Graveyard Shift DVD with David Andrews, Kelly Wolf, Stephen Macht (R) +Movie Reviews

IT'S NOT REALLY THAT BAD

Tim Janson | Michigan | 07/08/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Graveyard Shift is always high on the list of bad Stephen King films but I don't think it's all that bad. I have the advantage of never having read the story so I have no point of reference to compare it to, which helps I think. As most King movies do, this one is set in Maine, Gates Falls specifically. David Andrews is John Hall, a drifter who blows into town, looking for work. Well there's basically just one business to work at, and that's the old, decrepit textile mill that pretty much supports the town.

The mill is run by the hard-nosed, and sadistic Warwick (Stephen Macht) who hires Andrews to run a machine that can only be run at night due to the high summer heat. Andrews is alone in a dingy, dungeon of a room running his machine and encountering rats...lots of rats that even get inside the bags of cotton he's loading into the machine. Here he meets Tucker the exterminator, played by Brad Douriff with his usual flair for offbeat characters.

Soon Warwick volunteers several employees for the unenviable task of cleaning the basement. The basement makes the upper levels look like a palace, as its filled with water throughout its maze-like halls. But the little group soon finds themselves hunted by a very nasty creature.

Is Graveyard Shift a classic? heck no! But it does have some very heavy atmostphere. If you're the least bit claustrophobic the Mill's basement will really give you the creeps. It's got solid performances, especially from the over-bearing Macht. The creature may not be the greatest but you can do far worse on the video shelves than this film."

Very strange

08/30/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This movie is made rather half-heartedly, but it wallows so deep in the strange and disgusting that a fan of the horror genre can't help but be intrigued. It is based very loosely on Stephen King's story out of Night Shift. Its about a drifter who gets a job at an old mill where a bizarre death has just occured. The foreman is a sleazy adulterer who sleeps with his lady employees. The drifter falls for one of them and they become good friends. When one of the secretaries finds out she was put on cleanup, she trashes the foreman's car. Drifter stops the foreman from hitting the woman and the foreman asigns him to cleanup to take her place. That is when the party really gets started. The movie is by all means horrible, but it is still incredibly entertaining. It has no logic and the story is par at best, but you feel so compelled to watch it because it does hook you. Wich is why this is still one of my favorite horror movies. Look out for Brad Douriff as the exterminator."

Okay little b-movie.

Chadwick H. Saxelid | Concord, CA United States | 01/15/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Bachman (get it?) Mills has a rat problem. A really BIG rat problem. Get it?Stephen King's Graveyard Shift is one of those movies some people think Stephen King had something to do with. Kind of like John Carpenter had something to do with John Carpenter's Halloween. But Maine's #1 Horror Writer (oh, excuse me, "American Novelist") had nothing whatsoever to do with this movie, outside of demanding that it be shot in Maine, so his home state could get a little extra income. The meaning of the title is not dissimilar to Bram Stoker's Dracula or Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The movie does draw a commendable amount from the source story (there's a crappy boss named Warwick, a fire hose is used to squirt rats to oblivion, and there's a giant monster rat, and a mill), so King had no legal ground to have his name removed, as he has done with the movie Stephen King's [NOT] The Lawnmower Man. Not that he wanted to, as it is Graveyard Shift is a dopy piece of b-movie fun.A drifter shows up in town and takes the job at the local mill that had been vacated by some poor dude that got mulched by The Picker. Seems Mr. Poor Dude got so scared of whatever was casting this really big shadow that he just fell into The Picker. The drifter is played by David Andrews, who would later open the Pandora's Box that is Skynet in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (way to go!), and all we really learn about him is that his wife died. What was her name? What was she like? Why is he drifting? Dunno, never explained. The mill is run by a nasty guy named Warwick (character taken from the story) and he is played by character actor Stephen Macht (who played Jack Deth's boss in Trancers III and got possessed in Amityville 1992: It's About Time). Warwick has a funny accent. At one point he says "Ayuh", so I guess he thinks he sounds like someone in Maine. He doesn't. He sounds like someone from another country, but he's the type you DO NOT ask "Where are you from anyway?" The drifter catches the eyes of two local cuties (one is having an affair with Warwick, the other refuses to - the refuser is from Castle Rock, end of characterization for both) and three local bullies (one is played by future Wishmaster Andrew Divoff). Eventually they all face off against the giant Rat Bat thingie in the sub-basement.Graveyard Shift has some nice things about it. Brad Dourif gets to chew up some scenery (which gets to give payback when it chews up him) as The Exterminator. No, not the character from those 80s vigilante movies, just some local yocal that Bachman (get it?) hired to kill the rats infesting his mill. This character is added to the story and serves no real purpose other than to give the lead something to look at other than The Picker and the rats and it gives Dourif the chance to deliver a rather gruesome speech on the horrors of Vietcong Rats, but other than that you don't miss him when he's not around. The other characters are just fodder. Heck, I don't think that screenwriter John Esposito even bothered to name them. Wait, I was talking about good things...uh...atmosphere. The movie has some nice atmosphere...and the monster is pretty nifty, even if it looks like a wad of gum with teeth. The end title mix of dialogue is something to hear as well.If it were made today, it would probably be a DTV or cable movie. Disposable b-movies like this seldom gets a theatrical release anymore. Pity."

Rats in the Walls

Joshua Koppel | Chicago, IL United States | 06/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A drifter is looking for a new start and applies for a job at a mill in a small town. Conditions at the mill are not great but work is work. The foreman is a total jerk and get off on wielding his power. But things really start to get bad when a crew is sent to clean out the mill's basement. Due to the heat, work is done at night. The whole mill is infested with rats but there is something else lurking in the dark.

As the work progresses cleaning out the basement, it becomes clear that there is more to the mill. A trapdoor leads into another level showing where the mill used to run on river power. This level leads to other spaces and caves. It soon becomes apparent that there is something very deadly lurking down in the dark. The crew's numbers drop quickly and it becomes a race to survive. What lurks in the dark? Who will get away? Will the creature be stopped? Watch and find out.

This is one of the earlier Stephen King films and it is based on one of his creepier stories. Unfortunately the set design leaves a little to be desired. For instance, the old water wheel's bottom is in workspace inside the building. I have no idea how water was ever supposed to get to the wheel and turn it. But the story holds together well even if some of the scenery needs some continuity work. The creature is scary and characters colorful and interesting. Really one of the better Stephen King adaptations. Check it out."

At Least It's Not The Lawnmower Man

Stanley Runk | Camp North Pines | 06/29/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Graveyard Shift is one of those movies that most people have seen or caught part of at one time. It's not a great movie, but memorable enough that it gets stored away in the back of your mind. The only time you recall it at all is if someone refers to "that movie with the giant bat thing in it." Then you most likely know what they're talking about. Similar to Krull-Everyone remembers the cool throwing star, boomerang weapon thingamajig. The movie is based(very loosely)on a Stephen King short story. You know the film is in trouble when they adapt a short story and attempt to stretch it out to 90 minutes-there's a reason why short stories are short, ya know. Therefore, 5% of the film belongs to King, and 95% to the screenwriter. Yeah, drifter comes to town, gets job at textile mill, there's a rat problem and a bunch of guys try to clean it up, they run into giant bat monster. This is basically it, folks. You could actually make an entertaining flick from this premise, but this film is way too slow. The pre credit sequence has a gruesome giant bat thing murder, then we don't really hear from him again till the final ten minutes or so. The whole chunk of the film is used for boring subplots and character development that doesn't work. The three stars go towards Brad Dourif's great performance as the exterminator and the cool Lovecraftian underground bat lair. Otherwise, this is pretty cruddy."

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