Graveyard Shift

Films like this one were released by the bucket load in the 1980's, but as 1990 approached; they became less and less common. Still, there are a lot of silly horror flicks that were released in the 90's debut year, and, surprisingly, this one isn't all that bad. It lacks all the elements that make great films great films, of course; things such as brains, coherency and any whisper of characters has been neglected in favour of monster special effects and a few nice death scenes; but seriously, that's all you want from a film like this, so to say that Graveyard Shift does it's job isn't wrong. The film is based on a short story by Stephen King. Nearly everything that King has ever touched has been turned into a film, with a lot of mixed results. I would put this one in the middling category, which isn't a bad place to be in considering all the failed adaptations. The plot is typically thin (it is a SHORT story!) and it follows a man who gets a job in a cotton mill. The place is infested with rats, and after being charged with cleaning the place up, our hero finds a trapdoor and soon he and his team are up against the reason rats have made their home in the mill...

One thing that really stands out about this film is the atmosphere. Director Ralph S. Singleton delights in presenting a fetid and disturbing aura around the central location, and this helps the story massively and gives the film an almost 'odyssey' approach when the characters finally make their way underground. I don't find rats scary, personally, but many people do and this film could easily be a reason why! The way that the rats surround the characters is brooding and frightening and provides the film with one of it's key elements. Acting definitely isn't a key element of Graveyard Shift, but the appearance of popular cult actor Brad Dourif will please many of this films' audience. I'm not a massive of fan of Dourif personally, but I respect his ability to shine in campy productions. The story doesn't offer anything in the way of a point, and it's incoherency will annoy many - but if you go into this film with the right sort of expectations, and don't think you're about to see a horror classic, Graveyard Shift really shouldn't disappoint.

Stretching a Stephen King story about a rat-infested cotton mill in Maine to 90 minutes may have seemed like a good idea, but giving the rat infestment too much close-up coverage was not. Dwelling a little more on the human element and why the townspeople behave as they do toward the new mill worker (a drifter with a college ed), would have helped. Unfortunately, the script doesn't give any of the actors a chance to develop credible characters.

Nevertheless, loopholes and all (inconsistent motivations for the things certain characters do), GRAVEYARD SHIFT manages to serve viewers a fair share of unexpected twists and turns in the course of a typical King tale of terrorized victims which just happens to take place in his favorite domain, Maine. None of the performers are well-known (which can be a good thing), except for Brad Dourif who is hilariously over-the-top as The Exterminator. It doesn't help that the female lead is particularly unappealing.

What helps considerably are the able performances of David Andrews and his uneasy relationship with boss Stephen Macht, heavy on the Maine accent. Macht has the perfect face for sneering villainy. Andrews' predicament as the new mills worker is what kept me wanting to see how things turned out. The rat-filled prologue should have warned me of things to come, but even a dedicated horror fan should get some unexpected jolts from the last half-hour.

Not a great horror film, but one with the atmosphere down perfectly. You can almost smell the stench of Andrews' surroundings and the sweat on his back as he makes the most of a gruesome situation. I understand the new DVD version is an excellent transfer that makes the most of the gritty atmosphere.

Definitely not for those who can't stand the sight of the nasty little critters. I just happened to be in the mood for a spooky movie, and settled back to watch this on TV. Certainly not the worse King film committed to film and it does have its moments of pure terror.

But still, the subject matter is just a bit too unpleasant to give this any sort of "must see" recommendation. Strictly for die-hard King fans.

Bland David Andrews is a quiet hunk drifter who starts the late shift at a grimy Maine textile mill, headed over by a sadistic sleazeball boss (Stephen Macht). The basement work crew start falling prey to a giant rat monster that lurks underground. Real rats are all over the place too, to clean up the bodies.

The gore FX are mostly top-notch, the sets are good and there's plenty of violence and action, but this pointless movie is one big, unpleasant cliché thanks to poor direction and scripting (by John Esposito, based on the Stephen King story). Everyone yells and screams a lot, but Kelly Wolf (as a tough female worker who can hold her own) and Brad Dourif (as 'Nam vet pest exterminator Tucker Cleveland) are the only two who bring any spark to their roles.

Stephen King's Graveyard Shift is curiously one of my favourite adaptations of his work. I say curiously because it's not a very tasteful film, let alone even a good one. It's simple schlock and awe, goo and slime for 90 minutes straight, every human character either an unsettling nutcase or cardboard stock archetype. There's just something so Midnite Movie- esque about it though, a sense of fun to its gigantic, hollowed out mess of a textile mill in which some kind of vile denizen stalks a night crew that pretty much deserves everything they get. People wander about, squabble and are picked off in ways that get steadily more gruesome until the final reveal of the monster in some overblown puss-palooza of a finale. What more do you need in your bottom feeder helping of horror? Steven Macht is the sleazebag who runs the mill at his tyrannical whim, while David Andrews is the closest thing you'll find to a stoic protagonist. Andrew 'Wishmaster' Divoff shows up as a stock character, but it's Brad Dourif who chews scenery and ends up the only memorable person as the world's most simultaneously intense and incompetent exterminator, a bug eyed little weirdo who freaks people out with extended monologues about Viet Nam when he should be perusing corridors to find whatever's lurking there. The monster itself, if I remember correctly, is one big pile of grossly misshappen, poopy prosthetic puppetry, as is often the case in early 90's King fare. Would you want it any other way? Simple, efficient and impressively gory is what you'll find on this shift.

In a dark and nasty textile factory close to a cemetery and infested of rats, many workers are missing. When the corrupt manager Warwick (Stephen Macht) is forced by a sanitary agent to hire the exterminator Tucker Cleveland (Brad Dourif), he asks Tucker to use less poison than necessary to reduce the costs. Meanwhile, the drifter John Hall (David Andrews) applies for a job and accepts the position of operator of a textile machine in the graveyard shift. What they do not know is that there is a huge creature is in the underground of the mill threatening the workers.

"Graveyard Shift" is a gruesome horror tale with a dark story, rats, and nasty and disgusting locations. Most of the characters are unpleasant but the direction and performances are good. This film is certainly recommended for a very specific audience and may not please the viewer. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Criatura do Cemitério" ("The Creature from the Cemetery")

Note: On 30 Aug 2020, I saw this film again.