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Late to the Party: Graveyard Shift (1990)
We’ve all been there; getting called in to work on our day off, on a holiday, getting stuck with the bad shift. At least we weren’t stuck with a schedule dictated by Stephen King, like his vision of a Graveyard Shift.
The movie Graveyard Shift is based on King’s short story of the same name. It was directed by Ralph Singleton, and features Stephen Macht (Watchers 4, The Monster Squad), and Brad Dourif (Child’s Play,The X-Files).
The owner of Warwick’s textile mill (Stephen Macht) has a bit of a rodent infestation problem, and he has to get things cleaned up or the plant will be forced to close. So, he sets up a bit of a clean-up party for the night of the 4th of July, coercing and threatening his employees to work it.
As it happens, the mill is built next to a cemetery, and both are built over a huge cavern and all are connected by a series of mine shafts and tunnels. While cleaning the mill’s basement, the crew finds an old trapdoor, leading down into the mines. The decision is made to go exploring, which quickly finds them trapped in the tunnels and at the mercy of the rats and their king which dwells in the cavern.
This is a fun movie, especially for being based on Stephen King’s work. It’s not the most subtle, or unnerving horror movie, but it does have its moments. The scenes of the rats before the workers discover the trap door are full of creepiness, the tunnels are claustrophobic, and the final monster’s lair is beautiful in its horror.
The acting is pretty good as well. Stephen Macht’s portrayal of Warwick is strong, and he’s very believable in the beginning of the movie as the mill owner that has the run of the town through violence and intimidation. You can’t help but hate him. His turn to madness as the crew runs through the tunnels is a little heavy-handed though, and his pursuit of our hero, John Hall (David Andrews), in spite of the presence of a giant rat-bat feels almost cartoonish.
Brad Dourif’s role as an unnamed exterminator is the strongest role in the movie though; his delivery and description of the Viet Cong’s use of rats in torture methods in the Vietnam War resonates long after his character’s untimely end.
The ending reeks a bit of deus ex machina, though I was surprised that our hero’s love interest didn’t make it to the credits. The bad guy gets his due after charging the giant monster armed with only a tactical knife. John Hall gets to witness the last of his old boss being devoured before being chased back up into the mill. He hides underneath the textile machine, which the beast climbs on top of trying to get at him, its tail getting caught in the gears and setting up what is probably the most suspenseful firing of an empty soda can from a slingshot in cinema history.
Definitely not one of the best horror movies ever made, but still a fun one that’s worth watching. The first half does a great job setting up the characters, making you love or hate them as needed, before the second half sets them loose like rats in a maze. Graveyard Shift is definitely a good movie for an older, quick, popcorn horror flick.
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Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.
We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.
“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”
That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”
Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:
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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.
Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.
Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.
Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.
The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.
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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.
Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.
These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:
According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”
Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.
Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.
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