ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, FEB. 18, 2010 By Steve Newton On Hellbilly Deluxe 2, hard-rocking horror auteur Rob Zombie combines his love of low-budget fright flicks and grinding metal the same way he did on his debut solo album, 1998’s Hellbilly Deluxe. Well, not quite the same way. While his first post-White Zombie release … Continue reading Album review: Rob Zombie, Hellbilly Deluxe 2 (2010)
By Steve Newton Watched Rob Zombie’s 3 from Hell on Shudder last night, and I gotta tell ya, it wasn’t in the same league as his previous two studies of the murderous Firefly clan. With 2003’s House of 1000 Corpses, the former White Zombie main man made a fitting transformation from over-the-top shock rocker to … Continue reading 3 From Hell doesn’t match Rob Zombie’s previous studies of the psychotic Firefly clan
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 27, 2008 By Steve Newton On a recent episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert lectured Axl Rose for stealing his thunder by releasing Chinese Democracy, the first Guns N’ Roses album in 17 years, the very same day as Colbert’s Christmas special. “What’s the matter, Axl,” whined the … Continue reading Album review: Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy (2008)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 26, 2021 By Steve Newton Gigi Saul Guerrero remembers well the day she truly embraced her love of horror. She grew up in Mexico City in a very religious family, and was never allowed to watch scary movies—her strict Catholic mom banned them from the house. But during one particular trip to … Continue reading Horror director Gigi Saul Guerrero strives to make movies that can follow you home
By Steve Newton Here’s my original reviews of five worthy horror flicks now streaming on Netflix Canada. Three of them are from Lionsgate. Way to go, Lionsgate. Saw II (2005, Lionsgate) The original Saw had a pretty interesting premise, and one that kept the options wide open for gruesome, sadistic, squirm-in-your-seat horror. It was about a psychopathic … Continue reading Five recommended horror flicks now streaming on Netflix Canada
The Cabin in the Woods is #1 By Steve Newton #10. 1408 (2007). Directed by Mikael Håfström. Unforgettable haunted-house flicks are extremely hard to come by; the only two I can think of are 1963’s The Haunting and The Shining. The subgenre of haunted-hotel-room flicks is promising in that the number of hotel patrons passing … Continue reading Newt’s top 10 horror flicks streaming on Netflix Canada now
Sora: Desire and Truth (2009) Rob Zombie: Hellbilly Deluxe 2 (2009) Rod Stewart, Soulbook (2009) Joe Perry: Have Guitar, Will Travel (2009) Damon Fowler, Sugar Shack (2009) Lynyrd Skynyrd: God & Guns (2009) John Fogerty: The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again (2009) The Bottle Rockets: Lean Forward (2009) Various Artists: True Blood, Music from the … Continue reading album reviews
By Steve Newton As most in-the-know horror-movie freaks are no doubt aware, the latest entry in the Saw franchise, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, opens this Friday (May 14). As the designated horror reviewer for Vancouver weekly the Georgia Straight since the early ’80s, it was my journalistic duty to cover all the Saw … Continue reading “Saw Six is the sixth Saw I’ve seen”: my original reviews of every Saw movie, 2004-2010 & 2017
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 27, 2000 Powerman 5000’s current record-company bio opens with a quote from vocalist Spider One, in which he explains that “being in a band is as close as I could get to being a superhero.” Now, I’ve seen a lot of bands, but never any that were capable—U2’s … Continue reading Rob Zombie’s kid brother Spidey One is Powerman 5000’s superhero
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 12, 1998 By Steve Newton Two months ago a press release from Universal Music hummed in on the Georgia Straight fax machine, bearing the news that White Zombie had “collectively decided to disband”. It seemed like quite a surprise at the time that the New York band’s 13-year … Continue reading Rob Zombie says the breakup of White Zombie was “a long, slow, gradual decay”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 12, 1998 By Steve Newton Dave Wyndorf likes the company of Zombies. As the songwriter-vocalist-guitarist for New Jersey hard-rockers Monster Magnet, he spent many nights on tour with White Zombie; now that that group has split up, he’s spending many nights on tour with Rob Zombie. But a Zombie’s a Zombie, … Continue reading Monster Magnet’s Dave Wyndorf says “clever Weezer-type music” caused him to rock out on Powertrip
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT ON APRIL 10, 2003 As a first-time writer-director, shock-rocker Rob Zombie delivered just the type of movie you’d expect from a guy who writes tunes like “Scum of the Earth” and “Demonoid Phenomenon”, then performs them while looking like Charlie Manson’s homeless brother. His film, House of 1000 Corpses—which … Continue reading Rob Zombie reopens the ’70s drive-in with the twisted House of 1000 Corpses
By Steve Newton For those horror freaks out there who just can’t get enough of a masked guy in overalls stabbin’ folks, here’s some good news. Anchor Bay Entertainment announced today that on September 23 it will release 10- and 15-disc editions of Halloween The Complete Collection, which gathers up all the Halloweens together on Blu-ray … Continue reading Halloween Blu-ray box sets on the way from Anchor Bay
