Colegio infernal

GRADUATION DAY is not a "good" or original film by any stretch, but it has plenty that others of its ilk do not and is pure entertainment from start to finish!

Laura, a young high school track star, accidentally dies, prompting someone to start killing off the entire team for revenge. The black-gloved and sweatsuited killer keeps a picture of the team in a locker to X out the faces of those dead and kills characters in very silly ways (a pole vaulter jumps on spikes, a lanced football, a fencing sword through the neck...) So, who exactly is responsible? Just take a look at THIS roster of suspects (whew!):

Could it be Christopher George as high-pressure a$$hole coach George Michaels? E. Danny Murphy as Laura's disgruntled, harmonica-playing boyfriend? Michael Pataki as the school principal, who cuts an apple with a switchblade? Patch MacKenzie as the dead girls butch marine sister, Anne? E.J. Peaker as harried secretary Blondie? Vanna White (!) as a giggly blonde who discovers a corpse in a locker? Linnea Quigley as a pot-smoking teen tramp who blackmails the horny music teacher? Carmen Argenziano as a lurking detective? Virgil Frye as a narking, slow-witted cop? With this crew, is it possible to watch and NOT be entertained?

Make sure you don't overlook the THREE long musical numbers, disco roller skating sequence and flash editing cuts that make you think you're on speed. I think I like it!

If you love late seventies and early eighties horror/terror/thriller/slasher flicks, this one is a must see. It is in the same league as "Prom Night" and "Hell Night". "Graduation Day" captures a feeling, a mood, a place in time that only exists in the imagination. The music, the acting, the camera work, the characters are a way we can remember 1981. Movies simply don't have the qualities of "Graduation Day" anymore. There are rough edges here. There are simple characters and characters that are not fully developed. Is Ann, the victim's sister, a lesbian? This is only touched on a little during the story. Why doesn't the police office who investigates the disappearance of the victims dislike schools? How did the principal and his secretary begin their affair and what keeps it going? A scene in which a beheading takes place is intercut with a girl rollerskating who likes a lot like the Alice character from "Friday the 13th". As the initiated know, Alice beheaded Mrs. Voorhees. Was this scene a nod to "Friday the 13th"? Has anyone noticed this scene? What happened to Kevin's parents? Does he live alone with his crazy grandmother? They really don't make them like this anymore. I'm not sure if anyone even tries. "Scream" was said to have paid homage to "Graduation Day" and several other movies of that era. I am going to watch it again while keeping that statement in mind. "Graduation Day" is the real deal. Of all the "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" clones it is one of the highest caliber. Christopher George, Patch McKenzie and the guy from "Fame" (I think) lend star quality. Today's independent films try to capture the spirit of movies like this.

Make no mistake - Graduation Day is no lost masterpiece. It's a bit slow, the acting isn't great, and the cheese is overflowing throughout, but there's some stuff to recommend.

A young track star dies during a meet and her fellow teammates begin getting slaughtered one by one. Is it the pushy coach? The victim's sister? Her boyfriend? The creepy janitor? Pretty much everyone is a suspect here, but the mystery is nothing to write home about.

Come to think of it, the death scenes aren't either. A lot of them are either off screen or blink and you'll miss it. This could be forgiven if there were better characters or a more interesting plot, but they're both pretty ho hum. The most interesting character is Anne, the sister of the dead track star, who appears to be our lead for a few minutes before getting lost in the ensemble and only appearing periodically. This leaves us without anyone to really root for or drive the story along, so it can be a bit of a slog to get through.

Linnea Quigley shows up and adds some fun to the mix, so there's always that. There's also an amusing death by football, which you can't hate.

Graduation Day might be a bit slow and not sure of which direction to take, but it's not the worst slasher flick you'll see.

If you're looking for a disposable 80's slasher, you can do a lot worse, but you can certainly do way better. A high school runner dies and someone starts killing everyone on the team. They try to make you think it's her estranged sister, but it seems too obvious. They throw in a few more red herrings and a whole lot of meandering filler scenes in between the somewhat inspired death sequences.

To be honest I was very disappointed with this movie, I was hoping for something a little better. I was willing to dismiss all the bad reviews and watched this movie anyway It's admittedly better than the 1984 turkey Fatal Games, which had a similar plot about gymnastic athlete students killed in a high school but fact is that the first real memorable and successful high school slasher flick was the one making fun of them all - Scream in 1996.

The major problem with this movie is the lack of characterization. You often just throw in some good-looking teens in a group and most of them doesn't have their first line until their big moment, that is such dramatic dialogue like "Hello?" or "Who's there?" You get the drill. In this one it's not clear who's the hero or heroine until the last 20 minutes or so. And when it comes to the suspects, they get less screen time than the victims. When the killer's identity is revealed it's just a big "So?"

But there were a few characters that I found enjoyable in this movie like Linnea Quigley who has a small role in this movie but has fun with it, and the main heroine Anne (Patch MacKensie) which at first was kinda boring until she performs kung fu on the killer towards the end which was brill, and the Principil and the Secretary sub plot was enjoyable too.

The murders are OK but nothing specialSo, this isn't very good but is still fair if very forgettable entertainment. It gets going though for some moments in the climax even if all intentions of scares are ruined by the fact that it's played in broad daylight.