Graveyard Shift

Graveyard Shift
by Ralph S. Singleton

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DVD Reviews of Graveyard Shift

DVD Review: Okay little b-movie.
Summary: 3 Stars

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.

Description of Graveyard Shift