Let's lift ourselves back where we belong. Where the blood does fly and teenagers die.
Graduation Day is strictly a middle of the road slasher from the Golden Age. It's far from the best, but it's miles better than the worst.
Genre veteran Christopher George is a bull prick high school track and field coach who is determined to Win! Win! Win! A student has an embolism and dies while Coach is screaming at her to run faster. Next thing you know the other members of the team are being killed in various creative ways. The black-gloved killer shows the movie's Giallo influence in full force.
The deaths, while vivid enough, are far between each other, and the story and characters aren't enough to maintain interest. The camerawork at least is always interesting, and the editing is innovative. Especially for the early eighties. Graduation Day lags here and there, but it isn't a bad way to spend an hour-and-a-half.
Linnea Quigley is a pot-smoking delinquent in an early role, and a pre-Wheel of Fortune Vanna White is onhand to mostly do nothing.
There's a sense of fun and enthusiasm here that is often missing from other slashers. I spotted a couple of cool details aimed at horror fans, like a Vampirella poster in an office. The name Pino Donaggio is written on the chalkboard in a music teacher's class.
The best death is a fake-looking but cool decapitation that is interspersed with footage of a cheese-Goth band called Felony rocking out at a roller rink. Ah, I miss those days.
Graduation Day was previously released on a lousy DVD by Troma, but Vinegar Syndrome did the movie right with a 2022 blu-ray. Slasher enthusiasts will want to attend this Graduation Day, but maybe shouldn't lose an arm and a leg for it. Stream it first, and if it's your brand of poison, give it a proper home in your collection.
Written by Mark Sieber
Graduation Day is strictly a middle of the road slasher from the Golden Age. It's far from the best, but it's miles better than the worst.

The deaths, while vivid enough, are far between each other, and the story and characters aren't enough to maintain interest. The camerawork at least is always interesting, and the editing is innovative. Especially for the early eighties. Graduation Day lags here and there, but it isn't a bad way to spend an hour-and-a-half.
Linnea Quigley is a pot-smoking delinquent in an early role, and a pre-Wheel of Fortune Vanna White is onhand to mostly do nothing.
There's a sense of fun and enthusiasm here that is often missing from other slashers. I spotted a couple of cool details aimed at horror fans, like a Vampirella poster in an office. The name Pino Donaggio is written on the chalkboard in a music teacher's class.
The best death is a fake-looking but cool decapitation that is interspersed with footage of a cheese-Goth band called Felony rocking out at a roller rink. Ah, I miss those days.
Graduation Day was previously released on a lousy DVD by Troma, but Vinegar Syndrome did the movie right with a 2022 blu-ray. Slasher enthusiasts will want to attend this Graduation Day, but maybe shouldn't lose an arm and a leg for it. Stream it first, and if it's your brand of poison, give it a proper home in your collection.
Written by Mark Sieber
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