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Graduation Day
After the death of a high school track star during a race, a mysterious killer in a fencing mask begins murdering her friends and teachers.
Release : | 1981 |
Rating : | 4.8 |
Studio : | Troma Entertainment, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Director of Photography, |
Cast : | Christopher George E.J. Peaker Michael Pataki Carmen Argenziano Linnea Quigley |
Genre : | Horror |
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Touches You
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
"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.
Laura Ramstead (Ruth Ann Llorens) is a high schooler competing in a track & field event; after completing a run, she drops dead (of a blood clot). Soon her sister Anne (Patch Mackenzie), an ensign in the U.S. Navy, returns home, and Anne does a little bit of sleuthing into the matter. And while this is going on, a psycho wearing a track suit and carrying around a stopwatch is slaughtering the other members of Lauras' track team. Could the killer be the hard-driving coach (Christopher George)? Someone on the team? Or even Anne herself? Slasher fans will have some fun waiting for the answer.Written by Anne Marisse and director Herb Freed, this doesn't do much that's different from the average movie of this type. One amusing touch is that the killer uses the stopwatch every time they make a kill. Their methods are sometimes hilariously ingenious: rigging a mattress with spikes so that a pole vaulter will be impaled, ramming a javelin through a football and then skewering a jock with the javelin, etc. Makeup effects aren't the most elaborate or gory you'll see in a slasher, but they're decent. Linnea Quigley, in an early role, is unsurprisingly the cast member who fulfils the T & A requirement. There are other pleasures as well, such as the presence of 'Wheel of Fortune' hostess Vanna White (in real life she's Christopher Georges' niece), the fact that the secretary played by E.J. Peaker is actually named "Blondie" (!), the performance by Michael Pataki as the harried principal, etc. There's a major musical number from the band Felony that seems to go on for days while it accompanies a murder set piece.The acting is serviceable for this sort of affair. Mackenzie isn't much of a protagonist, but George is fun, as are E. Danny Murphy as Lauras' grieving boyfriend, Richard Balin as the uber cheesy music teacher, Carmen Argenziano as an investigating detective, and Virgil Frye as a party pooping cop. If you recognize the lovely lady playing victim Paula Brentwood, that's because it's Linda Shayne, the B movie perennial whose credits include "Humanoids from the Deep" and "Screwballs".Director Freed was absolutely no fan of this genre, but had a hard time escaping it (among his previous credits are "Haunts" and "Beyond Evil"). Convinced that the key to a successful slasher lay in a formula, he did study earlier slashers and take notes, then applying them to his movie.The result is reasonably entertaining. Slasher completists will definitely want to put it on their "to watch" list.Six out of 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.
I used to be a huge Slasher fan. I still am to a certain extent. I still check out old slasher's from the 80's as I am entertained by some of them. The original Halloween is my favorite of all time; I dig the original F13th film and some of its sequels, so I'm not all that picky. I found this one on You Tube needless to say it was pretty bad. The cheese factor is certainly here and there are moments of enjoyment to be had; not many of them, but it wasn't void of them, but that's probably the only compliment I can give it. Like most slasher's from the 80's. It is done in by its derivative nature and of course the terrible acting. It doesn't offer much suspense, and the deaths are mostly bloodless and uninspired. The opening wasn't that bad. A track runner plummeting to her death was rather decent, but it made the killer much too obvious in the long run. The killer himself is rather bland as well. A sweat suit and a fence mask? That would make me shake in my boots for sure. We have some familiar faces in the cast. Genre favorite Christopher George plays a moody sports coach what a shock! Other notable actors such as Michael Pataki (Rocky IV) and the lovely Vanna White from Wheel of Fortune are in it as well. I almost forgot. I did like the ending. It got me there for a moment, which is something I wasn't expecting Final Thoughts: Know what you're getting with this one. A lot of bad acting, a rip off Friday the 13th, and uninspired death scenes. If you like a little bit of cheese, but cheese that lacks suspense and the overall fun factor, this is probably for you. I'd skip it as I said in the summary3.5/10