Movie Appraisal: Graveyard Shift (1990)

We're going to Hell... TOGETHER!

Graveyard Shift is the perfect late 1980s/early 1990s horror film. And what I mean by "perfect" is that it is the representation of all that is the horror films from this period of time. From the hair, to the clothes, to the acting, everything here is wonderfully representative of this time in horror... especially the dubbing. Man, I love that dubbing where a character is heard shouting a bloodcurdling scream but is barely opening their mouth. Even the credits get into the action, having lines remixed into the music. It's absolutely wonderful. This movie also has some great lines and much better acting than you might expect from a movie of this... uh... calibre. Yeah, I'm going to use that word here. Directed by Ralph S. Singleton, and starring David Andrews as the drifter Hall, it is a fun ride of a horror movie that has some genuinely creepy moments.

So, the story, based off of a Stephen King short story of the same name from his Night Shift collection, is only somewhat like its original story with a much more upbeat ending than the story at the very least. Well, more upbeat in that somebody actually survives the underground sub-basement of the story. That really doesn't mean the story has an upbeat ending though. It's honestly pretty dark. It's one of those movies people seem to forget about easily. It's fairly similar in premise to many horror movies, but this one is so well executed that I do wish that it was better remembered. With only a 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I have to wonder if that website is ever effective in telling whether a movie will be watchable or not. When Black Swan gets 87% and this great horror movie gets 13%... well, that's when I stop listening to Rotten Tomatoes (not that I ever have anyway).

Graveyard Shift starts out with an abandoned textile mill being reopened after somebody dies in the beginning, presumably from the very monster that is so central to the plot. The mill has a ton of water damage in the basement (and eventually sub-basement when the characters get there), and crews are hired to see that it all is cleaned out. The problem besides the water damage though, is that there are a ton of rats all over the basement and the mill itself. And these are no ordinary rats. They are much more than ordinary rats. They seem to have evolved in the basement of the mill to be incredibly intelligent, with at least one of them becoming a "super-rat" that is more like a giant bat creature of EVIL proportions. Throughout the movie characters are killed and eaten off by both rats and the super-rat alike. It creates tension and a great atmosphere for horror. The rat-creature is effectively terrifying, and never quite shown in full. It is like a hairless bat creature, and works to evoke terror in the viewer. It is often shown as moist, with red rivulets of moisture coming off of it at all times, probably indicative of the red water the sub-basement seems to harbor.

The rats used in the film seem to be all real rats, and the effects even besides the rats are actually all quite well done. It makes the movie much better when real things are used rather than some CGI nonsense. The acting is then related to what the actors can actually see and respond to, and it works incredibly well here. The acting is also legitimately well done, with really great performances from Brad Dourif, who plays a creepy rat exterminator, Stephen Macht, who plays the actually evil foreman/manager of the mill, Warwick, and Kelly Wolf, who plays the lead female of the movie, Jane, who is also the love interest of Hall. These three actually all have really good performances for a movie of this type. You don't expect much, and then are surprised by the great performances... at least I was. They have some really great lines too, much better than almost any given "great" movie today. (Okay, I'm a little bitter at the line-up of movies I see in today's market, okay?) Stephen Macht especially shines here as the major human antagonist as well as one of the sleaziest and most interesting characters ever put to film. His voice alone is brilliant and worth watching the film for, but honestly, I just truly enjoyed watching the man act. He definitely knows his craft. I could literally make this an entire review of how awesome Stephen Macht is in this movie, but I'd be digressing all over the place. While he is fun to watch, he is also easily hateable. And it works really well when you want him to die by the end of the film. Brad Dourif is always great, so it's hard for me to say anything else about him. He definitely has one of the best speeches in the film, but is also, sadly, absent from a good portion of the movie. Again, this movie should be seen for the performances alone, but the horror, the sets, and everything else in the movie really work quite well.

