![]() ![]() This is quickly followed by some very noticeable panning across the front speakers as John first strolls into town. The audio starts off on a high note, with some effective use of the full soundstage as a hapless worker finds himself surrounded by an army of peering rats. Typically nice work from Paramount.Īudio: This DVD release of Graveyard Shift sports a new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, and a dilapidated mill is the perfect setting for some six-channel hijinks. Film grain only particularly stood out in a couple of brief moments following the credit sequence. Black levels are strong, with the exception of a purple-ish series of shots when a jilted floozy sorts through the mill searching for blackmail material. The image is respectably sharp and as close to flawless as a 1990 low-budget horror flick is likely to get. Video: Graveyard Shift is presented in anamorphic widescreen at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Paramount unearthed the movie for this DVD, which was released alongside Silver Bullet last week to offer Stephen King fans a disappointing double feature. Graveyard Shift probably deserved to remain buried. Brad Dourif, who's had at least a cameo in every horror movie produced in the past twenty years, puts in the movie's most memorable performance as an over-the-top, crazed exterminator. Wishmaster's Andrew Divoff also steps in for a minor supporting role. A quick jaunt to IMDb revealed that he had starred in Cherry 2000, easily among the greatest B-movies ever produced. David Andrews looked painfully familiar, and I racked my brain for the length of the movie trying to remember what I'd seen him in. Graveyard Shift has a few familiar faces in its cast. ![]() It's been a year or so since I last read the short story, and though it doesn't stand out as one of King's better works, I don't recall disliking it as much as this movie. Graveyard Shift doesn't bring anything new to the table, not bothering to offer up particularly interesting characters or particularly interesting kills. Trapping a group of clichés in a creepy, enclosed place while some force ices 'em one by one is a tried and true premise. ![]() The plot is, if you'll indulge my semi-witty attempt at wordplay, rather run-of-the-mill. Whatever appeal Graveyard Shift may have held back then has apparently long since disippated. To give some inkling as to how poor my taste in movies was at the tender age of twelve, I had seen Ghost Dad theatrically four months earlier. Not only did I go to the theater with some actual desire to see the movie, but I vaguely seem to recall enjoying it. The enormous creature that has been knocking off Bachman employees over the past few months has his eyes - or whatever sense a blind rat-bat hybrid would use to stalk his prey - set on the cliché buffet, and predictably, not everyone will make it out alive. They have more to fret about than the dodecaseptaquadrillion rats scurrying about the place. The merry band of misfits consists of the usual stereotypes, including John the Quiet Loner, the Spunky Dame, the Balding Voice of Reason, the Brutish Bully and his greasy sidekick, and Obligatory Black Guy, and Warwick as the Blatant Villain. The rat-infested mill is in sorry shape, and with closure impending, Warwick assembles a skeleton crew to clean out the basement while the rest of the workers enjoy the 4th of July holiday. Fate brings him to Bachman Textiles (a none-too-subtle reference to King's best-known pseudonym), where foreman Warwick (Stephen Macht) bestows upon him a prestigious minimum wage position working the sort of unpleasant hours hinted at in the movie's title. David Andrews stars as John Hall, a mysterious man looking for a new start in life. One of several collections of King's short stories, Night Shift has spawned a seemingly endless barrage of films of varying length, including Cat's Eye, The Boogeyman, The Lawnmower Man (if in title only), Trucks, Maximum Overdrive, The Mangler and its sequel, The Woman In The Room, The Children of the Corn, and, I'm sure you saw this one coming, Graveyard Shift.Īs with pretty much anything associated with Stephen King, Graveyard Shift takes place in a run-down, one-horse Maine town. When the well of ideas runs dry for Hollywood producers, it seems that Stephen King's Night Shift is the first place they turn.
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