Graveyard Shift (1990) Horror Movie Review
Written By: DMG
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Ralph Singleton
Producer: William J. Dun, Ralph Singleton
Screenplay: John Esposito
Novel based on: Stephen King
Date Released: October 26, 1990
Cast:
Stephen Macht as Warwick
David Andrew as John Hall
Andrew Divoff as Danson
Kelly Wolf as Jane Wisconsky
Vic Polizos as Brogan
Brad Dourif as Tucker Cleveland
Rating = 1.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
John Hall (David Andrew) moves to a rural town to make a fresh start. Upon arrival, he is hired by a cotton mill owner named Warwick (Stephen Macht) to operate the cotton mill machine. The problem is that the warehouse that houses the cotton mill is infested with rats. People start to disappear and no one knows why. When John is assigned to clean up the basement, he along with his colleagues discover what is behind the disappearances.
Gore Factor
This film revolves around a rat-infested cotton mill and as expected had a lot of rats within the film. But they weren’t as creepy as they were cute. Anyone who is a rat, hamster or guinea pig owner knows how cuddly and cute they can be. Unfortunately, I do not think this was the films intent. Graveyard Shift tries to compensate with some fake blood and guts but fails in overcoming how adorable these little creatures can be. Overall, the gore factor is very minimal.
There are a few scenes that show the rats being killed. However, rest assured, these were all illusions or fake rats according to Humane Hollywood. There is a scene where one of the cotton mill workers takes one of the rats and drops it in cotton mill machine instantly killing it. Although the actor carried a real rat, the scene quickly cut to another clip which was in fact a fake rat. The machine then cuts to a clip displaying fake blood and gut trails. In another scene, John shoots soda cans at the rats knocking them off the bags of cotton. The rats were real, but the cans hit in front of the rats. As the cans hit the bag, another crew member would move the rats off the bag giving the illusion that the rats were knocked off by the soda cans. Animal Cruelty is a serious topic and we often try to explore whether what is portrayed in cinema is in fact real.
The Grave Review
Graveyard Shift (1990) was very slow-paced. In addition, there was nothing in the film that was particularly engaging. The concept of the film had great potential but, unfortunately did not deliver in its performance. Furthermore, there was no actor or actress that was particularly likable, nor was the dialogue anything special. The best part of this film was the fact that the production crew had very well-trained rats, which was nice to look at.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews give Graveyard Shift (1990) one and one-half graves out of five graves.
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