Movie Review: Graveyard Shift (1990)

When I saw that Ralph S. Singleton, the man behind Taxi Driver, directed Graveyard Shift I was blown away in amazement. Graveyard Shift stars David Andrews, Kelly Wolf, Stephen Macht, and Brad Dourif. The film follows the workers in a textile mill who are preyed upon by the over-population of rats, but more importantly have fallen victim to a much larger beast that lurks within the depths of the factory. All I have to say, is that this movie is so squeaking bad, it's good. This is a complete guilty pleasure movie from start to finish. Clocking in at 89 minutes however, didn't stop me from noting how flawed this movie is, even though it's wildly fun..just not in the way it was intended to be. None of the performances in this movie are good. This is one of the King movies that goes for the over the top and hysterical performances that make it impossible to get behind any of these characters. Now the script isn't any better, but these actors and actresses really do not try at all. Although, actor David Andrews gives the most effort, the performances in this movie were complete failures. I think the acting might also have something to do with the screenplay. None of the characters in Graveyard Shift have any known motives. We have an evil textile mill owner, the drifter who gets thrown into this fiasco with a giant (SPOILER ALERT) bat, and a relationship that blossoms between that character and a girl who fled her town in Maine. The characters need more flushing out in order to be effectively identifiable and strong. And one certainly would need to be strong if a giant bat and a bunch of small rats were attacking them, right? Sure, but the issue is other than a few close ups of mice, we don't actually see the beast. The camera gives us a face, a wing, some legs, but at no point are we ever given a wide angle view of what this creature looks like and is capable of. When the stuff goes down in the mill, is when Graveyard Shift turns into a blast. This movie gets hilarious and from the get go we can tell it's going to be an entertaining ride..but as I said before, not as Singleton wanted. Next time it's raining and you're without anything to do, watch this..seriously it's a blast. You'll laugh, cringe with the lack of acting school in all of these performers, and you might discover a fear of rats you never knew you'd had. It's not as bad as The Mangler, though. Which coincidentally, also takes place inside a factory where people get killed and are hilariously thrown into dangerous machinery. Overall, Graveyard Shift is so bad that it's good, with no good performances, but I did like the intensity of the rodent acting. 1.5 stars= D+