Earlier this summer we reported that 88 Films will be releasing Graduation Day and Mother's Day to Blu-ray in the UK, and now 1981's Don't Go in the Woods... Alone will also be given the UK high-definition treatment. Together, these three releases make up the first wave of 88 Films' Slasher Classics Collection, and the documentary, Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed!, has been included on Graduation Day's special features.
Graduation Day will hit Blu-ray in the UK on October 13th, while Mother's Day will be available in the high-definition format sometime in early 2015. An official release date for Don't Go in the Woods... Alone has not yet been announced. Below are two official press releases and a look at the Blu-ray cover art. The first release has full details on Graduation Day's special features, including the documentary, Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed! (thanks to Blu-ray.com for the press release!), and the second release discuses the Slasher Classics Collection line.
Graduation Day Special Features (courtesy of Blu-ray.com):
Press Release - "Released in 1981, Graduation Day has become a favourite of slasher movie fans thanks to its plasma-spurting set pieces, maniacal mystery-killer storyline and a cast of cult celebrities that includes Christopher George (City of the Living Dead), Vanna White (Wheel of Fortune) and the perennially topless Scream Queen Linnea Quigley. Now gearing up for a BluRay release, with a stunning print restored and re-mastered from a colourful 4k scan, Graduation Day will return to the UK on October 13th, courtesy of 88 Films. This BluRay debut will launch 88 Films’ ‘Slasher Classics Collection’ – a line that also includes HD bows for the celebrated ‘video nasty’ Don’t go in the Woods (1981) and the classic backwoods shocker Mother’s Day (1980). Best of all, Graduation Day will arrive in the UK with an array of newly created special features from High Rising Productions including a new feature length documentary entitled SCREAM QUEENS: HORROR HEROINES EXPOSED!
Hosted by the legendary Debbie Rochon (Tromeo and Juliet, Terror Firmer), this insightful investigation into the challenges of women working within a genre frequently associated with a masculine fanbase is unique in featuring all-female perspectives. Names that have been caught on camera for this epic expose include Graduation Day’s own Linnea Quigley, glamour girls Christa Campbell (2001 Maniacs) and Playboy Playmate Irina Voronina (Piranha 3DD) and Hostel’s ‘eyeball-less’ victim Jennifer Lim. Further icons of scary cinema speaking in SCREAM QUEENS: HORROR HEROINES EXPOSED are Michelle Bauer (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers), Sybil Danning (Howling II), Danielle Harris (the Halloween series), Adrienne King (Friday the 13th), Melanie Kinnaman (Friday the 13th Part V), Lynn Lowry (Shivers), Catriona MacColl (The Beyond), Cassandra Peterson (AKA Elvira), Brinke Stevens (Slumber Party Massacre), Patricia Tallman (Night of the Living Dead) and Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 and 5). In addition, the genre’s current ‘it’ girl Elissa Dowling, journalist Heidi Honeycutt and veteran performers Emily Booth (Cradle of Fear), Forbes Riley (Splatter University) and Jane March (Colour of Night) add to the onscreen allure of this exhaustive undertaking.
Years-in-the-works, SCREAM QUEENS: HORROR HEROINES EXPOSED makes the 88 Films release of GRADUATION DAY a must-buy for any fan of macabre movies. In addition, also included on the new UK BluRay release is an exclusive interview with author and slasher expert Justin Kerswell, the writer behind the HYSTERIA LIVES web site, and booklet notes from Calum Waddell – director of SCREAM QUEENS: HORROR HEROINES EXPOSED.
"We knew that for the launch of our ‘Slasher Classics’ line we needed to do something special and our extras-packed edition of GRADUATION DAY is one such example," says Richard Elliot of 88 Films. "We have full confidence that horror buffs will enjoy learning about the trials and terror that is involved in being a 'Scream Queen' with our fantastic new documentary. We look forward to continuing this range and strongly believe that fans of GRADUATION DAY - and slasher cinema in general - will not be disappointed with our release."
Adds James Blower, co-founder of 88 Films: “Having enjoyed SLICE AND DICE: THE SLASHER FILM FOREVER, I am very enthusiastic about SCREAM QUEENS: HORROR HEROINES EXPOSED. In my opinion, this makes our release of GRADUATION DAY a very special one – offering fans a ‘double bill’ of feature thrills. The fact that it is solely women appearing in front of the camera for this documentary makes for a most insightful interrogation of the entire ‘Scream Queen’ phenomenon.”
Press Release (via DVD News Flash) - "Ask any self-respecting slasher buff about the genre’s ‘golden age’ and they will doubtlessly wax poetic about the plasma-packed pot-boilers of the 1980s – the decade of destruction that gave us Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and the transsexual teen-tormenter of the Sleepaway Camp series. Given the label’s name, what better way for 88 Films to celebrate this halcyon era of horror than with a series of numbered and collectible sanguine-splashed shockers from the period of VHS and video nasties?
Hence, 88 Films is proud to announce the launch of a new “SLASHER CLASSICS” line – kicking off with a digitally re-mastered DVD release of Don Gronquist’s notorious censor-baiting backwoods sickie Unhinged (1982). Further fearful fun will be delivered with Don’t Go in the Woods (1981) – the effortlessly enjoyable “hunt ‘em and kill ‘em” epic that once had British authorities outlawing its very exhibition! Directed by James Bryan, Don’t Go in the Woods is a catalogue of splatter-slapstick craziness which lines up a group of campers and crushes them in increasingly comical ways. Take it from us: this maddening mash-up of absurdity and arteries really does have to be seen to be believed!
Following on from this bout of bad-actor bludgeoning will be a new BluRay bow for Herb Freed’s student-filleting frightener Graduation Day (1981), in which high school pupils meet a sticky end from a mysterious stalker in a fencing mask. Adding to the onscreen allure of Graduation Day is a cast of cult veterans that includes Christopher George (City of the Living Dead, Pieces), beloved Scream Queen Linnea Quigley (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Return of the Living Dead) and future small screen celebrity, and Playboy cover girl, Vanna White.
Finally (at least for now) 88 Films is proud to present Charles Kaufman's Mother’s Day (1980) – a macabre movie so effective that Hollywood A-lister Brett Ratner (director of the Rush Hour series and this summer’s Hercules) produced a 2010 remake headlined by Rebecca De Mornay. As usual, though, it is the original which packs the biggest punch. Boasting a tone that is both sinister and satirical – Mother’s Day has three female friends accidentally stumble upon the land of the most dysfunctional family this side of Leatherface and his clan. What follows is not for the faint-hearted – indeed, in his original review the late, great Roger Ebert accused this controversial creeper of wallowing in “images of vile and depraved sadism”!!! You can make up your own minds when Mother’s Day arrives on UK BluRay in early 2015.
Each release in this very special collection will boast a numbered spine, additional features, a reversible sleeve and an informative new booklet, with writing on each respective film, from author Calum Waddell – the erstwhile producer of such documentaries as 88 Films’ own SLICE AND DICE: THE SLASHER FILM FOREVER. Most importantly, of course, we can promise uncut and uncensored prints – with each hack em’ up epic looking bloodier and better than ever before!"
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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