Fear #30 June 1991 (Import Magazine)

::: GRAVEYARD SHIFT :::
Starring David Andrews, Kelly Wolf, Stephen Macht, Brad Dourif Director Ralph S Singleton Distributor Columbia Tri-Star Cert 18

　　　This is a Stephen King adaptation that makes even Silver Bullet seem terrific. The source here is a short story taken from King's 1978 collection, Night Shift.
　　　In the small New England town of Gate Falls, the recently re-opened textile mill should offer an upturn in fortunes for the hard-pressed community. But there's a spoiler. Something's lurking in the mill's rat-infested basement, something that has already shredded a number of workers. As his operation is faced with closure on safety grounds, tyrannical mill owner Warwick (Macht) assigns a handpicked half-dozen (including college-educated drifter Andrews and tomboy Wolf) for clean-up duties, beginning with the basement.

写真
::: Rat man Brad Dourif :::

　　　Brad Dourif, as an obsessive Vietnam vet cum rat exterminator, provides the film's only relief with his darkly comic recollections of war atrocities. The rest is sub-standard monster-on-the-loose fodder which doesn't even have the decency to explain the creature's (a slobbering giant rat/bat) origin. First-time director Singleton fails to exploit the potential menace afforded by the basement's darker recesses or the creatures subterranean hideout. The gore is minimal, the suspense non-existent. It's not even sleazy enough to be exploitative. There's fun (of sorts) to be had in spotting the King references ---- Bachman, Christine, etc --- but other than that it's a stiff. Avoid.
Mark Salisbury