I’ve written about Graveyard Shift a couple times; once, a quick blurb for this site, and another, much more definitive article for the Midwest Film Journal. But I love this B-movie, so when I picked up the newest release from Kino Lorber, I felt the need to share my thoughts.
Before I get into the special features and whatnot of the new release, I still, somehow, have thoughts about the movie itself. I enjoy the general mood of the film as it perfectly captures a sweaty, shitty factory. But Stephen Macht as Warwick is what makes this movie special.
Macht’s exaggerated New England accent among other strange mannerisms add some much needed weirdness and comedy to the film. My only issue with the performance, or the plot, I suppose, is how nuts he goes at the end. The dudes on the new commentary track chalk it up to him being a Vietnam veteran (like Dourif’s exterminator, who gets to be a less effective Quint from Jaws in this, even getting a grisly wartime monologue early in the film), but after this viewing I came away with a different theory: Warwick is a good boss just trying to keep the factory open and the constant disrespect, insubordination, and rat infestation attempting to destroy the factory cause him to have a psychotic break.
To be clear, Warwick is a good boss, not a good man. He’s a sexual predator, trading office jobs for sex. He seems to take pleasure in the general misery of the factory, and he doesn’t need much of a push to become homicidal. There is no defending his morality.
But when you consider him solely as the foreman of a mill, he’s not all that bad. First, no one has to work at the mill, and the clean up crew is volunteer-based (though he seems to be forcing Nordello on it, which doesn’t add up). There’s something to be said about the workers needing money so bad that they would take the job, but that’s not the point here.
The clean up crew itself is viewed as some kind of punishment (though, again, they all volunteer for it), but Warwick is only doing it because an inspector surveyed the site and found it unsafe. Warwick pays off the inspector, presumably out of his own pocket, to give him some time to get it cleaned up. And it’s not just a fine or something he’s avoiding. When Nordello breaks into his office to get some dirt on Warwick, the inspector’s report shows that he was going to recommend that the mill be closed.
So everyone is there because they need the money, but Warwick is the bad guy for trying to keep it open? Workers do impressions of him (“Stah Search!”), his side-piece Nordello fucks up his car, the new guy douchebag is always mouthing off to him, the unhinged exterminator he hired can’t get rid of the rats, etc. So yeah, with all this going on, on top of the sweltering heat, it’s easy to see how he might go kill crazy once the college boy goads him into inspecting the giant rat-bat hideout.
The final shot of the “Now Hiring” sign with an added “Under New Management” is meant to be a dark joke to end the movie. But the joke is on the workers of the mill because without Warwick there, cutting corners and banging office workers, I give that place six months tops.
Special Features / Random Thoughts
I’m no expert on transfers and all that shit, but I thought this looked great. For such a shitty little B-movie, it almost seems wrong for it to look this good, but I’m glad it does.
I like the alternate cover Kino Lorber had commissioned for this, but I still prefer the original skull with a hardhat design that I remember seeing in the video store as a kid. Thankfully, both are options for the case.
All the interviews are from the 2020 Shout! Factory release (which I somehow didn't know existed). But the commentary is new.
There's a typo in an interstitial during the Singleton interview (“Sematary” [as in Pet] is spelled “Semamtary.” I feel safe claiming to be the only weirdo to notice this.
Singleton’s interview is interesting just to see how his career started and somehow led to directing this one movie.
Stephen Macht reveals that he was roommates with Michael Moriarty. Awesome.
Macht went full method with this, isolating himself from the rest of the cast so they would dislike him onscreen and off.
Macht is great in the interview, claiming he hung out at gun shops and his process made him believe he was capable of murder.
Of course, he talks about the accent. He worked with a dialect coach, and there was a local Maine guy on set who would advise him.
The commentary, done by a couple of critics/bloggers, is nice just because it’s evidence that I’m not the only person who liked this movie and spent at least a little time thinking about it.
First time I noticed a glaring continuity error. It shows Warwick showing up wearing a tie, cuts to Hall sitting in Warwick's office for the job interview, then cuts to Warwick (still with a tie) talking to an inspector in the basement, then back to Hall and Warwick shows up without a tie and wearing a different shirt. Who really cares? But I felt the need to point it out since I've seen this movie at least ten times and never noticed it. Sometimes these guilty pleasures don't get my full attention.
There’s an ellipsis at the end of the animal safety thing at the end: “No animals were harmed in any way during the making of this film…” Whomever was in charge of the credits was feeling cute that day. I hope they’re happy to know at least one loser noticed it.