If you ask the majority of avid horror fans, I am sure that they all remember the first gruesome feature they watched. For true collectors it's a lot like losing your virginity; a point in time that begins a new and never ending chapter of your life. I was never keen on gruesome sights whilst growing up in Huelva in Spain, but after staying up late one Halloween night to watch John Carpenter's seminal flick of the same title, my life changed forever. After being thoroughly engrossed by Michael Myers' exploits, I was enthusiastic to taste more of the slasher ingredients that had left such a lengthy impression on my mind. After trawling through the Friday the 13th series from start to finish, I decided that I wanted more, and I launched upon a lifelong task of tracking down hack and slash obscurities. Part of me wants to feel the way I felt that night so many moons ago when I was left wondering, 'Just what is Michael Myers?" While there is a part of me that just enjoys the challenge of hunting down slasher rarities.
After relocating to England in the late eighties I hurried to my local video shop to check out the possibilities that the UK could offer in terms of horror entertainment. I was immediately struck by the cover of Graduation Day in my local store. The creative packaging promised a slasher marathon to rival the likes of its brethren and it stunk of that b-movie rhapsody that only 80s films can provide. When I took the box to the counter with my eager face beaming brightly, I was disappointed to hear that the video had been damaged and Graduation Day was nowhere to be seen. I asked if I could keep the box for reference purposes and headed home, hoping that one day I would finally be able to witness the thrills promised by the hyperbole packaging.
It took me another 9 years to track down a copy of Herb Freed's truant feature and after all those months of anticipation, I knew that it would have to be one hell of a movie experience to match my expectations.
It kicks off funkily enough with the memorable theme tune, 'everybody wants to be a winner'. We are shown a collage of shots as the students of Midville High track-team compete in events against other athletes. Suddenly the camera pans in on the 100 metre sprint and one eager youngster shoots off to an audacious lead, leaving the other competitors stuttering in her wake. The crowd cheer her on to victory, but as Laura Ramstead bursts across the finish line, she slumps to the floor – dead.
As Graduation Day looms, the seniors of Midville still have the memory of Laura's death fresh in their minds. Her grieving boyfriend Danny is relieved when Laura's sister arrives to pay her final respects to the tragic youngster. But as soon as she turns up, the members of the track team begin being brutally killed by a maniac dressed in a tracksuit and fencing mask. The assassin creatively murders the athletes and then crosses their faces off of a team photo with bright red lipstick. As the bodies pile up, we are left to wonder if there will be any one left alive to participate in Graduation day.......
Despite some hokey gore effects, Graduation Day presents itself efficiently, and we never get the feeling that this has been made on the merest of budgets. For readers who are unaware of director Herb Freed (Beyond Evil/Haunts), he was a prolific horror moviemaker from 1977-81 and he brought to his pictures a trademark of fast, 'chop-sokey' editing that defined the intensity of an engaging scene. To be fair, he does a good enough job of creating suspense in places and there is one or two skilfully planned set-pieces. The performances are surprisingly well-tuned from an amateurish cast and kudos to E.J. Beaker and Michael Pataki for providing some fairly amusing comedic diversion. Christopher George hams it impressively and eagle eyed viewers will spot a pre-fame Vanna White in a part she wishes she could forget. Freed throws in a few neat gimmicks including the killer timing his murders by stopwatch and keep an eye out for the pole volt slaying, which is laughably ingenious to say the least.
If Graduation day is not the daftest of all the period splatter flicks, then it must be up in the top two. Despite a bulging body count, there's more smirking to be done during the runtime than hiding behind the sofa. Watch out for the scene when the killer throws a sword an impressive 500 yards straight through the heart of one unfortunate victim; and the less that's said about the rancid rock group at the roller disco, the better! The gore effects are bordering on pathetic and the mystery killer's identity is everything but a shock when he is finally unmasked.
OK so Graduation Day was never going to rival the likes of Halloween in the slasher stakes. But in all fairness, it does have its place in the annals of stalk and slash horror and it's not that bad. It actually benefited from an impressive box office return ($24 million from a budget of just under $1 million), which must've opened the possibility for a sequel that somewhat unfortunately never materialised. Financially the movie fights its corner well against its contemporaries and it deserves its place in the slasher hall of fame....
