By Steve Newton Way back in 1988 I did a phone interview with Dean Koontz for a story I was writing on the film adaptation of his novel Watchers for Fangoria magazine. Watchers was an awesome book–especially if you like golden retrievers–but the movie, starring Corey Haim, turned out to be a piece of doggie … Continue reading Koontz on King: Dean Koontz on his fave Stephen King film and the Maine-man’s contribution to horror
By Steve Newton Back in 2000 I got assigned by Fangoria magazine to cover the Vancouver filming of Sole Survivor, a TV-movie based on a Dean Koontz novel. After covering awful adaptations of great Zoontz books like Watchers and Hideaway, I was doubtful. But hey, us freelancers gotta make a buck somehow. Here’s an abbreviated version … Continue reading Hangin’ out with Billy Zane on the Vancouver set of Dean Koontz’s Sole Survivor
By Steve Newton Back in ’97 I got assigned by Fangoria magazine to cover the filming of a FOX-TV miniseries called Intensity. Normally I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about a FOX-TV miniseries, but this one was based on a novel I really loved by Dean Koontz, so I was in. Here’s a shortened version of the story … Continue reading Analyzing psycho-killer Edgler Vess’s spider-eating ways on the B.C. set of Dean Koontz’s Intensity
By Steve Newton Vancouver has not been kind to Dean Koontz. First you had his awesome 1987 suspense novel, Watchers, being turned into a godawful Corey Haim vehicle up here in 1988. Then seven years later you had his fine 1982 supernatural thriller, Hideaway, becoming the type of B.C.-shot trainwreck he tried to sue to … Continue reading Interviewing Jeff Goldblum and Alicia Silverstone on the set of Dean Koontz’s Hideaway
By Steve Newton I still remember the major buzz I got when I saw my first full-colour, three-page spread in famed horror mag Fangoria back in ’88. It was for a Vancouver-shot movie called Watchers that I’d done a set-visit piece on, interviewing the director, stars, and FX artists–and later on, by phone, even author Dean Koontz … Continue reading Watching Dean Koontz’s beloved Watchers get trashed in Vancouver
As a correspondent for Fangoria, the world’s best-known horror magazine, I got to go on the set of quite a few scary flicks being made in and around the thriving metropolis of Vancouver, B.C. They weren’t all good movies… …okay, they were almost all bad. But I still had a gas doing them. Thanks Fango! … Continue reading horror in Vancouver
By Steve Newton As dedicated Vancouver horror fans know, the city has had its fair share of terrible flight flicks filmed here. Some were worse than others, of course. For example, the adaptation of Dean Koontz’s Watchers was way worse than the adaptation of Stephen King’s It. Then again, it was way worse than anything. Except maybe Uwe … Continue reading Hangin’ with Kane Hodder on the Vancouver set of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason takes Manhattan
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MAY 4, 1995 By Steve Newton It’s hard being a proud horror fan in 1995, when movies based on the works of genre kings Dean Koontz and Clive Barker turn out to be as lame as Hideaway and Candyman 2, respectively. Then you’ve got former terror titan Tobe (Poltergeist) … Continue reading Horror review: Village of the Damned
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 23, 1988 By Steve Newton Horror is big stuff nowadays. Why, just flick your TV on any night and chances are you’ll come across War of the Worlds, Monsters, Tales from the Dark Side, or Freddy’s Nightmares. Walk into most any video store and you just might find … Continue reading Clive Barker on making movies, writing books, and the state of horror in 1988
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 25, 2015 By Steve Newton The Lazarus Effect reminds me a bit of that made-in-Vancouver horror flick Hideaway, in which characters that are brought back to life after being clinically dead for a while encounter weird sensations and frightening visions. It also sucks about as much. The latest low-budget offering from Blumhouse … Continue reading The Lazarus Effect is a Flatliners ripoff unworthy of resuscitation
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 9, 1988 By Steve Newton When novelist Dean R. Koontz was asked, after reading a screenplay based on his book Watchers, how he thought the film would turn out, he said, “I think they’ve done a good job with the [scary] throat-clutching parts, but the rest of it … Continue reading Horror review: Watchers
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 9, 1995 By Steve Newton Before actually seeing Hideaway, I had mixed feelings about the potential of this Vancouver-made thriller. On the positive side, I was a big fan of both star Jeff Goldblum and the Dean R. Koontz novel on which the film is based. But I … Continue reading Horror review: Hideaway
