Line #15 Film/GraduationDay


1	[[quoteright:283:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/60023731.jpg]]
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3	A Creator/{{Troma}} produced SlasherMovie from 1981.
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5	A student of Midvale High dies from a bloodclot after she finishes a thirty second track race. Two months later, just before [[HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday the graduation of the class of 1981]], a killer in a fencing mask starts offing other track team members, timing their deaths to exactly thirty seconds with a stopwatch.
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7	----
8	!!This film has the examples of:
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10	* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler: Kevin, who mostly flies under the radar, despite being the killer.]]
11	* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Coach Michaels pushed Laura so much at track and field that she collapsed and died. He's later shot dead by the police.]]
12	* BigBad: [[spoiler:Kevin Badger]] is the killer.
13	* CheapCostume: The killer's costume is ''literally'' just a regular fencing uniform, it doesn't even have a scary face painted on the mask or anything!
14	* CreatorCameo: Director Herb Freed plays the killer when he's chasing Creator/LinneaQuigley.
15	* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler: Christopher George was well known for his leading roles in low-budget horror movies by this time in his career and is top-billed for this film, but he ends up just serving as a RedHerring and AssholeVictim. The real protagonist is Anne (Patch Mackenzie.)]]
16	* DeadStarWalking: [[spoiler: The top-billed Christopher George is mistaken for the killer and killed off midway through the third act.]]
17	* DestinationDefenestration: The killer falls through a window when a corpse is shoved at him.
18	* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler: Kevin, in love with Laura and planning to marry her after graduation, decides that everyone on the track team, including Michaels, needs to die, despite all of them not knowing Laura had the potential to be killed by a blood clot. Also, none of them pushed Laura to run hard as much as Coach Michaels did.]]
19	* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Played with. [[spoiler: Anne acts odd enough around Sally when she asks Sally for directions to the auditorium that when Sally sees her again, she tells her classmates that Anne acted weird around her, and behaves as though it made her uncomfortable.]]
20	* EventTitle: The killings all fall the day before, and on, the school's graduation day.
21	* {{Fanservice}}: Nudity? In ''my'' Troma SlasherMovie? Don't be ridiculous, the girl stripping naked in the locker room and putting on a tight gymnastics leotard is ''totally'' [[SarcasmMode plot-relevant.]]
22	** [[spoiler: Mr. Roberts also gets a moment when one of the girls seduces him for a passing grade by opening her top and letting Roberts bury his face in her chest.]]
23	* FinalGirl: Anne. Justified since [[spoiler:she initially wasn't in the killer's list of targets, and he only comes after her once she finds Laura's remains in his room]].
24	* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: The first time Sally is stalked by the killer before Doris and her friend interrupt them, we get a clear camera shot of the killer, in a mask, through the window of an adjoining room. Based on the build, the person is obviously a teenager, as they are nowhere near as bulky as Coach Michaels. Since the only teenager with a deep connection to Laura is Kevin, her former boyfriend, it's a glaring clue that he's the killer, and is cemented when they find the picture with the victims crossed off, and Michaels and Kevin are the only two that aren't crossed off.]]
25	* GoodLookingPrivates: Anne is introduced, and [[spoiler: exits the film]] in her form-fitting military uniform. The truck driver giving her a ride into town certainly appreciates it, though Anne's stepfather derides her for wearing it. At any rate, Patch Mackenzie looks very attractive in it.
26	* GroinAttack: When the guy who is giving a lift to Anne tries to fondle her, she grabs his balls in a vice grip and tells him to control himself.
27	** And the coach gets a good thump into the jimmies on Kevin during a chase.
28	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: Graduation.
29	* {{Hypocrite}}: After Officer [=MacGregor=] busts two students smoking dope, he warns them not to do it again or else. After they leave, he lits a joint of his own.
30	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: A pole-vaulter dies when he lands on a mat that was rigged with spikes.
31	* ImpromptuTracheotomy: Sally gets a sword thrust through her throat.
32	* {{Jerkass}}: Coach Michaels [[spoiler: He's pissed that Laura's death has cost him his job, and while he didn't mean for her to die from a blood clot during the athletic meet, he cussed and pushed her until her body gave out. While he may not accept blame, he's not the killer.]]
33	** Also, [[spoiler: Kevin. While Laura's death ruined his marital plans with Laura, the main instigator of her death was Coach Michaels, who pushed her too hard. In his mental state, he decides to kill everyone on the track team, despite none of them, even Michaels, knowing she had any sort of health issue.]]
34	** Principal Guglione is also fairly vile, mistreating his secretary and trying to avoid calls from panicked parents who children are missing (And as the audience knows, dead.)
35	* KarmaHoudini: Anne's stepfather is only in a handful of scenes, and treats Anne like dirt every time they share one. He's also put off that Anne traveled from overseas to attend the graduation ceremony and collect Laura's trophy since Laura passed away, claiming that since he raised her as his own, HE should do it. [[spoiler: Even after she's nearly been murdered, he drunkenly comes into her room, scaring her into thinking the murderer is still alive before insulting her and forcing Anne's mother to apologize to him and haul him back to bed. Not only is he never on the killer's radar, but Anne also doesn't even use any of her hand-to-hand combat training skills to knock him on his arse before leaving.]]
