GRADUATION DAY - Grant Loud - "Graduation Day Blues" (1981)

Well, we never intended to do so many movies from the 80's, but then I never really meant to do any movies from the 80's, and I think tonight's Wacky Wednesday offering is a pretty good example as to why, but since we're on a quest to document every Monster/Weird/Hot Rod//Horror/Sci-Fi/Giallo/Rock and Roll/Biker/Spy movie ever made, we really don't have much choice!

It was made in 1981, and it's called "Graduation Day!" Honestly, I didn't think I was going to be able to make it all the way through after the first 20 or 30 minutes, but like an over matched boxer in a three round fight, I hung in there, and I'm actually kind of glad I did for a couple of reasons!

I never was a big slasher movie fan, and I didn't really care for Giallo movies either when I was first introduced to them, but I learned to like Giallo because they are usually quite intelligent with an intriguing storyline, but American slasher movies are not quite as smart, being content with just lining up one victim after another trying to find a new and different way to get each dirty job done!

I was very surprised that something in this sign wasn't misspelled!!

Wow! Do you think the killer might live in this normal looking household?

Nice gams!!

Weird! The school looks like it's melting!

Christopher (Rat Patrol, The Immortal) George plays the bastard track coach who is just weird enough that you might think he was the killer, except for the fact that he doesn't live in that freaky house! Bummer! Christopher died of a heart attack at the age of 52!

Scream Queen Linnea Quigley is the slut trying to get the music teacher to give her a passing grade, and you can't really blame her, since she was 23 years old and still in high school!

Golden Gloves boxing champion Virgil (Queen Of Blood, Hells Angels On Wheel, Easy Rider, Nightmare In Wax) Frye is the rent a cop security guard getting high on the job at the school!

Whoever is killing all the members of the track team is timing them all!

I did a little bit of reading about this movie, and it seemed like a lot of people didn't like the music. Personally, it was the music that kept me awake and got me to the end, and is probably the best part of the movie! 

Grant (Shakespeare's Plan 12 From Outer Space) Loud performs "Graduation Day Blues!"
This is the kind of stuff that this blog was founded on, and raised my opinion of "Graduation Day" from an F- to an A+!

Then the pretty damn good L.A. new wave band Felony performs at the graduation party! Felony's hit song "Fanatic" was used in the movie "Valley Girl!"

The lead singer of Felony is wearing black gloves! Could he possibly be the killer?

You never know, because anything goes in this movie now!

Felony plays "Gangster Rock" for about 10 minutes and all the happy kids in the graduating class roller skate in circles around them! I thought it was a pretty cool party! Probably better than my graduation if I could remember it after that six pack of 16 oz Colt 45's!

E.J. (Hello Dolly) Peaker as Blondie, and Michael (Grave Of The Vampire, Dracula's Dog, Jailbait Babysitter) Pataki as Principal Guglione provide the much needed comic relief!

He doesn't want to be bothered and she just keeps giving him phone calls! It's really pretty funny!

Vanna (Wheel Of Fortune) White is the 24 year old high school girl Doris!

One of the more creative killings was that of the pole vaulter who after a successful jump lands on a bunch of spikes!

"Graduation Day" is not the best or the worst movie I've ever seen! As a historical document, and if you like slasher movies with cool 80's music, then it's awesome, but if you don't like those two things, then don't even bother!

BIOHAZARD / Viking Films, Fred Olen Ray - 1985

Okay, here we go with another Fred Olen Ray monster abomination... The story line is simple, probably as simple as writing it down on a napkin at Denny's in North Hollywood. It goes like this... An alien monster uses a psychic to try to take over the Earth!

But, this damn thing stars two Dungeon Faves, Angelique (MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND) Pettyjohn and Aldo (THE POWER) Ray. And, get this... The monster is played by Fred's 5 year old son, Christopher!!

The best way to make it seem like there's a biohazard emergency is to get a biohazard suit and geiger counter, then walk around in the hills outside LA, that's it!

Government officials and a General watch as beautiful psychic Lisa Martyn gets in touch with an alien being... From another mundo yet! Don't look too closely at what a piece of crap Lisa's helmet is!!

The Professor at the facility tries to program the keyboard in the key of C- during a break!

Wow, Aldo is freakin' drunk on his ass as he tries to delivery his silly lines, sad!

Here you go, the first victim of the creature's little razor sharp claw!

