A law student, who takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue, begins to discover clues that implicate him as the suspect of a series of murders.A law student, who takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue, begins to discover clues that implicate him as the suspect of a series of murders.A law student, who takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue, begins to discover clues that implicate him as the suspect of a series of murders.
- Awards
- 2 wins
- Leanne
- (as Anaïs Evans)
- Pub Thug
- (as Mongo)
- Female Paramedic
- (as Candy Brown Houston)
Storyline
Did you know
- Trivia(at around 8 mins) The photograph on the bulletin board at the guard desk that Martin notices when he shows up for his first shift and asks the old watchman about, is a famous photo of Lewis Thornton Powell (also known as Lewis Paine or Lewis Payne), a conspirator with John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln.
- GoofsAll entries contain spoilers
- Quotes
Inspector Thomas Cray: Most people, when they see something like this, their immediate reaction is to ask how could somebody do this and why. Even when we catch the killer, they want to know the how and why. In movies or television, the killer always explains the how or why. He always has some reason, however crazy, with a mad gleam in his eye. But I've interrogated murderers like this one before, and let me tell you, they are well beyond the need to justify what they do. They just do it. Explanations are just a fiction to make us feel safe. Because if it can't be explained, then it's just meaningless chaos. It could touch any one of us at any moment. Which is exactly what it is.
- Crazy creditsThe end credits feature an alternate version of the Super 8 song "Pain", which originally appeared on their self-titled debut album. It cuts out the opening verses, and also removes noises made by the vocalist towards the end of the song.
- Alternate versionsThe original cut of the film was just about 2-1/2 hours and included a different score and different opening sequence which was just an extended version of the two couples having dinner together followed by an extended scene at the local pub. The entire subplot of discussion of marriage between Lauren Graham and Josh Brolin's characters was cut, including a sequence at the end where they are married at a double wedding alongside Patricia Arquette and Ewan McGregor's characters. This version also included an extended restaurant scene with Joyce and more contact between her and Martin throughout the film, including a much more graphic death sequence in Joyce's apartment.
- SoundtracksHappy Birthday to You
Written by Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill
Martin Bells (Ewan McGregor), a law student, has just taken a job as a night watchman (8 pm-4 am) in an eerie city morgue. A strange and eccentric retiring night watchman (Lonny Chapman) escorts Bells throughout the main premises, telling him anecdotes and advising him to "get a radio." The building, unoccupied at night, houses not just a morgue but also a forensics lab where dismembered human body parts are preserved in jars filled with formaldehyde. The hallway is long. In the morgue's cold room, above each covered body is an alarm cord, in case the corpse rises (!) (according to the retiring watchman). The room door has no inside handles. The watchman's rounds include a time clock on the far wall of the cold room, so that he has to enter the entire room to get to it. The night watchman himself works alone in an office at a large lobby unlit after hours. Moths trapped in the office lighting provide a flickering look. On the office wall is a 19th century photo of Lewis Powell (a/k/a Lewis Payne), one of the assassins of Abraham Lincoln. The creaky elevator sticks while strange noises sometimes emanate from the building. The morgue is indeed an ominous place. And for the first part of the film there is genuine eeriness; in the second half the movie collapses.
In the city a serial murderer is on the loose; he kills prostitutes. Police inspector Tom Cray (Nick Nolte) stops into the morgue to advise Bells that a fresh body, a murdered young lady, is being delivered. The killer removes the eyes of the dead women. The cop might have added that a molester of corpses is also running amok. One night the emergency red light in the watchman's office flickers. Bells has to check it out alone as the night doctor is not available for 30 minutes. It turns out that Bells' unhinged friend James (Josh Brolin) has made one of his practical jokes. He had somehow slipped into the morgue one evening and hidden under a sheet on a gurney in the cold room and slowly raised himself as from the dead. Boo! I scared you! Other strange events also occur, and they make little sense. One of these involves the body of a dead prostitute that was dragged down the corridor to the exit door, leaving a trail of smeared blood everywhere. "Why," one may ask? And how could the killer sneak in and do what he did, including clean-up? And how did Martin miss seeing it the first time he was there, in the well-lit cold room? When I first saw this, I thought it could be the watchman dreaming, but no. Anyway, soon Bells realizes that he is being framed by the killer. By the way, the murderer once worked in the medical examiner's office years ago and was dismissed for necrophilia. How can Bells trap the real killer?
The script is below par. Character development is weak, and we never know the motivations of McGregor, Patricia Arquette (his girlfriend Katherine), Brad Dourif (the duty doctor), Nolte, or anybody else. Brolin's purpose is to serve as the red herring. The use of "This Old Man (Knick-Knack Paddy-Whack)" song has a reason that will escape many, although during the denouement the killer whistles the tune, alerting the Patricia Arquette character to her precarious situation. We never do discover the significance of Powell's photo in the watchman's office. The main achievement of the movie is the creepy and claustrophobic atmosphere of the morgue. But the film could have been done so much better! Remade from the Danish film, "Nattevagten" (1994).
- romanorum1
- Jul 21, 2017
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Нічне чергування
- Filming locations
- Royce Quad, UCLA, Westwood, Los Angeles, California, USA(Martin and James' school)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,179,002
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $585,733
- Apr 19, 1998
- Gross worldwide
- $1,179,002
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1