GRADUATION DAY

Her classmates cheer her on from the sidelines as star athlete Laura (Ruth Ann Llorens) sprints to the finishing line of her latest school race. She wins, but collapses and dies of a massive heart attack seconds later.

A couple of months later, her sister Anne (Patch MacKenzie) returns to town on leave from her naval career. She's there, much to her stepdad's chagrin, to pick up a posthumous trophy from the school in honour of Laura's sporting skills.

But her arrival coincides with a spate of killings in the school, beginning with the throat-slashing of a pretty blonde student as she jogs through nearby woods.

The killer wears a grey sweater and sets an old-fashioned stopwatch going each time they commit a murder. Hang on, campus sports coach George (Christopher George) wears a grey sweater and carries an old-fashioned stopwatch around with him...!

But before you go putting all your eggs in one basket by pointing an accusatory finger in his direction, there are a few other suspects to consider: John Vernon-alike Principal Guglione (Michael Pataki) is a proper sleazeball; his secretary Blondie (E J Peaker) has nothing but disdain for the students; Laura's mop-topped boyfriend Kevin (E Danny Murphy) has a queer look about him; Anne is cagy about her motives for sticking around for so long; even the cops seem shady as fuck.

As the body count mounts, the first problem with GRADUATION DAY soon becomes apparent: there isn't really a main character to identify with. There's no 'last girl', no heroic 'amateur detective', just a series of episodic vignette-style scenes (some of which dip into really awful college comedy tropes) linking the rather tepid murder set-pieces.

I like GRADUATION DAY, in that it's fast-paced, has a charming cast (as well as George and Pataki, look out for a young Linnea Quigley getting her tits out as was the norm in the 80s) and it reeks of that nostalgic familiarity that I no doubt share with anyone else brought up on horror videos in the glorious pre-cert days.

But, looking at the film with an honest eye, its poor on many levels. Bad fashion, terrible rock music (including a guest spot by the band Felony that goes on forever), red herrings worthy of an episode of "Midsomer Murders" and a school dance that inexplicably turns into a roller disco are just a few things that date the film dreadfully. The script is TV drama stupid; director Herb Freed's decision to punctuate each set-piece with strobe-like fast editing is infuriating; the killer's confession will have you bursting into inappropriate fits of laughter.

Yep, GRADUATION DAY is a pretty shit film, but it's very entertaining as such.

GRADUATION DAY is 88 Films' maiden release in their new line of blu-rays collectively entitled the "Slasher Classics Collection". Never mind debating whether these films qualify as classics, I'm not even sure forthcoming titles such as MOTHER'S DAY and HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS are actually slashers ...? Ah, well.

88 Films' region-free blu-ray presents GRADUATION DAY uncut and in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Naturally, the MPEG4-AVC file enhances the 1080p HD picture for 16x9 televisions. Natural grain is evident throughout, lending the film a very authentic filmic texture. Colours are impressive (especially yellows and reds) and detail is strong. Images are a tad soft, especially during the opening credits sequence - this is hardly surprising as these particular scenes employ an insane amount of diffusion.

Blacks are strong and depth is keen. Although the transfer is a largely clean one - just the odd speck here and there - it does look its age due to the softness and occasional drabness in the lighting department.

While the US release from Vinegar Syndrome boasted of a new 4k digital scan, it had an annoying jump each time an edit in the film was made. Happily, 88 Films' slightly softer-looking transfer doesn't suffer from the same irksome quirk.

English 2.0 DTS-HD audio is nice and clean throughout, a really good proposition.

An animated main menu contains a pop-up scene selection menu allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

The big pull in terms of extras here is the new feature-length documentary, "Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed". The brainchild of High Rising Productions, this 77-minute HD proposition is hosted by Debbie Rochon (good choice). Despite being saddled with a terrible script for her bedroom-set introduction, the documentary soon picks up as the scream queens themselves pop up on camera to give their own accounts of how they gained their status in horror cinema. Contributors include Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer, Quigley, Adrienne King, Lynn Lowry, Sybil Danning ("I've never screamed"), Catriona MacColl, Caroline Munro, Lisa Wilcox, Elvira (!), Melanie Kinnaman, Forbes Riley, Patricia Tallman, Elisa Dowling, Emily Booth, Danielle Harris - pulling off the feat of looking gorgeous while simultaneously resembling Joseph Gordon Levitt, Jane March, Irina Voronina, Jennifer Lim, Christa Campbell ...

The girls discuss their own definitions of the term "scream queen", having to do nude scenes in films, loving the horror genre, looking up to icons like Jamie Lee Curtis and Ingrid Pitt, dealing with crazy fans, the genre's accusations of misogyny and so on. Clips from the likes of THE BEYOND, CREEPOZOIDS, SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE and SLAVE GIRLS FROM BEYOND INFINITY punctuate the journey.

You may not learn a great deal, but this is a fun way of spending time with these fine people. It looks good too, unlike some of High Rising Productions' earlier featurettes (they've obviously invested in better cameras these days).

Author and critic Justin Kerswell offers his own entertaining musings on the film in the 10-minute "Graduation Memories". We get a bit of background info on director Herb Freed, and how his own theory on horror movie formulas inspired the use of a stopwatch in GRADUATION DAY. Quigley's filmography is glossed over and we learn more of the crew's skills.

The film's original 2-minute US trailer looks worn but is a lot of fun regardless.

This being another title 88 Films have sub-licensed from Troma (following on from their HD releases of BLOODSUCKING FREAKS and THE LAST HORROR FILM), "The Cannibal Lesbian Hoedown" is a painful 2-minute pillar-boxed music video directed by Lloyd Kaufman. I'm sure you can already imagine how juvenile and artless this is going to be.

Troma's Sgt Kabukiman is on hand for a 4-minute archive video interview with "queen of the B's" Quigley, which offers nothing new.

We also get a cruddy 4-minute 'instructional' video from Kaufman showing us how to film an "arm rip" special effect, and a tongue-in-cheek 3-minute introduction to the film from the Troma head (shot for Troma's DVD release of a few years back).

We also get a 22-minute trailer reel of other 88 Films titles: PUPPET MASTER, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, DEMONIC TOYS, BLOODY BIRTHDAY, TWO MOON JUNCTION, DOLLMAN, BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, PUPPET MASTER 2, PUPPET MASTER 3: TOULON'S REVENGE, TOURIST TRAP and CASTLE FREAK.

Unavailable to review but also included in this set is a collectors' booklet containing a text interview with MacKenzie. It's worth noting too that the cover art is reversible: the flip side contains the same artwork but without the "Slasher Classics Collection" logo or number on the spine.

A classic of its genre? Hmm, not sure about that. At best, I'd suggest GRADUATION DAY is fondly remembered by those - myself included - who forgive its many shortcomings on the grounds of sheer nostalgia. What newcomers will make of this uneven, cheap film is anyone's guess.

One thing's for certain: 88 Films' special edition blu-ray is a very agreeable way in which to discover/rediscover the film.

Review by Stuart Willis