The red water under the graveyard and the mill is a nice touch even if it's never explained. I have no idea why it's red, and nobody else seems to either, but it works incredibly well at being different and interesting. The whole aesthetic of the movie is brilliant, basically being set in a crypt-set throughout the movie without the movie ever acknowledging it. It's all in the "basement" and "sub-basement" even though it always seriously looks like some creepy crypt or something. There is a beauty in the set design that is both wonderful and horrifying.

The bone pit that shows up late in the movie is also an oddity. Why are there so many bones? How can there be so many bones? Are they all human? I can't imagine they all are, although in a movie like this you'd better damn well believe they're all human. A movie like this doesn't mess around. It doesn't lightly tip-toe over the fact that a thousand people were murdered by the rats, their flesh eaten away, and their bones left in a pit in the ground. I suppose the bones could be from the graveyard too... the graveyard that sits in water inexplicably above the subterranean cave of rats and super-bat-rat. It doesn't matter that none of it makes any sense. It just matters that it looks fantastic and does work.

There are some random slowdowns throughout the movie, often highlighting ACTION SHOTS. It's a very 1990s thing to do, but is also a nice touch. I can't say that I didn't enjoy almost every ACTION SHOT even if they did feel slightly out of place. Ralph S. Singleton does a great job directing, even if this was his only movie direction. I feel like this man should be directing everything and was sad to find out he's directed almost nothing at all. He makes this movie feel like a John Carpenter movie. In the Mouth of Madness and Prince of Darkness have very similar feels to them, and They Live! has so many similarities (in some ways) that I actually have a hard time believing that Singleton didn't borrow a bit from Carpenter. And this is me praising the direction of the movie. I think Singleton did a great job making this movie feel great. I can't complain about a job well done.

The music is very good as well, definitely putting me in the mood for horror. It does a wonderful job at playing the tension up as well as exciting the movie-watcher for any particular scene. And, you know something? The scenes often work. The set-up is all very good, and the pay-off at the end is satisfying even if it is depressing. And the end of the film is incredibly gory even if it is a wonderful pay-off, but gory works for a gritty film like this. Gritty makes this film work on more levels than just cheesy 1990s horror. It makes it work as a great horror film as well as a little cheesy in parts. The funny thing is that I found this film much less cheesy and much more terrifying. But I think others might have other opinions on that.

One last thing before I do my best to recommend this film, Warwick is always there. Dude seems to always be skulking in the dark of the room, appearing whenever anybody complains. I have no idea how he does it, but every time you think something bad is going to happen or people are getting riled up, it's either going to be rat-bat-monster eating somebody, or Warwick suddenly there with his smug face on, ready to call out or backhandedly insult somebody. As I said before, this movie is worth watching for Warwick alone. He is literally the worst person on Earth, but I love this character. He's so unapologetic and terrible, and with the amount of screen-time and lines the guy gets he's almost the main character. So, seriously, watch this film for him if nothing else.

Now, I have to recommend this flick. It is a wonderful watch from beginning to end. While it does have some drier parts, it often moves at a good clip, and never overstays its welcome. Clocking at only ninety minutes long, it doesn't drag, and has enough characterization, horror, and good times to go around. It's a forgotten gem, as well as being a great movie for this time of year. It works well as a horror movie, and I just can't help putting my seal of approval on this interesting slice of the 1990s.

Movie Appraisal: Insidious (2011)

I went into this film thinking I would dislike it like crazy. It's a PG-13 rated horror movie, and none of those seem to be any good at all. The tend to be watered down garbage without any real promise of terror. But this movie... this movie delivered in the most unexpected way. Not only is this a pretty stellar independent horror film, it works on almost every level. Sure, there are some laughably funny moments that are not intended to be funny, and the CGI is sometimes a bit of a mess, but this movie really delivers as both a good movie and a creepy one.

