Movie Review #58: Graveyard Shift (1990)

 

Well there's a lot to say about this movie so let's start. (wow talk about a bad opening sentence.) So I think this is the first actual movie based on a Stephen King story. I mean I've talked about Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest but that's a sequel to a movie based on a Stephen King story. I'm pretty sure he had no influence on that movie and I doubt he even made any money on it. I'm not sure he had any influence on this movie either but I'm sure he got a nice ass paycheck for a story he wrote. I wonder if Stephen King ever just wrote a story on the shitter, like during a long shit and ended up getting tons of money for it. From what I hear I'm guessing that story was Dreamcatcher. I actually haven't read any Stephen King stuff but I really should because I have several of his books just around my house. I do enjoy several of the movies based around his work. I think they work very well as films.  I think my next several reviews will be of movies based around his work. 

This movie brings me back to the halcyon days of yore which means around 2000. I had joined a message forum on the internet called JoBlo's Movie Forum (I'm surprised that this is the first time I had ever mentioned forums on this site.) This was one of the two forums I would be apart of. Well it was more than two for NES games but still. Those were my obsessions at that time. Collecting and Playing NES games and watch motion pictures. If I wasn't doing one I was doing the other. On JoBlo I met several people that I still talk to on Facebook and stuff (I would throw Facebook and Twitter right into the shithole to bring back forums if I had the power.). I remember talking about movies to several of them. I mention this because I feel like I have to mention Amie because whenever I would talk to her we would talk about this movie. I thought it was great! Amie not so much. Amie is a picky movie watcher and I still bother her about this. It's always a good time.

Anyway enough about the memories about the film, how does it hold up on a rewatch. Well I STILL think this is a great movie. It takes place in a small town in Maine because every single Stephen King story takes place there. Stephen King does not like any other place on this planet. If it ain't Maine it ain't shit! Anyway there's a mill in the town and it is infested with rats. Big scary mother fuckers. It's not just rats but a big beautiful monster that I gave the name of "rat-bat creature" in those AOL Instant Messanger chats. I miss AIM. Anyway the "rat-bat creature is starting to kill people who work at the mill and well that's never good! 

So we got a simple but effective plot, but what about say the acting? I personally think the acting in this movie is great. First off we have Brad Dourif. He's most famous for voicing the Chucky doll. However he's acted in a ton of films and of all genres and characters. The thing is every single one of them is wholly memorable. Regardless if he was just a throwaway character in like one scene. He'll be the best part of that scene. Thankfully he gets a lot of scenes in this movie and he gets to play a sleazy crazy weirdo which he does perfectly. However I think Stephen Macht as the asshole boss just might be more memorable in this film. I don't know how many movies I've seen with this guy in them but holy hell it should be more. This man is clearly playing the biggest dickhole on the planet. I love him.

Everyone else including the Wishmaster himself, Andrew Divoff give there characters a bit of life making them a likable fun bunch of weirdos and jerks. The only person I have a problem with is the hero of the story. He cannot play the stoic loner hero type. He doesn't come off as "IM THE LONER HERO I DONT WANT TO BE ANNOYED BY ANYONE" and more like I'm a big turd who doesn't want to associate with you because I'm a big snob but I still want to start a life here in this small Maine town. I'm with the guys who don't like him and wish he'd go away. They even start harassing him a bit. Yet I don't feel a single thing for this fucker. He's shit. Fuck him.

The monster, the rat bat creature, the reason you know you should watch this movie for is AWESOME. You get to see it a quite a bit. It's gooey, it's freaky, it's ugly, it's disgusting. It's got weird rat features and weird bat features. I love it so much. The movie also goes by at a very good pace. It really still works very well for me except I really don't like the main character as much. Still this movie is great and Amie is still wrong.

FINAL VERDICT: If you need any proof that this is one of the greatest films of ever time. Well it ends with a song about the movie. We only gave that honor to the greatest of films, like My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Addams Family, The Jetsons the Movie, and many more. It doesn't really tell you about the plot (It's really just someone playing music over lines from the movie. It's weird and kinda terrible but I'm still counting it.)