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Graveyard Shift

1990 Directed by Ralph S. Singleton

Stephen King took you to the edge with The Shining and Pet Sematary. This time... he pushes you over.

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.

David Andrews Kelly Wolf Stephen Macht Andrew Divoff Vic Polizos Brad Dourif Robert Alan Beuth Ilona Margolis Jimmy Woodard Jonathan Emerson Minor Rootes Kelly L. Goodman Susan Lowden Joe Perham Dana Packard Skip Wheeler Richard France Anne Rooney Raissa Danilova Emmet Kane Frank Welker

Alternative Titles

Graveyard Shift - Stephen King, Rats, Stephen King's Graveyard Shift, Stephen King’s Nachtschicht, La Créature du cimetière, La creatura del cimitero, La fosa común, Ночная смена, Nočná smena, Éjjeli műszak, משמרת בית הקברות, Нощна смяна, 괴물, Las Tumbas Malditas, A Criatura do Cemitério, La créature du cimetière, Noční směna, O Túmulo Vivo, 坟场禁区, Cmentarna szychta, Mezarlık Devriyesi, Цвинтарна зміна, スティーヴン・キング／地下室の悪夢

Genre

Horror

Themes

Horror, the undead and monster classics Creepy, chilling, and terrifying horror Sci-fi horror, creatures, and aliens Gory, gruesome, and slasher horror Gothic and eerie haunting horror Terrifying, haunted, and supernatural horror Show All…

Theatrical

26 Oct 1990

USAR

29 May 1991

Germany16

19 Jun 1991

France12

19 Jul 1991

PortugalM/16

23 Aug 1991

Spain18

Physical

04 Sep 1991

Netherlands16

France

19 Jun 1991

Theatrical12

Germany

29 May 1991

Theatrical16

Netherlands

04 Sep 1991

Physical16

Portugal

19 Jul 1991

TheatricalM/16

Spain

23 Aug 1991

Theatrical18

USA

26 Oct 1990

TheatricalR

89 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Tony the Terror ★★★ 13

Daily Horror Scavenger Hunt - August 2018
8. a Stephen King adaptation
So this starts out with a guy throwing a rat into a cotton, l dunno...gin with teeth I guess, and then he notices all the other rats giving him some major side eye before something big and unseen throws him into that toothy gin where the rats gnaw on his mangled leftover body parts and I thought I was going to looooove this because I’m all about animals rising up against people.
Then the middle is kind of a slog and not quite as much fun, but it does feature multiple scenes with rats giving people side-eye and other ominous looks so it was hardly bad. Then, it ends…
Review by matt lynch ★★★

Fun! A very sweaty vibe reminiscent of vintage Tobe Hooper, terrific production design and creature FX, lots of cornpone King stuff, fun performances (especially from Stephen Macht doing a King "ayuh" Mainer accent and some mega-Brad Dourif). Frankly I was on the rats' side.
Review by haley ★★½

it hurts me to say it, but this is a painfully average creature feature with some really bad performances. not a bad watch if you're just wanting to turn your brain off and have a bit of fun though. i probably would've liked it a lot more if i had gone into it with lower expectations, but there's nothing i can do about it now.
Review by nathaxnne [hiatus <3] ★★★½ 1

OK, so let me get this straight, the Worldwide Communist Conspiracy joined forces with the Neoliberal Globalization Elites to insert trained cadres of human-eating rats into the textile mills of North America so as to force their closure and ultimate relocation to nations with state-directed labor policies and wage controls? Not even Brad Dourif could stop such a diabolical plot! The secret pre-history of WTO/GATT/NAFTA implementation?
Review by Geoffrey Broomer ★★★★★ 3

Executive #1: Apparently we only have 40 mins worth of material.
Executive #2: Maybe we could come up with something for Andrew Divoff to do and justify his appearance in the film...
Executive #1: OR we could just have Stephen Macht slow down everything he says to pad out an additional 45 minutes.
Cocaine: Genius! Alan, you’ve done it again! Let’s go crash a key party.

