Sam Panico 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.

Toronto85 Graduation Day is a film about murder, revenge and eighties cheese. A young girl running track and field tragically dies from a heart attack. Her coach was pushing her to hurry up and make the finish line when it happened. Months later it's graduation time, and all of the students are preparing for the big day. The sister of the girl who died shows up, and the moment she does, the members of Laura's track and field team begin being murdered in horrific ways. IS the killer Laura's sister Anne, the intense track and field coach, or someone else entirely?I had mixed feelings about 'Graduation Day'. It was effective in many ways. The story was pretty good, and I liked the character development of the sister Anne. I also thought that having the killer cross off each victim by marking an 'X' on their faces on the track and field team's picture was a nice touch. But the story loses focus after the thirty minute mark, and Graduation Day becomes a jumbled mess. I honestly didn't know who half the people were that were getting killed, the film didn't seem to care enough to introduce the students to us. There were some tense moments when the killer chases the victims through the woods, but that's about it. The acting wasn't anything too great, but it wasn't atrocious. The ending was strange, I'm not a huge fan of the killer's identity but it had a bit of a cool twist. I'd recommend 'Graduation Day' to horror fans/completests and that's about it. It isn't one of the better slashers of the eighties, but definitely worth a watch.5/10

Vomitron_G I can't really say I just saw a good film here. As a slasher, it does sort of deliver the goods. In this case, that's a handful of typical & mildly enjoyable kills, a little bit of gore left & right, and Linea Quigley running around exposing her breasts. Not once, but twice. It's about the members of a high school sporting team getting offed one by one. Who on earth could be such a maniac and why is he or she doing this? Honestly, the plot doesn't do a very good job in trying to hide the identity of the killer, but the poor red herrings are quite amusing. "Graduation Day" turns out a bare bones teen slasher -- featuring a very lousy musical sequence with a very lousy band playing & also quite a bit of entertaining experimental cross-cutting -- that might still be worth it for fans of the same old slashing formula. I didn't mind watching it myself. Main highlights for me were a sword-through-the-throat kill and the clichéd 'Psycho-esque' climax at the end.

stiv-4 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.