Night Shift
(1982)
Michael Keaton of MonsterVision's Beetlejuice and Henry Winkler of American Graffiti spin-off "Happy Days" star in this black comedy as the only morgue attendants on the night shift when a small-time callgirl (Shelley Long of "Hello Again") who lives in Keaton's apartment building complains that she and the other "girls" lost their pimp and have no one to make appointments & take phone calls while they're working. Also, they are scared that no one's there to keep them from getting beat up or killed by a john.
So Keaton volunteers to take phone calls and arrange appointments for her out of the morgue. Winkler is shocked at first, but Keaton talks him into it, and Winkler decides to run it as a "real" business, complete with a health plan and retirement fund. Director Ron Howard successfully made a movie that could have gotten raunchy in lesser hands. Soundtrack by Rod Stewart.
Originally rated R for nudity and the adult situation, though TV-edited versions still hold up well.
Additional cast: Gina Hecht, Pat Corley, Bobby DiCicco, Nita Talbot, Richard Belzer, Shannon Doherty of "Charmed", Kevin Costner of Waterworld, and Charles Fleischer of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and Back To The Future
"Night Shift" availability on video and on DVD from Amazon.com
Hello Again
(1987)
Shelley Long stars in this sometimes hilarious zombie spoof as a Long Island housewife who chokes to death and is brought back to life a year later by her well-meaning amateur witch sister. At first, Shelley doesn't believe she's been dead. When she finally does, she tries to pick up her "life" again where she left off, but finds it doesn't work too well.
Additional cast:
Corbin Bernsen, Judith Ivey, Gabriel Byrne, Sela Ward, Carrie Nye, Robert Lewis, Madaleine Potter, Austin Pendleton. Written by Susan Isaacs, directed by Frank Perry, 96 minutes rated PG
Shelley Long availability on video and on DVD from Amazon.com
Death Becomes Her
(1992)
The special effects won an academy award in this twist on zombie movies. Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn play rival social climbers obsessed with staying young. So they individually end up going to the same gypsy woman (right out of MonsterVision movie Love Potion #9) who gives them a potion that makes them immortal - by stopping all the major organs and keeping them alive through black magic.
Once they discover this they try, and fail, to kill each other in various ways including a shotgun blast that leaves a large see-through hole in Goldie's body. Bruce Willis plays her long-suffering husband, who is fascinated by the immortality angle and tries to figure out how to market the potion.
Additional cast:
Isabella Rossellini (Merlin), Ian Ogilvy, directed by Robert Zemeckis (who also directed Back To The Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
"Death Becomes Her" availability on DVD from Amazon.com
"I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous; everyone hasn't met me yet." Rodney Dangerfield
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