Graveyard Shift (1990)

Perfect cast and a good story

Captivating movie !

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I love the atmospheric setting for Graveyard Shift, a run down, rat-infested textile mill built over a network of tunnels and next to a cemetery. I love rodents: I used to own a lovely pair of white rats. I like bats (which are essentially flying rodents). And I like the rat/bat monster in Graveyard Shift, which isn't nearly as bad as some of the reviews here would have you believe.What I don't like about this film, however, are the people. Drifter John Hall (David Andrews) makes for a bland hero, mill foreman Warwick (Stephen Macht) is an obnoxious bastard with a really annoying accent, Brad Dourif as The Exterminator is way too over the top (even by Brad's standards), and Andrew Divoff and Vic Polizos are terrible as Hall's co-workers Danson and Brogan, the latter almost making me switch off as he blasts rats with a high pressure hose (not because I felt for the rats, but because he screams at the top of his voice with each blast. Very irritating!).Super cringe-worthy scenes include Warwick suddenly going nutzoid, smearing his face with dirt and acting like Rambo, and Danson suddenly breaking down in hysterics. Still, with a decent creature (I've seen plenty worse) and a fair amount of gore, Graveyard Shift is still worth a look, especially for Stephen King fans, on whose short story the film is based.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for the so-bad-it's-brilliant end credits song that is comprised of snippets of dialogue from the film set to a cheesy backing track.

Following a series of accidents, the new worker at a troubled textile processing mill finds the incidents are being caused by a massive infestation of rats and must clear them out in order to keep it in business.There's not a whole lot to really like with this one as its pretty underwhelming. The biggest issues against this one is the fact that way too much time is spent here on the utterly useless subplot about the different workers at the plant, none of which do anything interesting overall or move the film along at all. The fact that this one tends to continually bring up the different affairs and inter-office dramas within everyone here really has the effect of slowing down the film so that it really drags through the first half. As well, there's just nothing all that interesting or exciting about all of these particular tangents which are just plain irritating as this makes it really hard to really matter what happens to them and how they tend to the various situations around here are. The better elements, here, though, do manage to counteract the flaws here as there's some rather decent efforts throughout this. There's a rather interesting series of attacks throughout which is quite entertaining at times as the encounters in the mill are highly enjoyable. The first encounter within the bowels of the factory works pretty well due to the claustrophobic setting and intense heat, the recovery team getting assaulted in the sewers underneath the mill are quite fun as the different surrounding get utilized to help with the rampaging assault on the crew, as well as the rather chilling encounter within the cemetery crypt which provides this one with plenty of opportunities to get rather enjoyable and entertaining. The best part, though, is the finale down deep in the underground shaft atop a pile of bones as the fight there includes a huge, mutated monstrosity that perfectly echoes the Gothic sensibility of the setting down there by placing such a creature in that situation to make the chilling encounter all the better. By plaguing all of this alongside the great special effects for the giant rat alongside the dead bodies floating around, this adds another level here to what works and really helps to sell the goo parts about this one.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Graveyard Shift speaks a lot about director Ralph Singleton's ability to make a great splatsticks and cheesy flicks. Perhaps this is as gory and bizarre as the novel itself. I believe Stephen King has a guardian angel that is always atop his head, inspiring him bring out the most unusual horrific thoughts. As far as the budget is concerned, GS is mediocre but the way this tale has been presented makes this film bit outlandish. The plot is simple, but the cause is freaky. The cinematography is great and gives a strange sullen atmosphere to the movie. The film has enough offering for the gore-hounds, who would love this flick for splatter reasons. The plot would have worked well even if it were incorporated in any of anthologies like 'Tales from the Darkside aka Creepshow 3.A run down textile mill is restarted by a firm. The owners appoint a grouchy and malevolent supervisor Warwick (Macht) to make new recruitment and keep the production on the go. The exterminators, specially Brad Douriff discovers that the mill is infested with rats. The population of the rodents is so high, that they have dug big holes in the mill premises. We soon watch John Hall (David Andrews) taking role of a night shift worker. Others are astonished to see John take the night shift. The shift has a notorious past, because it took the life of old workers. We also come to know that the deaths have something to do with rats. Andrews soon assumes his responsibility and is time and again bugged by the presence of rats. He manages to fend some of them with an empty cola can and sling. John is bullied by his fellows Danson (Divoff) and Brogan (Polizos), but he wants to keep his profile low. John also shares some pleasant intimacy with his co-worker Jane (Kelly Wolf), which is despised by Warwick. Time goes by and other incidents of disappearances take place. Searching for the clue, the exterminator Douriff scans the nearby graveyard and discovers a tunnel. Before he could track the channels, he is crushed under a tombstone. Warwick compels the workers to participate in the extermination program. Unfortunately, the team stumbles upon a chain of interconnected tunnels, that lead to a nearby graveyard. One by one the workers are killed by something unimaginable, that rests and breeds inside this tunnel waiting for the good time. However, John still has his time for the final showdown.The film succeeds in taking the viewers to discomfort. Unlike any other ambiguous horror farce that is trashed out in the name of horror, this doesn't lose grip. A newbie to horror may take it for a slow starter and soon start pigeonholing this gem of a film with other inferior squibs. This film has a strange atmosphere, that gets tedious and intolerable due to the presence of rats. Well, consider yourself working past midnight at a mill with no ventilation, heavily enervated and badly perspiring. Then to add to your troubles, you are alone, and furthermore you are surrounded by several hundred rodents, that are smelly and also HUNGRY! How do you think you'll react to this? Well watch GS to believe it. Cheers to Ralph Singleton!

I do not like rats. This place is full of them, Why did I watch this? These rats are vicious. But there is something in the basement that is even more vicious.I really enjoyed David Andrews as the man you most want to see in the basement alone.Brad Dourif as the exterminator made the film worth watching.But, it is not just the foreman who ends up in the basement, but the whole gang. Will they escape? Maybe some will. Will there be screaming? You can count on it. Will the foreman get his? You'll have to watch to find out.