Synopsis
John Hall is a drifter who wanders into a small town in Maine. He needs a job and decides to seek employment at the community's top business: a large textile mill. He is hired to work the "graveyard shift" -- from around midnight to dawn -- and, along with a few others, he is charged with cleaning out the basement. This task strikes the workers as simple enough, but then, as they proceed deeper underground, they encounter an unspeakable monstrosity intent on devouring them all.
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Cast
- David AndrewsJohn Hall
- Kelly WolfJane Wisconsky
- Stephen MachtWarwick
- Andrew DivoffDanson
- Vic PolizosBrogan
- Brad DourifThe Exterminator
- Robert Alan BeuthIppeston
- Ilona MargolisNardello
- Jimmy WoodardCarmichael
- Jonathan EmersonJason Reed
Recommendations
- 60
The New York Times
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. - 40
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. - 30
Time Out London
Where Misery restored one's faith in Stephen King adaptations, this travesty buries his reputation alive. Neither Singleton nor scriptwriter John Esposito has grasped the anti-capitalist undercurrents of King's story, relying instead on cheap shocks and dodgy creature effects. - 30
Los Angeles Times
This picture, which looks far, far better than it is, is so clunky that you can't be sure just how funny writer John Esposito, in adapting an early King short story, and director Ralph S. Singleton intended it to be. - 25
San Francisco Chronicle
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] - 25
The Seattle Times
It's neither scary nor original. In fact, it's something of a chore to sit through. [27 Oct 1990, p.C3] - 25
Chicago Tribune
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] - 25
USA Today
No one put in any creative overtime on this Shift, the 16th Stephen King story made into a film. About as clever as it gets is calling the mill owner Bachman - King's pseudonym. [29 Oct 1990, p.4D]
