Graduation Day DVD Review
01-09-03, 06:54 PM
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Graduation Day DVD Review
I finally caved and ordered the Graduation Day dvd. It's a Troma release, but I got it from buy.com as to not deal with the horrendoous Troma website.
First, the movie. Assuming you know the movie I'll skip to the presentation.
Disappointing. It's presented in full frame. The original aspect ratio is 1.85:1. Based on the way the shots are framed I would guess the sides are chopped as opposed to open matte, but that's just a guess. For the record I compared the picture to my VHS dub from years ago, and it appears to be the same cut. The picture quality is lacking. While it appears to be less grainy than I feared, the colors are completely washed out. Maybe it's just thanks to the age and budget of the source material, but I've seen other 80s slasher cheapies with much better picture. Sound is two channel stereo. I don't have a great sound system to adequately judge this, but I did notice a hiss at certain points, so take that for what you will.
In addition, the film is preceded by a cheezy pointless intro by Troma head Lloyd Kaufman. He makes several jokes but is not at all funny. Instead he comes off as highly obnoxious. Worse, you can't pass the intro with fast forward. I had to hit menu, which took me to scene selection, then select the first chapter. By the way, the film is split into a meager six chapters.
Extras:
The extras were relatively lackluster. First we have 5 trailers for other Troma films. I'll say right now that I was once a fan of Toxic Avenger a long time ago, but now the standard issue Troma film is practically unwatchable for me. We've got trailers for three Troma-type films: Toxic Avenger 4, Chopper Chicks in Zombietown (ft Billy Bob Thornton!), and The Hall Monitor (wow, this looks awful); and two oddities: Superstarlet A.D. and Angel Negro. These trailers could have been fun, but they vary in quality from poor to wretched. The Hall Monitor, in particluar, looks like a QuickTime trailer viewed at fullscreen. And no trailer for Graduation Day appears on the disc.
Onto the actual extras section (called 'Detention' on the disc). First is an interview with Scream Queen (and supporting star of Graduation Day) Linnea Quigley. Inexpeciably conducted by Troma character Sgt Kabukiman, the interview does have a few behind the scenes tidbits about the film, plus a bit about Return of the Living Dead and other things she's involved with. It's not very deep, though, and the video quality is really bad. I'm thinking this was originally done for web purposes.
Tromatic Filmmaking Class: The Arm Rip features Lloyd again, this time showing the viewers how to rip off someone's arm, Troma style. While somewhat interesting, this really comes across as more stupid, seeing as their genius method is something any 12-year-old with a video camera could have devised. Plus, this has nothing to do with Graduation Day. Vidoe quality is about the same as the Linnea interview.
The next three "features" on the disc are just promotional fluff. Make Your Own Damn Movie is nothing more than a promo for a book of the same name. Troma.com is just a still screen ad for, yeah, you know. And then there's the oddly titled The Year Book, which offers the DVD credits in the form of... a diploma??? Year book, diploma, ahh whatever.
Finally, there's an easter egg - a 2-minute clip called Cannibal Lesbian Hoedown. A bunch of topless woman make out and eat bloody entrails off each other, to a banjo song. Umm, they had me at topless, they lost me at entrails.
Final Thoughts:
Well it's better than the VHS I suppose, but not by much. I got it for $12.99 shipped from buy.com, so I'm not too upset. But this is clearly not up to par (although maybe it is up to Troma par, I've seen seen any of their other discs). The goofy extras don't bother me as much as the lackluster presentation of the feature. If you MUST have this movie, this is better than the VHS tape. Otherwise, be warned.
First, the movie. Assuming you know the movie I'll skip to the presentation.
Disappointing. It's presented in full frame. The original aspect ratio is 1.85:1. Based on the way the shots are framed I would guess the sides are chopped as opposed to open matte, but that's just a guess. For the record I compared the picture to my VHS dub from years ago, and it appears to be the same cut. The picture quality is lacking. While it appears to be less grainy than I feared, the colors are completely washed out. Maybe it's just thanks to the age and budget of the source material, but I've seen other 80s slasher cheapies with much better picture. Sound is two channel stereo. I don't have a great sound system to adequately judge this, but I did notice a hiss at certain points, so take that for what you will.
In addition, the film is preceded by a cheezy pointless intro by Troma head Lloyd Kaufman. He makes several jokes but is not at all funny. Instead he comes off as highly obnoxious. Worse, you can't pass the intro with fast forward. I had to hit menu, which took me to scene selection, then select the first chapter. By the way, the film is split into a meager six chapters.
Extras:
The extras were relatively lackluster. First we have 5 trailers for other Troma films. I'll say right now that I was once a fan of Toxic Avenger a long time ago, but now the standard issue Troma film is practically unwatchable for me. We've got trailers for three Troma-type films: Toxic Avenger 4, Chopper Chicks in Zombietown (ft Billy Bob Thornton!), and The Hall Monitor (wow, this looks awful); and two oddities: Superstarlet A.D. and Angel Negro. These trailers could have been fun, but they vary in quality from poor to wretched. The Hall Monitor, in particluar, looks like a QuickTime trailer viewed at fullscreen. And no trailer for Graduation Day appears on the disc.
Onto the actual extras section (called 'Detention' on the disc). First is an interview with Scream Queen (and supporting star of Graduation Day) Linnea Quigley. Inexpeciably conducted by Troma character Sgt Kabukiman, the interview does have a few behind the scenes tidbits about the film, plus a bit about Return of the Living Dead and other things she's involved with. It's not very deep, though, and the video quality is really bad. I'm thinking this was originally done for web purposes.
Tromatic Filmmaking Class: The Arm Rip features Lloyd again, this time showing the viewers how to rip off someone's arm, Troma style. While somewhat interesting, this really comes across as more stupid, seeing as their genius method is something any 12-year-old with a video camera could have devised. Plus, this has nothing to do with Graduation Day. Vidoe quality is about the same as the Linnea interview.
The next three "features" on the disc are just promotional fluff. Make Your Own Damn Movie is nothing more than a promo for a book of the same name. Troma.com is just a still screen ad for, yeah, you know. And then there's the oddly titled The Year Book, which offers the DVD credits in the form of... a diploma??? Year book, diploma, ahh whatever.
Finally, there's an easter egg - a 2-minute clip called Cannibal Lesbian Hoedown. A bunch of topless woman make out and eat bloody entrails off each other, to a banjo song. Umm, they had me at topless, they lost me at entrails.
Final Thoughts:
Well it's better than the VHS I suppose, but not by much. I got it for $12.99 shipped from buy.com, so I'm not too upset. But this is clearly not up to par (although maybe it is up to Troma par, I've seen seen any of their other discs). The goofy extras don't bother me as much as the lackluster presentation of the feature. If you MUST have this movie, this is better than the VHS tape. Otherwise, be warned.
