Graveyard Shift

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.

Jerry Ciccoritti's darkly erotic, appealingly stylised Canadian shocker has brooding swarthy-sexy vampire, Stephen Tsepes, (Michael A. Miranda) moonlighting as a taciturn NY cabbie, tirelessly working the gloomy night shift. This ancient predator hides in plain night; as some of, Stephen's more physically enticing female passengers only belatedly discover that their journey is about to take a terminal turn onto roads FAR less travelled!

This weirdly romantic, deliciously eccentric, unfairly neglected Canadian creature feature is engagingly performed by a talented cast of unknowns, with a number of splendidly grisly kills, plus an appreciably sensual, frequently skewed atmosphere that is heightened by ace composer, Nicholas Pike's spare, fabulously evocative synth score. An imaginative, creatively photographed, smartly directed horror film, and I think it's reasonable to say that in an era of conspicuously recycled mediocrity, it's more than just to single out the delirious hidden delights of uncommonly strange 80s horror fare like sleeper cult classic, 'Graveyard Shift' aka 'Central Park Drifter'. Jerry Ciccoritti's pervy, plasma-packed nightmare remains a toothsome terror treat well worth sinking your hungry, horror-loving fangs into! - In a blackened city infamous for its nefarious nocturnal denizens, sinisterly stalking Vampire cabbie, Stephen Tsepes, is a fare to remember!'

Vampire Stephen Tsepes (Michael A. Miranda) works the graveyard shift as a taxi driver, preying on the suicidal, the terminally ill and the occasional street gang. When he meets music video director Michelle Hayden (Helen Papas), who only has a few months left to live, he falls in love with the woman, much to the annoyance of her womanising husband Eric (Cliff Stoker), who teams up with a pal to try and end the vampire's existence.

Not to be confused with the 1990 Stephen King film of the same name, Graveyard Shift is an erotic vampire film that is more akin to Tony Scott's dreary dud The Hunger than MY favourite vampire films of the '80s, Fright Night, The Lost Boys and Vamp. Writer director Jerry Ciccoritti goes for style over substance, his film artfully shot, swathed in neon light, with plenty of fetishistic imagery. The visuals are undeniably pretty at times, but the whole thing is slow and somewhat pretentious in its approach, the pompous, oversentimental dialogue delivered in a surprisingly stolid manner that results in tedium.

Followed by a sequel, The Understudy: Graveyard Shift II, in 1989, so I guess someone must have liked it.

...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.

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.