36	** Also, [[spoiler: Principal Guglione gets the JerkAss treatment, likely to make him a potential suspect in the killings. He mistreats his secretary and dodges phone calls from concerned parents whose kids are missing, getting further and further angry and exasperated every time his secretary ignores him and transfers a call through. He survives.]]
37	** And, [[spoiler: Mr. Roberts, the music teacher, who agrees to have sex with failing Dolores in return for giving them a passing grade. Roberts survives and is never found out.]]
38	* KillTheCutie: Laura. [[spoiler: She dies early, trying to push herself too hard and impress the coach, and her death sets off Kevin on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Michaels and the rest of the track team.]]
39	* LackOfEmpathy: Coach Michaels takes no blame for his actions which pushed Laura to her death, even when Anne confronts him about it, and is mainly upset that Laura's death cost him his job, considering that retribution enough for his actions.
40	* LegFocus: Most of the main characters wear track uniforms at least once, and Anne's military uniform gives a generous view of her legs that the truck driver [[EatingTheEyeCandy appreciates]] until she [[FreudianThreat grabs him by the crotch and tells him to back off]].
41	* MistakenForMurderer: [[spoiler:After Sally's body is found in the girls' locker room, coach Michaels, who was conveniently present, is thought to be the killer and he is forced to run. He then temporarily gets blamed for the killings after he is shot by the police]].
42	* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: [[spoiler:When Anne goes to see Kevin after hearing that he picked up Laura's trophy instead of her, she finds Laura's corpse dressed for graduation sitting in his room. Kevin then enters the picture and starts treating the remains as if they were still alive]].
43	* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Played with. Coach George Michaels comes pretty close to one-half of the Wham! dinging duo.
44	* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:Subverted. After he dies, Anne faces Kevin again when he enters her room at night. Then the lights are switched on, and in Kevin's place is her drunk stepfather Ronald. Her scared mind had only imagined him being there]].
45	* OffWithHisHead: Tommy gets decapitated from behind as he takes a piss in the woods. His girlfriend Dolores soon follows.
46	* OnceIsNotEnough: Despite having hand-to-hand combat experience, Anne just runs away when she disarms and knocks down the killer. [[spoiler: She does eventually put it to good use, and gets enough hits in during their final confrontation to knock him into some spikes and kill him.]]
47	* PeekABooCorpse: Anne runs into the remains of two victims during the final chase scene.
48	** [[spoiler: Coach Michaels also falls and stumbles onto one of the corpses in the woods when he's trying to run from the police.]]
49	* PetTheDog: [[spoiler: Kevin is very sympathetic towards Anne over the death of Anne's sister/his girlfriend, and is quick to tell her how much Laura idolized Anne. But after she discovers he's the murderer, he has no qualms about killing her to keep her silent, considering her at that point, just as bad as his other victims for "not understanding" his motivations.]]
50	* PoliceAreUseless: Not only does Inspector Halliday only begin investigating the death of the track team members after most of them are slaughtered and after hysterical parents start calling the police station wondering where their kids are, [[spoiler: After Kevin, the film's killer, attacks Coach Michaels, and Michaels gets the upper hand and takes the knife and is standing over Kevin, Halliday comes on the scene, gun raised, attracts Michaels' attention, and even though Michaels isn't even making a threatening move with the knife he's holding, Halliday shoots Michaels twice, turning him into an AssholeVictim.]]
51	* RavenHairIvorySkin: Anne Ramstead, Laura Ramstead, and Sally Prescott all fit the bill.
52	* RedHerring: [[spoiler:Anne is built up to be the culprit, since she brought a gray sweatshirt and gloves similar to the killer's with her, and also acts slightly creepy at times]].
53	** [[spoiler: Also, Coach Michaels wears the same outfit as the killer, and when he's cleaning out his desk towards the end, he's seen packing up black gloves and a stopwatch similar to the one the killer uses. He even gets shot by Halladay, after Halladay comes across him holding a knife after he's disarmed the real killer.]]
54	** Even [[spoiler: Principal Guglione gets this treatment, in a scene where we see him use a switchblade to slice an apple, then open his desk drawer to reveal a number of other confiscated knives stored inside.]]
55	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Laura's boyfriend Kevin tells Michaels that he is the killer. [[SanitySlippage He went crazy]] after she died and now wants to punish the entire track team for it]].
56	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: Kevin kills all the other members of the track team, and attempts to kill coach Michaels because he blames them all for pushing Laura to her death.]]
57	* SexForServices: Dolores seduces her music teacher so that he won't flunk her and put her into summer school.
58	* SlashedThroat: The first victim is a jogging girl who is grabbed from behind by her hair and has her throat slit.
59	* TheStinger: After the credits stop rolling, the stopwatch is shown being used once again.
60	* VideoNasties: One of the Section Three nasties.
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Context Film / GraduationDay