I'm not used to saying that. I mean, it's not as though this flick scared my pants off or anything. Honestly I wasn't really all that scared at all, but it had some great little ideas and it had such creepy moments that it kept me watching. This is definitely a movie I will be watching again and again. While a slow-paced movie, it works very well at bringing the tension and being, for all intent purposes, basically a non-found footage Paranormal Activity, which is a amusing because the director of that movie, Oren Peli, produced this one, and his influence can be seen all over the place. What surprised me the most is that the director of the film, James Wan, is best known for the first Saw movie (which is of a franchise that I do not enjoy), but is also known for the pretty good movie Dead Silence, which I thought had some great direction to it, even if it's bogged down by other things. James Wan has some incredibly good direction in this film, and it is apparent that he is a master of the craft of horror movies. I mean, his shots are superb, evoking all kinds of terrifying images within the viewers' heads. Leigh Whannel (who also plays a large acting roll in the movie) wrote the script, and the dude knows his stuff as well, creating a really horrific movie from beginning to end. They both have worked together before for Saw and Dead Silence, and they seem to work with and off one another very well in general.

I've seen some people criticize the second half of this film, saying that the ball was dropped or that the second half doesn't live up to the first half. Now, while I don't agree with that statement, I can see where it comes from. The second half rolls with a plot premise that many people may not like. It's kind of a Paranormal Activity type of plot twist that really isn't for everybody. I really thought that this plot point was brought forward well and was really effective. But I also have always had a vested interest in the paranormal (whether I believe it or not) and astral projection has always been of special interest to me. The second half may not be as unnerving as the first half, but it really delivers in stellar imagery and an utterly terrifying premise. I know many might not agree with me there, but I found it incredibly effective.

Now, of course there are moments which are not as effective horror-wise. The ending is very predictable. I mean, really really predictable. And if they hadn't gone in that direction I would have been utterly disappointed. But that doesn't mean it wasn't incredibly predictable. I liked it well enough, but would have hated the alternatives, so I guess that's a plus all the way around. The zombie-ghosts were a little too amusing for my taste and the fight scene between ghost-skeleton man and Patrick Wilson's character of Josh is downright silly. The jump scares are kooky for the most part and do not work on any level. I would have preferred subtler scares all around, much like the earlier parts of the film... but on the other hand I can definitely see why the decision was made to make the latter half of the film more "traditionally" scary. They needed to up the tension and create something scarier for everybody, not just me. While it didn't do much for me in general, I suspect a lot of people would enjoy the later scares. And I enjoyed the latter half of the movie anyway... just not as much as maybe I would have otherwise.

The best part of the movie by far was when Josh enters the astral plane and deals with all of the nonsense there. The dreamlike quality of this part as well as the fog and horrific faces he sees are something out of some deep nightmares. I love the lack of explanation as to what's going on. It works really well and I found the whole thing unsettling and deeply awesome. I was also glad- and I almost hate to say this, but I was glad so I will say it- that Rose Byrne wasn't screaming her head off and going into the astral plane with her bra and panties or something else. While I am a straight hot-blooded American male, I hate when horror movies feel that they need to show "sexy" half-naked ladies fighting demons or whatever. I find it insipid and insulting to myself as a far of horror. There are times for naked characters in movies. It is not when that movie is trying to be scary. So, I liked how Patrick Wilson took the reigns and how neither him or Rose Byrne, both good actors and attractive people, took their clothes off or posed for the camera. They seemed like regular people and that worked incredibly well for me. Lin Shaye had the real breakout performance for me though, being the psychic lady of this film, Elise, who knows everything and is basically pretty awesome. Her two investigators were also really well done, with one played by the writer of the film and the other by Angus Sampson. All the parts flowed together and worked quite nicely, even the children of the film, although, thankfully, there was little of them to see. The picture up there of the little boy on the cover art is basically a misrepresentation of the film, again something I am thankful for because LITTLE CHILDREN ARE NOT SCARY!!! So, instead the horror comes wholly from things that could be pretty creepy, none of which are little children.

While the ending is predictable, the story is incredibly well done. It flows nicely, is cleanly edited, and has effective scenes and scares. The dreamlike quality of parts of the film as well as the dark imagery really works wonders for this story as well. Also, just as an aside there are parts of this movie that remind me of a much better done Drag Me to Hell. I have to point that out. While I liked the Sam Raimi flick, it wasn't very memorable, with more ridiculousness than scary moments. This movie seems to have scenes that are similar to that other film, but played straight and effectively, which I really liked. The acting is solid, the sounds are solid, the scares are well done, not neutered as I thought it might be. There is very little to complain about here and a lot to like. I have to recommend this movie to anybody who likes horror. It's a very good watch.

