FAQ

Drifter John Hall (David Andrews) lands a job at Bachman Mills, an old but operating textile mill in Gates Falls, Maine. When several workers on the graveyard shift—from 11 PM to 7 AM—are mysteriously killed and the building inspector threatens to shut down the mill if it isn't cleaned up and the massive rat infestation dealt with, foreman Warwick (Stephen Macht) assigns six nonunion employees, including Hall, to a cleaning detail over the July 4th holiday. As the employees get deeper and deeper into the subterranean maze of basement tunnels, they find themselves facing a horrifying creature.

Graveyard Shift is based on a short story (same title) written by American horror writer Stephen King. The story was first published in the 1970 issue of Cavalier magazine and later in King's collection of short stories called Night Shift (1978). The short story was adapted for the movie by John Esposito.

SHORT ANSWER: It is a (pink & gray slimy) bat! More info: The creature is the standard ugly American Texas bat (not to be confused with the cute "flying foxes" of Australia). The closest bat it resembles is the horned bat, sans horn. In many countries, bats are "mice with wings", such as in French, bats are "chauve-souris" (or bald mice).

OTHER ANSWER: It's a mutated rat with batwings. The explanation, according to the short story, is that the rats in the subcellar (under the trapdoor) have been living so long in the darkness that they have become blind, lost their hind legs, and grown gigantic, some as high as three feet. There are also what seem to be bats the size of crows that turn out to be more mutated rats that have grown wings but haven't yet lost their tails. The creature who attacks them in the movie is most likely the one described in the story as the magna mater or queen mother. She was totally limbless and as big as a Holstein calf.

No, King does not appear in Graveyard Shift.

Hall and Jane help Warwick out of the pile of bones, but he goes ballistic and stabs Jane to death. Suddenly, a roar is heard. Warwick goes in search of the creature, while Hall stays behind to hold the dying Jane. Warwick finds the creature and tries to kill it but is almost immediately consumed. Hall searches for a way out and finds a shaft with a hose hanging down. He starts hoisting himself up, ending up in the picker room. The creature pursues, causing Hall some scary moments until he notices that the creature's tail is poking into the picker. He slingshots a Pepsi can at the start-up button, hits it, and the creature is pulled in and torn to bits. The rats move in and start feeding. The final scene shows a sign outside of the mill. "Now hiring...Apply upstairs...Under new management." In a voice over, Warwick says, "Show's over."