This was a very popular movie rental under the title "Graveyard Shift" back in the 80's. The movie has a combination disco/ Miami Vice feel to it. The Travolta looking lead as well as the sound track gives it that classic 80's feel. Steven is a vampire in NYC who, like all vampires works the Graveyard Shift. Steven senses when women are in their "death cycle" at which time he makes them his lover and gives them a nibble. They in turn become vampires, who Steven never calls. He is a cab driver.There is a subplot involving a woman named Michelle, who directs vampire videos, but apparently not to well. She is also terminal. Steven eventually ends up at a Halloween party at her house. Michelle's husband, who plays the field, is jealous, but Michelle is in love. The women vampires kill their victims. The cops are trying to figure out where the bodies are coming from.The film uses red and blue lighting to represent heat and cold, hot and cold bodies. Sometimes it is effective, other times it doesn't work and is annoying. The movie also had some erotic nudity, especially one blue-lit scene with Kim Cayer, which was perhaps the main reason for its popularity. They don't even show her scene on the back cover and they should have plastered it on the front. It sold the movie. I think they did themselves a disfavor by re-releasing it under a different title, especially a bad one.Sex and nudity. Not much blood for a vampire film.

There is an interesting and entertaining vampire movie buried deep deep down in the Canadian effort "Graveyard Shift", and occasionally it comes out and bares its fangs. For one thing, while the movie had a painfully low budget, it actually looks very decent. The photography and lighting is very eye-catching, and it also manages to generate a little atmosphere - you really feel the cold and creepiness of this setting. If only the screenplay had been given as much care as the movie's look and feel. For starters, you never get a real sense of what is going on in the characters' heads, particularly the taxi driving vampire. What was his past? What are his motivations? We never get the answers to questions like those. And the subplot with the estranged couple also has some vague touches and is not resolved in a satisfactory manner. The unanswered questions really pick up in the second half of the movie, with the plot really starting to become muddled. If you don't care about the plot and characters and are just looking for basic horror thrills, you'll likely be disappointed - there is not much blood and gore, though to compensate there are several instances where the characters take off their clothes. I don't think the movie works in the end, but apparently it did work for enough people during its initial release on home video, because there was a sequel the following year. But I'm in no rush to track down a copy.

I've known this movie for years after being mentioned in many websites and specially in the IMDb Horror Board (my second home). While it's not a cult classic it has generated a solid fan database and I'm one of those who enjoyed it big time.I watched this movie by mistake... It aired on Mexican late local t.v. (it started at 5:00 a.m.) and I decided to give it a chance BUT I didn't know it was the so much talked about "Graveyard Shift".I was immediately caught by the movie's vibe, I mean, I thought it was a 1990 effort and nothing more because of the soundtrack, the clothes, the cinematography, and most of all, the atmosphere.The plot is really interesting. I mean, a taxicab vampire driver who converts "troubled" women into creatures of the night and suddenly falls in love with a married but unhappy woman will always be a great idea in my mind.The love story evolves as death, lust, and the risk of losing immortality happens. I dug the relationship between Michelle and Stephen because it deals with sensuality, resurrection, but most important of all, attraction in all the sense of the word.But let me state that I really liked the movie because of the mixture of late 80's unique elements such as the soundtrack that I really enjoyed even that it only consists of a guitar-solo taken out from any Sega Genesis or Arcade game. It's just a unique sound that has a nostalgia feeling mixed with loneliness and the empty streets of a big city. The cinematography and art direction are a great combo most of all when it comes with dark settings such as when Michelle gets out of the cab and walks in front of a large, dying tree while in the background we see the sinister moon, adequate lightning, fog, and shadows. A great scene. Also, when Stephen makes his appearance near the ending , the music works perfect with the creepy and shadowy atmosphere.The gore is really good! Specially when we get bites, be headings, bitten necks, and stabbing. Oh, and pay attention to the "Day OF The Dead" reference (when the bald guy with the crucifix gets chopped and eaten by female vampires!).The sex scenes are very well done and add an extra spice for the movie. I really dug the "conversion" scene when Michelle decides that she's ready for eternal life at the cost of a vampire. The red cinematography works pretty well when mixed with the violence and sensuality.The Cop/Detective sub-plot also works perfectly and reminds us of 80's Giallo but American style! And I mean a ridiculous female cop who becomes crazy and even slaughters a black male cop, and a gray haired Cop who kills the husband near the ending.The love story mixed with death and dramatic situations (like the jealous husband!) is something to notice because we don't see it regularly in modern Horror Cinema.Pappas is extremely sexy, provocative; I love her lips and her sensual face. Oliveria is simply great and delivers a "suave" vampire performance.The Direction is stylish and dark at the same time. I dug anytime the creepy fake cemetery appears and most of the death sequences are well done. The make-up is really good, specially when applied to Stephen. He truly looks like a dead man walking! I can't understand the hate, this is an original vampire movie with a powerful 80's feeling; that is creepiness mixed with glam.I can't understand what's going on with the uncertainty feeling in the film. I know it was about time to change to the 90's style but for 1987, I can feel the generational change very rushed. It's like the movie tried to cover what was about to come but without shaking the 80's glam.Anyways, I like these kind of movies; in the style of "The First Power", "Satan's Princess", "The Horror Show", and "Exorcist III".On it's way to become a cult classic, believe me. Time will make justice to it.We need more movies like this...but with a better execution.

So the taxi driver, on the night shift, is a vampire. Powerful, mystical, spiritual, all the usual vampiry stuff... but hey, he's gotta earn a living, get some o' them dollars, right?? Wrong. The whole point of vampires is that they live a separate existence, feeding off of our race as they need. Their structured and mysterious society goes far beyond money, far beyond the need for the day to day, 9pm to 5am, shift work that the rest of us have to put up with. Taxi driver indeed! And it gets worse.Our vampire hero, the love, lust, and blood full monty only becomes a vampire when someone has tipped a bag of flour over him, and turned on some blue scenery lights. Yep, the make-up and lighting budget was a bit strained. Made in the late 80's, this film also seemed more linked to the "Fame!" series than anything else. These aren't actors, they're dancers! The story is set around an 80's dance production, and yes, they definitely did stick with hiring dancers... even the vampire hero midget, with what looks like an astounding physique, will not doubt turn out to be a dancer when put under the microscope.So, 80's dancing, leg warmers, shocking 80's music, awful 80's characters and situations... oh yes, the 80's was the decade when nothing really happened anywhere, unless there was an over choreographed modern dance show going on! And yes a ridiculous 80's script. There is nothing here for vampire or horror fans... nothing at all. A budget film, with budget cast and when the budget ran out they ended it with a sub-budget ending... it really is terrible. Sure, they "Wanna live for ever", and after a quick nibble in the park, they probably will! I voted a "2"