Ok, probably not a perfect movie. But a perfect giant man-eating rat/bat movie? I think it just might be.
"The new horror from the mind of Stephen King"
Ha! Most Stephen King concepts by the time they get filmed end up feeling like the kind of fever dreams people have when doubled over on a toilet with diarrhea (The Dreamcatcher even features an alien that possesses its victims by crawling up their ass while they shit, best movie ever btw). At best, his idea process seems like he just looks around his everyday life and then attaches the word "evil" to mundane objects or situations. Christine is about an evil car. Maximum Overdrive is about evil trucks. Cujo is about an evil dog. 1408 is about an evil hotel room. The Mist is about evil mist. In one particular scene in Maximum Overdrive a coke machine begins shooting out pop cans like bullets and braining people. King probably didn't have to root around in his imagination too long before pulling out the story nuggets for Graveyard Shift. "A giant rat eating people in a basement. Done. Where's my money? I'm going to use it to dig a second pool and then... wait... The Pool! A pool that's evil! Damn it, why can't I stop thinking of book ideas? I'm cursed!"
What stayed with me about Graveyard Shift when I first saw it way back in 1990 (I also had the carboard standee in my bedroom, which I liberated from Major Video's garbage) is the grotty, grimy atmosphere of its subterranean, rat-infested house of horrors. These sets, the forgotten lower levels of the films near-ancient small-town cotton factory, was the star of the show, and while this aspect of the film didn't quite live up to my childhood memories, they are still pretty icky and effective. A great place to stage a survival battle between blue collar wage slaves and a giant, ravenous, pissed off rat/bat creature.
The cotton factory has fallen on hard times and is in disrepair. They also have a terrible rat infestation. One particular rat, a gigantic one with wings is eating employees, although nobody really catches onto this until its too late. Safety inspectors are threatening to shut down production unless the neglected lower level sub-basement, ground zero for the rat infestation, is cleaned and brought up to code. A team of reluctant factory employees are promised overtime pay if they forsake their long weekend and help in this task. This sub-basement, covered in mold, caked in dust and brimming with rats, is a great set. It looks like about the worst place to spend a long weekend. When workers find a secret compartment leading to an even more disgusting and horrible sub-sub basement, all hell breaks loose, with the giant rat picking them off one by one. The sub-sub basement is basically a tomb, crossed with a lions den, crossed with an ancient mine, and it too is a great set.
The other thing Graveyard Shift has going for it are great character actors hamming it up good. Steven Macht, who was the dad in Monster Squad, plays the insanely creepy factory owner and the films other villain, besides the giant rat/bat. With a hilarious Stephen King-movie-Main accent and a badass wife beater, Macht shoots for full crazy and earns his characters death-by-eating admirably. Andrew Divoff, now featured on Lost and who played about a hundred henchmen roles in the 80's-90's, has a small, funny role as a bullying factory worker who gets reduced to hysterics at the sight of the rat/bat. But the cake gets taken by Brad fucking Dourif as a Vietnam vet turned pest exterminator with a major case of PST. He goes to war with the cotton factory's rat population and occasionally flashes back to his days in 'Nam. He has a fucking amazing monologue where he explains to bland hero David Andrews exactly why he is so personally invested in his war against rodents. Dourif takes this ridiculous piece of writing and elevates it into a bad-movie masterwork. As he swigs whiskey, he describes being a POW and the Vietnamese torture tactics involving hungry rats devouring his comrades. He rages and screams and tears stream out of the corners of his eyes. It's A-MAZING, and I'd love to link the scene here but Youtubers seem to be massively sleeping on on some of Dourif's finest work.
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