I had to re-watch the opening credits to make sure I’d read them correctly: Graduation Day is a Troma picture. Why is this surprising? Because Graduation Day is straight good vs. dumb-good.

Graduation Day is one of the best slashers I’ve seen, in fact.

As a mystery, it’s a lot like a giallo* movie, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, almost better plotted. Here’s some stuff about Troma you can skip if you want to.

*Giallo is a loose category for masterful Italian crime pictures like Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (’70)

Well, it’s sort of a Troma picture

The opening credits of the version I watched on Tubi have the instantly recognizable Troma Team Release image and caption. After just fact-checking myself, I think it was first distributed by something called IFI/Scope III. I can’t find out anything about what that is, or if anyone from Troma (e.g., co-founder Lloyd Kaufman) was involved. I can’t find associations between Troma and any of the crew.

Suffice it to say:

Graduation Day is artfully trashy enough to be worthy of a Troma Team re-release on DVD and streaming.

What is Troma?

Troma Entertainment, a distribution and production company started in 1974, is the premier source of what I like to call “artful trash.”

Troma films try, and succeed, to be something, they just don’t try to be something they’re not. Troma pictures feature cheap but somehow good effects, absurd plotlines, confidently terrible acting, and boob and butt shots so blatant, they’re comical. Some titles include:

• The Toxic Avenger (1984)
• Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986)
• Surf Nazis Must Die (1987)
• Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990)
• Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006)
• The Taint (2011)

Graduation Day: a surprisingly good slasher

Graduation Day features many examples of Troma’s hallmark camp, like a jock being killed by a spiked football. Sexism-wise, at one point a girl gets killed in the woods. Even though she’s dead, the camera lingers on her butt for so long it goes beyond pervy, to the point where you wonder if the camera guy went for a smoke and forgot he was shooting a movie.

Quick synopsis of Graduation Day

High school track star Laura Ramstead (Ruth Ann Llorens) dies of a cardiac embolism during a race. Her older sister, a Navy officer, shows up and tries to solve the murder. An escalating series of gruesome murders follow.

Why I love it

Graduation Day keeps you guessing and (spoiler ⚠️) totally tricks you with a false reveal of the killer. It balances Troma camp with a grim edge. There’s an ass-kicking final girl and a legitimately beautiful gymnastic sequence. WHO KNEW.