Nachtschicht

...but just didn't follow through.

Ever wonder what Dracula would be like mashed up with Taxi Driver? Me neither, but I found this when I was cleaning out my stepson's room after he moved out, so I figured why not. Silvio Oliviero stars as an East European vampire working as a cab driver in NYC. He chooses his victims from the helpless and despondent fares that he picks up. He's grown world-weary, though, and is about ready to hang up his cape when he meets Michelle, a melancholy film director who has just learned she has an incurable fatal illness. They fall in love and mope together. Her former boyfriend doesn't approve, so he enlists a vampire-lore expert buddy to help put a stop to things.

There's also a subplot about all of Silvio's prior victims coming back as vampires themselves and causing a murder spree across the city, much to the concern of two NYPD detectives. This is a very low budget affair, and almost resembles a student film for much of the running. The acting runs the gamut from poor to passable, while the use of colored lighting and moving cameras has some flash, even if the picture quality itself is bottom of the barrel. There are long scenes of vampiric erotica, akin to a toothier version of Red Shoe Diaries. This isn't worth seeking out, but I've seen much worse. There's a sequel - "The Understudy: Graveyard Shift II". I'm giving it 5/10 on the novelty coupled with the nostalgia since I do love those 80's.

For some reason the DVD only seems available in full screen although it was originally shot in widescreen.

This is a real find, a sharp, noir tale of isolation and loneliness on both sides of the mortal divide. Stylish compositions and lighting, made more effective by a storyline set entirely at night, shape the story of Stephen, a world-weary, centuries-old vampire drawing closer to his longed-for death by feeding only on already-dying women. The victims remain alive but develop an intense bloodlust which soon wraps the city in an epidemic of slasher murders, each needing blood at the same time as all the others (in a striking scene, one woman, trapped in prison at the moment that her sisters are killing, desperately tears open her vampire wound and drinks her own blood). Only the latest victim, Michelle, a terminal cancer patient with whom Stephen has fallen in love, is spared the craving. Michelle tries to save Stephen, but soon both the police and her jealous husband are closing in... The frequently half-naked female hunters add a fetishistic touch (but there's plenty of male nudity as well), and scene after scene takes place in red-walled rooms or tiny pools of light surrounded by pitch-black, neon-studded darkness and wet gleaming streets, lending an overall stark and haunting vibe. If you're a vampire fan but plush Gothic romances and big-budget killfests both leave you yawning, seek this one out.

I have to disagree with the last reviewer. The movie is not as bad as he makes it out to be. Yeah, of course it has it's faults like majority of 80's B Grade movies but I haven't seen Central Park Drifter in years up until now and still find the film to be watchable. If you are looking for the hairs to stand up on the back of your neck and want to watch this for thrills you won't get it here. If you just want a horror film to watch with vampires involved and has an OK storyline then you can be entertained. If you want to take this seriously as I speculate the previous reviewer did, then you won't. I rate this movie half for its efforts based on storyline and the performances of actors was OK. As for killings...the murders were average and showed little blood. You won't find it gory here.

Silvio Oliviero has got to be one of the sexiest actors every to portray a vampire. His John Travolta SNF hair, muscular hairy chest, and ascent all add tremendously to the sex quotient of this film. So much hotter and more humane than any portrayal of Lestat could possibly be.

What a very unique little obscure oddity this thing is. What really helps Graveyard Shift (aka Central Park Drifter or Central Park Driver) is its heavy use of style, using a variety of neon's, reds, blues, and ultimately coming off very neo-noirish, not to mention its soundtrack which relies on a variety of synths and other types of 80s style music. While the acting isn't the greatest, the film gives us a lot nudity and stylish sex scenes. The overall product really reminds me a lot of Tony Scott's The Hunger. Defiantly recommended.