Graveyard Shift is a 1990 American horror film directed by Ralph S. Singleton, written by John Esposito, starring David Andrews, Stephen Macht, Kelly Wolf, and Brad Dourif, and based on the 1970 short story of the same name by Stephen King which was first published in the October 1970 issue of Cavalier magazine, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift. The movie was released in October 1990.
The film was shot in the village of Harmony, Maine at Bartlettyarns Inc., the oldest woolen yarn mill in the United States (est. 1821). The historic Bartlett mill was renamed Bachman for the movie, an homage to King's pseudonym, Richard Bachman. The interior shots of the antique mill machinery, and the riverside cemetery, were in Harmony. Other scenes (restaurant interior, and giant wool picking machine) were at locations in Bangor, Maine, at an abandoned waterworks and armory. A few other mill scenes were staged near the Eastland woolen mill in Corinna, Maine, which subsequently became a Superfund site.
Graveyard Shift was a modest box office success for Paramount. The film was released October 26, 1990 in the United States, opening in first place that weekend. It grossed a total of $11,582,891 domestically.
Stephen King heavily disliked the film and named it one of his least favorite adaptations calling it "a quick exploitation picture".
BANGOR WATER WORKS
DATE(S) VISITED: JULY 4, 2020
LOCATION: BANGOR, ME
The old Bangor Water Works building which has since been renovated into an apartment complex. This was not only the inspiration for King's story Graveyard Shift, the basement and several tunnels connecting the buildings were used to film the 1990 movie. We couldn't go inside sadly, but it's fabulous this was saved from demolition.
