8 Most Ridiculous Stephen King Adaptations Of All Time
7. Graveyard Shift (1990)
Topping the list of movies you wont believe received a theatrical release is this adaptation of Kings short story, which in the hands of Ralph S Singleton (Pet Sematary 2) becomes a simple-minded monster movie populated by yee-haw caricatures behaving in stupid ways. Best of all is the character played by Brad Dourif, the man no bargain basement horror is complete without. Billed as The Exterminator, and given to bug-eyed ranting about how the Viet Cong used to feed American POWs to rats, Brads appalled when hero David Andrews doesnt take him seriously. I aint one of those baby-burning flashback f**k-ups you see Bruce Dern playing, he says, so quit your grinning! What kind of factory would hire this guy? The kind of place that has a monster in the basement and a foreman who can't figure out why his colleagues keep disappearing. Every time someone 'quits', Mr. Foreman doesn't bother investigating, he just hangs out the Now Hiring sign and sets about recruiting a team to clean the basement over July 4th weekend. This is one of those creature features where you don't see the monster until the climax, and when you do, you realise why the filmmakers kept it off screen. Supposedly a giant rat, albeit one with talons and leathery wings, it picks the characters off one by one until only Andrews remains, and it might not surprise you to learn that mankind emerges triumphant. Although given that the same species produced this film, thats maybe being overly optimistic.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