Unless your Prince’s Bat Dance, no good can come of randomly sampled dialogue musical numbers. This makes the ending credits of Graveyard Shift both the greatest and cringiest thing ever. As such my rating reflects that sampling and not the film as a whole.
Review by 8 b i t m u r d e r b o t ∆ ∆ ★★★★ 14

(Big shout out to my buddy Rizz who has always championed this and might have a small fear of rodents. haha)
In the modern world where factory workers now seem to get confused about their blue collar status it is important to remember the true meaning of hard labor. Men and women who slave for minimal pay in filthy ovens burdened by unfair conditions. A breeding ground for toxic behavior. Insults, intimidation, apathy and darkest pessimism become the norm on any given day with the most aggressive personality leading the feeble minded herd.
This is the setting for Graveyard Shift.
Brad Dourif, as the exterminator, is the gift the film gives you just for showing up and that's like getting…
Review by 📀 Cammmalot 📀 ★★ 5

Stephen’s King’dom Marathon: Film #23
”There just ain’t no job worth this”
Poorly directed, badly acted, and stupider than a soda-can slingshot, this horrifically boring film actually feels like an extended graveyard shift with no pay and zero benefits.
Even Stephen King named it as one of his least favorite adaptations and that’s coming from the guy who directed Maximum Overdrive!
"Alright. the show’s over.
Everybody go back to doing what you were doing"

Cinematic Playlist – Stephen King Ranked
Review by belial_carboni ★★★½

Is there anything more comforting than these cheesy Stephen Kind adaptations this time of year?? This isn't even one of his best yet it's still packed with cheesy charisma and mean spirited theatrics. A film I have fond memories of watching on cable back in the 90s. Especially in October when they used to air all sorts of enjoyable 80s horror films.
Several workers are given a task of cleaning up the basement of an old mill. This ain't no nine to five shift either, it's THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT! Little do they know a mean ol monster lurks in the depths of the mill! The old run down mill makes a perfect setting for this grimy and bleak film. It's…
Review by Sofa Sinema ★★★★ 4

Hadn't seen this since it first landed on VHS, and it made an impression this time. This is an often maligned or outright dismissed King adaptation, but I don't think that's justified. While it may be thin on premise, it's got amazing production design, and terrific, grisly practical effects. It's a monster flick that takes time to build tension and to establish an isolated and unpleasant work place infested by sleazeballs and rats. The sweaty, somewhat unattractive actors have an authenticity to them and I bought into their fears and desperation as they try to overcome the horrible conditions working the night shift at a precarious sawmill. A notable Brad Dourif chews his lines with appropriately rat-faced intensity.
Review by liz71 ★★★½

Although not one of Stephen King's best adaptations it has some entertainment value for me.
I seen this in theaters when it was released around Halloween and never noticed the over acting and how silly some of the dialogue is. I just thought it was a creepy atmospheric creature feature, that was perfect for Halloween.
If you are creeped out by rats(like me) and can ignore how bad some of the acting is, you just might enjoy this Horror watch.
7/10
Review by {Todd} ★★½

"You're no lady Doris...far from it." - Some guy,
- Stephen King Rankings: boxd.it/23MKw
I hope all 300 of those rats got SAG insurance.
A group of factory workers are placed on the graveyard shift, cleaning a lower area of the workplace where people have been disappearing...oh, and there are thousands of rats, oh and it seems like there is a bigger monster that everything is building to. This movie is a lot of building to a so-so finale. I'd be down for a remake of this one... that doesn't suck.
Review by Jason the Feature Creature ★★★½ 2

I love cheesy Stephen King adaptations.

Brad Dourif is a national treasure and should have a roll reserved in every King movie.

400th logged film.

Where to watch

Graveyard Shift

Synopsis

Stephen King took you to the edge with The Shining and Pet Sematary. This time... he pushes you over.

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Studios

Countries

Language

Alternative Titles

Genre

Themes

Theatrical

26 Oct 1990

29 May 1991

19 Jun 1991

19 Jul 1991

23 Aug 1991

Physical

04 Sep 1991

France

19 Jun 1991

Germany

29 May 1991

Netherlands

04 Sep 1991

Portugal

19 Jul 1991

Spain

23 Aug 1991

USA

26 Oct 1990

Popular reviews

Similar Films

Director

Producers

Writer

Original Writer

Casting

Editors

Cinematography

Assistant Directors

Additional Directing

Executive Producers

Camera Operator

Additional Photography

Production Design

Art Direction

Set Decoration

Stunts

Composers

Sound

Costume Design

Makeup

Hairstyling