B-Movie Appraisal: Galaxy of Terror (1981)

In taking some time to research this movie I found that a clip of this film is on a DVD entitled "The 50 Worst Films Ever Made." This is so untrue that I don't even know how to take that seriously at all. Roger Corman certainly has a stigma for his movies, but this Roger Corman directed space horror film is not even a slightly bad film. It is a very good film. Yes, there is some roughness around the edges, the acting isn't always stellar, the sets and creatures are kind of ridiculous looking at times, and the plot leaves a lot to be desired, but this movie works very well for what it is.

And what it is is B-movie schlock. Or that's what it should be. That's what people think it is. That's what it's promoted as. That's where this movie's heart lies. But in reality it works really well as something other than just a crappy horror film. It has a heart to it, and that really makes all the difference in the world. It seems like the people involved actually cared about this film, obviously to varying degrees, but the attention to characters and details and just the quality that came out of this movie shows the quality of care put into it. I don't usually talk about stuff like this with movies, but it's impossible not to with this one. It works in so many more ways than I would have expected, being both subtle and different than many other things I have seen. It has visceral imagery and scenes (and gore effects in those scenes) that work a heck of a lot better than I would have ever thought they could. The movie even looks better (with a few obvious exceptions) than a lot of CGI effects from newer movies. I find that fascinating how something like this can actually look better than newer movies too. It's pretty neat. The worst effect in the movie is arguably the one that should have looked better, the Master's glowing face. I have no idea what a master is and why he has a red lightbulb for a head, but there it is, and it isn't a good effect.

As for characters, most of them are well done. Each has his or her own strengths and weaknesses, and the acting of each and every character carries some emotional depth if not the stellar acting capabilities of a Grade A film. Special mention goes out to Robert Englund as Ranger, Grace Zabriskie as the ship's captain, Trantor, and Taaffe O'Connell as Dameia. Robert Englund shows his acting chops before becoming famous for portraying Freddy Krueger in the Friday the 13th series of movies. He comes off as intelligent and willing to do anything to survive. He's the first character who survives his fear. Grace Zabriskie is fantastic as a captain who has clearly lost whatever sense she had. She very definitely has PTSD,and her acting may very well be the best in the movie. Taaffe O'Connell is an honorable mention because of the famous scene she has, the worm rape scene, which may in fact be the sole reason that the movie was so badly received. The other actors all do a fine job with Edward Albert, Erin Moran from Happy Days fame, and Ray Walston as the lead characters, but they don't go over and above in their acting like the three I mentioned previously do.

The movie's premise is basically that the ship Quest is sent to the planet Morganthus for the purpose of rescuing a crew stranded on the planet. The crew is found to be dead, but the Quest is stranded on the planet until all the bodies are recovered... or something. Anyway, the planet has a weird effect of showing the characters their worst fears and then killing them with those fears. That's the main premise of the film, and each character has to either survive their fears, mastering their own mind, or succumb to their fears. Later it is learned that the entire planet is a trial and a test to find the next Master. The story is pretty simple, but works quite well.

I enjoyed this movie a lot. The famous worm rape scene was probably the hardest part to watch, but most of the film has some great effects. The gore is well done. The costumes are pretty good. The ship looks good. The environments look good. The actors are good. Hell, there is little about this movie that I would say is bad. I have no idea how this movie found its way on a list of the worst of all time. I'm sure I can name way too many movies that I've seen even semi-recently that are so much worse than this one. I can't even think of negative things to really even point out. Most of the movie is quality inside and out. I have to recommend this film, especially if you like the B-movie styled films, but even if you don't it's a pretty good movie to watch. Not too many scares really, but the gore and the effects will certainly be enough to show a pretty good adventure.