre. I really would like the 90 minutes I spent watching this back. The only reasons to watch this are 1) a young Vanna White (pre Wheel of Fortune) who has about 3 minutes of total screen time. 2) an early role by scream queen Linnea Quigley (with nudity), and legendary beauty EJ Peaker as the school secretary, who added a bit of humor and sex appeal. Otherwise, an 80's band called Felony makes an appearance, which while interesting, drags on WAY too long. Just like the movie.....I had to keep checking how much time was left and couldn't wait to "Graduate" to a better film.