A drifter named John Hale (David Andrews) is hired to work in an old rat-infested mill next to an abandoned graveyard. The sadistic mill foreman, Warwick (Stephen Macht) has been sexually harassing female workers there. The latest one is called Nordello (Ilona Margolis). Warwick hires an eccentric exterminator named Tucker Cleveland (Brad Dourif) to solve the rat problem in the mill, but Cleveland says the mill should be shut down. Hall is harassed by his fellow workers Danson (Andrew Divoff), Brogan (Vic Polizos), and Stevenson (Minor Rootes). Warwick hires Hall because he is not intimidated by him and even prevented Warwick from striking Nordello. Hall moves on to Jane Wisconsky (Kelly Wolf) because she has low self-esteem.
Warwick is told that the basement must be cleaned up because of numerous safety violations or the mill could be shut down. Stevenson is told to check out the basement and string up lights, but he is grabbed by some creature and dragged away.
Hall, Wisconsky, Carmichael, Ippeston, and Brogan are all sent to clean the basement. That night, Nordello breaks into Warwick’s office to steal incriminating documents. As she leaves, Nordello falls down the stairs into the basement and is devoured by the creature. Warwick has come to believe that the graveyard next door is the breeding ground for the rats. Warwick blackmails Cleveland into eliminating the rat problem in the graveyard, but a stone coffin falls on him.
Cleaning out the basement, Brogan shoots rats with the fire hose. Warwick fires Ippeston for complaining too much. Hall discovers a trap door leading to an abandoned part of the mill and thinks it’s a nesting ground for the rats. Hall is forced to enter with a fire hose, but Hall demands Warwick help him. Warwick forces the other workers to accompany Hall, and they discover a severed human hand. Brogan falls into the pool and is devoured.
Carmichael discovers a passage through which he can hear an underground river. Inside, he finds a hole through which they can reach the outside. He puts his arm through, and it is ripped off. The team abandons him as he is devoured. Danson is abandoned as well and is devoured too.
Hall and Wisconsky discover the creature’s lair--a cavern full of bones with Warwick buried beneath it. Driven to madness, Warwick attacks Hall and Wisconsky and stabs the latter to death. Warwick runs and discovers a bat-like creature. Warwick is killed by it but Hall escapes to the mill. It follows him and he turns on the cotton-picker, which shreds the creature. In the last shot, a sign outside the mill says it’s under new management.
The film was directed by Ralph S. Singleton, his first, written by John Esposito and based on the 1970 short story by Stephen King. It did not get great reviews. It was shot in Harmony Mine, at Bartletty Arms Inc., the oldest woollen yarn mill in the U.S., and also at an abandoned water works and armoury in Bangor. It received a rare 0% approval on Rotten Tomatoes and was one of Stephen King’s least favourite adaptations.
It is 90 minutes of shlock and awe, as someone said, and all the characters are either a nutcase or a cypher. The only thing to admire, in my opinion, is the disgusting creature that kills them and the filthy, dark atmosphere of the mill, which is laid on with a trowel. Only Kelly Wolf, a tough working babe and Brad Dourif as the quirky exterminator attract attention. The atmosphere is disgustingly successful. Steven Macht is brilliantly horrible. The audience roots for him and most everybody else to die, which pretty much happens. I suppose this is some sort of success.