Graveyard Shift

This was an interesting vampire flick for the premise at least. The 1980's style is great and the film is very noirish, but the pacing is a bit slow and the actual editing is too fast paced, cutting from scene to scene too quickly and leaving you wondering how people got where they were or how things ended up like they did. The score is sorta typical of the mid-late 1980's, which isn't a bad thing as most people would have you believe. The setting and style of the film reminds me of Miami Vice or even Fright Night, which was a better film in my opinion. Still, all things considered, I've seen way worse movies. All in all, worth one watch at least and not the horrible dreck that some folks on here make it out to be. Certainly not the worst movie ever done.

...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.

Not to be confused with the (actually slightly superior) film from 1990 of the same title, Graveyard Shift is the story of a vampire taxi driver. The premise of the film actually seems quite interesting; a taxi driver would be a good job for a vampire considering all the opportunity he would have for finding victims and this coupled with a trashy eighties vibe and some decent gore could have lead to a decent film; but instead what we end up is a thoroughly turgid vampire flick devoid of most of the elements that make the subgenre great. The base plot sprang from the central premise is that the vampire/cabbie meets a young woman that he likes and turns her into a vampire instead of killing her; leading her jealous husband to take revenge. The main reason the film doesn't work is down to the dull script which doesn't give us any reason to care for the characters or anything that is happening in the film. The script defies logic and most of the characters are just 'there'. There a few good moments in the film, but mostly it's just trash and ultimately rather boring too. I'm not surprised that this film has not won itself a better reputation - the reason is simply that it doesn't deserve one. Leave this rubbish well alone!

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.