6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
After a high school track runner, suddenly dies after finishing a race, a killer begins killing off her friends on the school track team one by one.
Starring: Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, E. Danny Murphy, E.J. Peaker, Michael PatakiHorror | 100% |
Mystery | 9% |
Thriller | 8% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
It’s hard to hate any horror movie that opens at a track meet and welcomes viewers with a disco theme song. 1981’s “Graduation Day” arrived in a crowded marketplace, with dubious producers scrambling to cash in on the success of 1978’s “Halloween,” with their lust for cheap and easy profit renewed when 1980’s “Friday the 13th” hit the box office jackpot. Horror was hitting hard and fast during this period, with overall creative quality less of a priority. While “Graduation Day” isn’t an awards contender, the Herb Freed-directed chiller has a little more interest in cinematic pursuits than much of its brethren, offering audiences a traditional offering of slasher entertainment, with victims pierced and gutted by a variety of weapons, but done so with a raw style that fixates on pace, not prolonged suffering. It’s completely goofball stuff, but engaging and, at times, exciting, giving a notoriously lazy genre a firm towel snap as it strives to turn a minimal budget into a nail-biter.
The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation brings "Graduation Day" to HD with a satisfying preservation of the endeavor's original look. Grain is managed successfully, bringing a wonderfully filmic texture to the viewing experience, and colors are revived with care, displaying life without fade, giving a welcome push to costumes and bloodshed, which retains its runny redness. Skintones are also pinkish and true. Being a softly shot feature, distinct sharpness isn't present, but fine detail remains open for inspection, preserving grisly make-up achievements and thespian response. Blacks are communicative throughout. Damage is present, with speckling and judder, but overall the disc is a winner, securing the visual essentials of the cult movie.
Overall, the 1.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix is capable of projecting the movie's thriller elements, with an agreeable surge of scoring cues, which preserve instrumentation and supportive power, giving chase sequences a comfortable sonic foundation. Dialogue exchanges retain thinness, hitting a few tinny highs when emotions explode. Most soundtrack cuts share a consistent power, but the feature's centerpiece Felony performance of "The Gangster Rock" comes off a tad distorted, blowing out dialogue. While hiss is present but not obtrusive, a noticeable buzzing noise pops up midway through the picture, remaining for a few sequences.
"Graduation Day" is boosted by determined editing from Martin Jay Sadoff, who's at least trying to break up the norm with sophisticated cutting, and the score from Arthur Kempel rips off Bernard Herrmann in a loving way, adding a dash of Hitchcockian flair to the picture's grand finale. It's these little additions that add up along the way, helping to break "Graduation Day" of its repetition, finding a personality of its own that's entertaining and intermittently suspenseful. It's not pure gold, but as no-budget efforts go during this sketchy time period, the movie has speed and periodic bursts of ambition.
1981
1985
Standard Edition
1981
1984
Mil gritos tiene la noche | Remastered | Limited Edition Puzzle to 3000
1982
1982
1983
1985
1983
Nightmares in a Damaged Brain
1981
Rosemary's Killer
1981
Slipcover in Original Pressing
1981
1987
2K Restoration
1980
Deluxe Edition | SOLD OUT
1981
Special Edition
1980
1983
Communion / Holy Terror
1976
1998
1988