Graveyard Shift is set in a Maine textile mill
whose overbearing manager (Stephen Macht) finds
himself in a tight spot when county inspectors
crack down on his less-than-safe operation after
a fatal accident involving a picking machine. He
rounds up a few financially-desperate locals --
including drifter David Anderson, the film's
nominal hero -- into a rag-tag crew to clean up
the nightmarish, rat-infested lower levels of
the decrepit building.
Working their way through the labyrinthine
tunnels beneath the mill, the crew encounters a
rat's nest far beyond what their foreman had
imagined, with a gigantic, man-eating monster
rodent nesting at its center. Though certainly
not among the most memorable treatments of
King's work, this movie is not without a certain
cheesy appeal and features good performances
from Macht and Brad Dourif in a brief but fun
role as a brain-damaged exterminator (His
dialogue is later sampled and tweaked for a
silly end-credits dance tune!)
On the downside, King's lean story is bogged
down with too much obvious padding, and the
entire production seems half-baked -- no doubt
the result of the studio's rush to release the
movie in time for Halloween.
Directed by: Ralph
S. Singleton
Written by: John
Esposito
Produced by: Lester
Berman & William G. Dunn
Original music by:
Brian Banks & Anthony Marinelli
Cast:
David Andrews .... John
Hall
Kelly Wolf .... Jane Wisconsky
Stephen Macht .... Warwick
Andrew Divoff .... Danson
Vic Polizos .... Brogan
Brad Dourif .... The Exterminator
Robert Alan Beuth .... Ippeston
Ilona Margolis .... Nordello
Jimmy Woodard .... Carmichael
Jonathan Emerson .... Jason Reed
Minor Rootes .... Stevenson
Kelly L. Goodman .... Warwick's Secretary
Susan Lowden .... Daisy May
Joe Perham .... Mill Inspector
Dana Packard .... Millworker
Skip Wheeler .... Millworker
Richard France .... Millworker
Anne Rooney .... Millworker
Raissa Danilova .... Millworker
Emmet Kane .... Exterminator's Assistant
