Japan Synopsis
“Stephen King took you to the edge with The Shining and Pet Sematary. This time… he pushes you over.”
John Hall is a drifter who wanders into a small town in Maine. He needs a job and decides to seek employment at the community's top business: a large textile mill. He is hired to work the "graveyard shift" — from around midnight to dawn — and, along with a few others, he is charged with cleaning out the basement. This task strikes the workers as simple enough, but then, as they proceed deeper underground, they encounter an unspeakable monstrosity intent on devouring them all.
Other Titles From Paramount
The 1989–1991 Japan Window
In the crowded 1989-1991 Japan release window, Graveyard Shift sits at #104 of 114. The leaderboard below contextualises its neighbours.
The 1990s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1990s in Japan, 447 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Graveyard Shift premiered alongside 32 others.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 29m runtime, production spent $118K per minute on screen and earned $130K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 32 other Japan films in 1990.
The 832nd Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
215 audience reviews — more than 87% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (87th percentile) outruns trending popularity (58th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Graveyard Shift, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- rat · 3
- exterminator · 2
- man eating monster · 2
- maine · 1
- textile worker · 1
- giant rat · 1
- rats exterminator · 1
- based on short story · 20
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #4,309 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (6th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -1.6 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Horror productions specifically: #288 of 391 (top 74%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Japan, United States of America |
| Original Language | En |
| Production Companies | Paramount, Graveyard Productions, JVC |
| Runtime | 1h 29m |
| Release Date | October 26, 1990 |
| IMDb | tt0099697 |