Graveyard Shift

Name: Graveyard Shift
Genre: Horror
Released: October 26, 1990
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 28
Cast: David Andrews, Kelly Wolf

1990

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Ratings

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5.2

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5.2	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Ratings

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Graveyard Shift

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Movie Details & Credits

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: October 26, 1990 | R

Starring: David Andrews, Kelly Wolf

Summary: In a very old textile mill with a serious rat infestation, the workers discover a horrifying secret deep in the basement.

Director: Ralph S. Singleton

Genre(s): Horror

Rating: R

Runtime: 89 min

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Critic Reviews

Joe Bob Briggs

Stephen King's Graveyard Shift is the 19th Big Steve story to be made into a movie, and it's one of the more decent ones even though the gigantic mutant-slime octopus monster that lives in the basement doesn't really ever appear on screen where you can get a good look at him. [23 Nov 1990, p.15]

Janet Maslin

As directed by Ralph S. Singleton, Graveyard Shift works better above ground than below. The early scenes that allow the actors a little color are more fun than the all-basement episodes, which are visually monotonous despite the fact that the film's monster plot is a multi-media affair. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine

The film had the calculated feel of a movie made simply because the title was guaranteed to pull in audiences on opening weekend. Sadly, it's the kind of effort that gives horror films a bad name. Read full review

Mark Caro

The theory seems to be that if you indiscriminately toss in enough familiar ingredients, you get soup. But Graveyard Shift is more like lumpy water. [29 Oct 1990, p.5C]

Peter Stack

The rat problem happens only on the graveyard shift, accounting for the title of Stephen King's all-time worst movie -- and he's got a lot of them. [27 Oct 1990, p.C3]

John Hartl

It's neither scary nor original. In fact, it's something of a chore to sit through. [27 Oct 1990, p.C3]

Matthew Gilbert

The scariest thing about Graveyard Shift is the money, time and energy - however minimal - invested in its creation. If you're looking for a good rat scare, the alleys near Haymarket might be a better place to invest your time. [27 Oct 1990, p.11p]

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User Reviews

AngryPaul

Dec 6, 2020

Given that the root story was only 20 pages long, they did a great job of fleshing out the characters. Macht in particular.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TheQuietGamer

Oct 14, 2017

Low-budget, B-movie schlock it may be, but darn is it pretty fun. It's depiction of the difficulties of shift-work and slimeball bosses make it a horror flick for the working class. It's ability to keep things moving and get right to the point, along with it's pretty good cast, helps theLow-budget, B-movie schlock it may be, but darn is it pretty fun. It's depiction of the difficulties of shift-work and slimeball bosses make it a horror flick for the working class. It's ability to keep things moving and get right to the point, along with it's pretty good cast, helps the film elevate itself above it's noticeable flaws. Among which are cheap scare tactics and budgetary restraints.

It's a pretty straightforward affair. You can tell director Ralph Singleton wants to show off his monster more, but just didn't have the money to make that happen. So we get some really flat moments that should have been more brutal and frightening. Some shots come off as a touch amateurish, but overall the quality of the realistic horrors the characters have to put up with from their boss and working conditions mostly make up for it. Stephen Macht is perfect as the mill's scumbag foreman. The rats and grime are all used well to sell the setting. It suitably dark, dirty, and gross. When the mill's basement-dwelling beast is able to come out into the light a bit, it's a reminder of how much more effective and interesting practical effects can be in comparison to CGI, even if things do look a little cheap. Kind of a dorky creature-feature that just so happens to have a little extra something to it that came from being adapted from a Stephen King story. You get some blood and guts, but what will really keep you watching is the look into the life of blue-collar workers, something the movie captures to very well. The stuff with the monster? Well, that's just a little something extra. Graveyard Shift might not ever be destined to go down as a horror classic, but there's still some fun to be had with it.

6.8/10… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

JLau

Dec 6, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Drifter takes a job in a mill and gets put on the night shift but there are a lot of rats who are taking an interest in what he's doing.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Jun 13, 2020

The story adapted here is barely 20 pages long and it shows.

This is a simplistic and cheap adaptation of something that could've been a short film and that if it had been so, it would've adapted the atmosphere of that short story in a better way.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FilipeNeto

Dec 18, 2019

A bad idea for a movie.

Everything happens in an old industrial weaving set up by a creek and an abandoned cemetery, which seems to have been overrun and turned into a swamp, where graves and bodies float. In the midst of this general rot environment, a thriving rat community was born andA bad idea for a movie.

Everything happens in an old industrial weaving set up by a creek and an abandoned cemetery, which seems to have been overrun and turned into a swamp, where graves and bodies float. In the midst of this general rot environment, a thriving rat community was born and invaded weaving. Now the owner wants the rat-free factory and the basement free to make new workspaces, but something terrible is killing employees at night.

Inspired by a short Stephen King tale, it is a film with little to see and little story to tell besides scaring no one. A new employee, stupid co-workers, the usual cliché of the hot secretary who has an affair with the boss, who is an idiot and who knows more than he looks, caring little about the employees. And after all, the terrible and giant monster is a kind of cross between a rat and a bat, which never comes up entirely and is clearly fake, in one of the worst-made special effects I've ever seen since the Spielberg shark.

Is there anything good in this movie? More or less. The actors do a decent job, David Andrews works even harder than the material deserves, I think. He was good enough, and so can Stephen Macht, who was cynical and cruel enough to deserve our hatred. But that's all. Kelly Wolf and Ilona Margolis limit themselves to being handsome faces and beautiful bodies to suffer or be in danger. Brad Dourif is ridiculous. Vic Polizos is stupid and Jimmy Woodard is histrionic.

In short, it is an unwritten and very poor horror movie, where everything is based on the environment and gore. It doesn't scare us, it almost makes us laugh at certain times.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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