BA_Harrison 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.

GL84 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.

mattressman_pdl Stephen King's Graveyard Shift will never win an Oscar. It will never change anybody's life or be mentioned on any top one-hundred lists. But it's easier to find flaws in a little horror film than to 'mine' it for good points as so many have failed to do.Adapting a short (very short) story from Stephen King's collection Night Shift, Ralph Singleton took a small budget, unique sets, and a remarkably gifted group of actors and spun a film called Graveyard Shift.Plot: A group of over-worked misfits in a textile mill run afoul of a strange, mutant creature and a large number of rats. Simple, huh? The film has a very dodgy quality as it suffers from budget restraints, unreliable accents, and an uneven pace. Stephen Macht is divinely evil (if that makes sense) as the unscrupulous Warwick, who runs the mill like his own demented clubhouse. Macht's performance is over the top as his accent wavers at certain times and his mania takes over but somehow it seems to fit in this guilty pleasure.But it's hard working character actor Brad Dourif who walks away with this picture slung over his shoulder as he portrays an intense exterminator with an unnatural hatred for rodents. His screen time is limited but, as in Exorcist III, Dourif fills it with charisma. The rest of the cast is quite good as well including the likable David Andrews, the sweet Kelly Wolf, the slimy Vic Polizos, and the underrated Andrew Divoff playing a bit of a jerk (go figure).It would be easy to kick the movie while it's down, as critics and audiences do quite often. But this movie's grimy, unusual charm has won this reviewer over time and time again.Shut your brain off and tune in."Okay, show's over!"

Toronto85 Stephen King's Graveyard Shift is a gritty and messy little film about rats and yarn mills. The story is about a group of workers who are instructed by their boss to clean out the rat infested basement of the mill they work at. Meanwhile, a few other people have been murdered by a mysterious creature roaming the workplace. Also there is a hoard of rats down there which love to lick up human blood. So as soon as the cleaning crew start their work, they get attacked by the huge creature and many of them die. The creature's death at the end is done well, but it doesn't make up for the boring movie.Now, I still don't know what the hell the huge creature is at the end. It's supposed to be a giant rat (I think) but it looks like a bat. Maybe it's a mutation, who knows? It does look gruesome though. The death scenes involve lots of gruesome gore as well. The problem with this film, which was originally a short story, is that it goes on and on too long. It's very dull and just plain boring at times. And I have to say watching this film, I wonder if the actors were told not to shower at all during the making of it. They all looked so dirty and nasty. The grittiness of the movie is at an extreme.And all of the characters are plain scum. As viewers you root for them to die in a way just so they'll shut up. Like the guy down in the basement killing rats with a water hose. Did he have to scream every time he pumped out the water? That scene went on for a good three minutes. I couldn't wait for him to be off my screen. This is one of Stephen's King's worst adaptions. Children the Corn is often frowned upon when King's films are mentioned, but this is far worse.3/10