Taglines: This is one school you won’t want to graduate from!
Graduation Day movie storyline. During a high school track meet, Laura (Ruth Ann Llorens), a female runner, is pushed by the crowd and her demanding coach (who keeps screaming “move it, move it, move it!”). Apparently the pressure is too much for Laura who collapses right after crossing the finish line and breaking a 30 second 100 meter race. Upon examination by the coach and her teammates, Laura is dead.
Some days later, Anne Ramstead (Patch Mackenzie), returning to town on leave from the U.S. Navy, is getting a ride into town from a sleazy truck driver. She asks to be dropped off when she sees a girl running by. The girl, Paula, runs into a wooded area with her earphones on. Someone is following her, and a pair of black leather gloves starts a stopwatch. The unseen person catches up to Paula and slits her throat.
At the Midvale High School, the track team is waiting for Paula to show up so they can have their class photograph taken. Coach George Michaels (Christopher George) decides to have the picture taken without the student. Meanwhile, an unseen person places a photo of the track team and after circling Laura’s face, crosses out Paula’s face.
Meanwhile, Anne arrives home to visit her mother (Beverly Dixon) and her crabby stepfather, Ronald (Hal Bokar). Anne and her mother discuss the death of their sister/daughter (who happens to be Laura). When her mother asks how long will she be visiting, Anne replies that she will be leaving after graduation day. Anne goes upstairs to her room to unpack her things, including a gray sweatshirt and a pair of black leather gloves.
Later, another track member, named Sally (Denise Cheshire), is walking through the wooded area and she has an encounter with Anne, who is looking for the auditorium. Anne reacts strangely towards Sally who points out the direction to the auditorium. Later in the auditorium, Sally arrives where she sees Anne already there watching the students having a graduation rehearsal, with Anne as a special guest. Sally points out to her friends about her encounter with Anne earlier and states: “Boy, that girl is weird!”
Afterwards, Anne goes to visit Laura’s boyfriend, Kevin (E. Danny Murphy), at his house. Anne sees how odd Kevin is, claiming that his parents are away and his grandmother, who spends all the time in a chair in the living room watching TV, is stone deaf. Kevin shows Anne a photo album of Laura, and Anne gives Kevin one of Laura’s track medals which he thanks her for.
Another day or so later, Sally is in the locker room when the lights are shut off. She runs into two ‘mean girls’, named Doris (Vanna White) and Joanne (Karen Abbott), and frightens them. Sally searches the area, but finds no one. A little later, Sally the gymnast arrives in the gym area where Coach Michaels is there with a photographer to take a few photos of her doing a routine on the gym bars, but she is not able to concentrate apparently due to memories of Laura’s death.
Sally tries to concentrate despite Coach’s encouragement words: of “don’t disappoint me”, but she continually fails. Sally heads back to the locker room and after showering and shaving her legs, the killer arrives, wearing a gray sweatsuit, black leather gloves and a fencing mask. The masked killer then murders Sally by stabbing her through the mouth with a sword. The killer again has the stopwatch and stops it after 30 seconds.
Later, the ill-tempered Principal Gugilone (Michael Pataki) is in his office arguing with his secretary. After the secretary walks out, he pulls out a switchblade knife from his coat pocket and uses it to slice an apple to eat. He puts the knife into his desk drawer, where there’s various knifes as well as a stopwatch.
Graduation Day is a 1981 American slasher film co-written, co-produced and directed by Herb Freed. It stars Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, Michael Pataki, and E. Danny Murphy in his film debut. The plot follows a high school track team who are stalked and murdered by a masked assailant days before their graduation.
Filmed in Los Angeles, Graduation Day was released in the spring of 1981, grossing nearly $24 million on a budget of $250,000, far exceeding the genre’s usual box office at the time. Though it received a largely negative reception, the film has since developed a cult following among fans of the genre.
Graduation Day (1981)
Directed by: Herb Freed
Starring: Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, E. Danny Murphy, Michael Pataki, E. J. Peaker, Linnea Quigley, Denise Cheshire, Billy Hufsey, Vanna White, Karen Abbott, Linda Shayne
Screenplay by: Herb Freed, Anne Marisse
Production Design by: Herman Grigsby
Cinematography by: Daniel Yarussi
Film Editing by: Martin Jay Sadoff
Art Direction by: Chris Henry
Music by: Arthur Kempel
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: IFI / Scope III
Release Date: May 8, 1981
Visits: 102