Lisa is attracted to Mitchell Carter, played by William (DEEP SPACE) Fair, I simply can't show you what happens after the kiss, but, hubba, hubba, hubba!! After that, they become a team to hunt down the alien. If you can't tell, that's a wig on Lisa.

Here's this dude working away, doing, well... something! He gets it of course. Those boxes in the background caught my eye, I'm pretty damn sure those boxes are full of Fred's DVDs from his movies since Eegah!! and I have some of those from our movie, THE CREEP!!

This nice looking shot reminds me of a park scene from our unfinished masterpiece, VIRUS MAN!.. Hey Yo, Greg!! Oh yeah, those bums get deaded...

Then, this shot reminds me of our great little movie, SILVER ANGEL vs THE DEATH ZOMBIES because it starts with a dumpster at night. Love night shots!

They would be remiss to not include egg laying parasites!.. Right?! 1985, Baby!!

...TOUCHDOWN!!!

Then, Fred pulls the switch and electrocutes his own son! Well, you gots'ta do whatever it takes to get this freakin' thing in the can!!

I'll end with a little homage to our Dungeon Gal Pal, Angelique Pettyjohn, she gets the last word. Tune in again on Wednesday when we continue down the old musty monster trail...

DIE TOTE AUS DER THEMSE - "Angels Of Terror" - "The Dead One In The Thames River" Edgar Wallace (1971)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is a good one! Whether you want to call it "Die Tote Der Themse," "Angels Of Terror," or "The Dead One In The Thames River," it doesn't matter, because the end result is the same no matter what, this movie is pure 1971.

The story is based loosely on a book titled "The Angel Of Terror" by Edgar Wallace!
The music in "Die Tote Aus Der Themse" is by the always brilliant Peter Thomas, and here's just a couple of minutes to prove my point!

I pulled up this shot from much later in the film and flipped it so you could see where they got the design for the title card lettering from!

Drug deal gone wrong, drug informant misfire, dead girl or maybe not, it's an Edgar Wallace tale, anything goes!

For some reason, the gal that just got shot lives in an apartment building that doubles as a house of ill repute, so when there's a shot or two, all the girls quit their business to come and take a look since the door is wide open!

Another woman who looks just like the other woman suddenly appears, and we find out that it's her sister who has just had her round trip airfare paid by her sister who just supposedly got shot! I say supposedly, because after the gawkers all went back to work, the body suddenly disappeared!

This is Uschi Glas, who has had a remarkable career in our kinda movies like "The Sinister Monk," "The College Girl Murders," and "Gorilla Gang," and is in part three, as well as parts one and two, of an ongoing series called "Suck Me Shakspeer" in pre-production this year!

This movie gives shooting heroin new meaning!

Never take for granted how lucky you are to be alive! Werner Peters died at the age of 52 a month or so after this movie was made! The meat slaughter house scenes will be pretty repulsive if you're a vegan. You might want to keep your remote control handy with your finger on fast forward!

"Die Tote Aus Der Themse" is a movie about patterns, lots of crazy patterns!

It makes it fun to watch!!

I never thought about it before, but I guess in Europe they don't abide by the no 13th floor rule!

Once again, it's Siegfried Schürenberg as Sir John who is probably going to have to save the day! Pervy Sir John is so happy in this shot because he is reviewing some slides of photos taken by the photographer who took a picture of the dead body, and has found some nice nudie cutie pix!

Then Sir John finds a very unattractive picture of himself that the photographer took of him, and he orders the film to be destroyed!!

One thing about whoever is picking off all these people, they are a crack shot! They all get shot in the head, and one time, the victim's companion after seeing the bullet hole in the head says "call an ambulance!"

Now that is a hot phone!

I lost count how many times this happens, four or five I think!

Pretty wild looking living room! I don't approve of the bear skin rug, but the skulls in the cabinet are pretty cool!

I got lucky and got this great composite shot of Siegfried and Werner in a final confrontation scene between two olde golfing buddies! That's one of the things I like about these movies, the clowning around is always offset by some serious shit!

But what, that still didn't stop the shooting rampage?

 "I can tell by the way she is dressed that you two are obviously guilty, and I'm arresting you for heroin smuggling and murder!

I liked this crazy movie, and I think I just might read the book myself to see how different it must surely be! Can't hardly lose for a five-spot!

 Here's just one place you can get it!