ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 30, 2003 By Steve Newton The first movie I can remember that set me on the road to becoming a lifelong horror fan was It! The Terror From Beyond Space. It was made on the cheap in 1958, and featured a guy in a hokey, zipper-up-the-back monster suit, … Continue reading Horror review: Alien–The Director’s Cut
Texas Chainsaw Massacre is much more than just Jessica Biel in a tank top
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 16, 2003 By Steve Newton Let’s face it, Texas Chainsaw Massacre was brilliant. Not the 1974 film itself—although for its time it was quite groundbreaking—but the movie’s title. Has there ever been three words that so powerfully evoked the promise of celluloid carnage? Say it with me, slowly and with feeling: … Continue reading Texas Chainsaw Massacre is much more than just Jessica Biel in a tank top
House of the Dead is a tedious take on the popular arcade game
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 16, 2003 By Steve Newton One night a few years back, I was hanging with a few friends on Granville Mall, killing time before a concert, when we decided to saunter into a nearby arcade. After blowing a few bucks on the extreme road-race games, I found myself drawn to the … Continue reading House of the Dead is a tedious take on the popular arcade game
Horror review: Cold Creek Manor
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 25, 2003 I had high hopes for Cold Creek Manor being a decent suspense thriller. First off, the cast looked impressive. Sharon Stone, Dennis Quaid, Stephen Dorff, and Juliette Lewis have all done memorable work in the past. And Mike Figgis is no hack, having directed the Oscar-nominated … Continue reading Horror review: Cold Creek Manor
Horror review: Cabin Fever
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 18, 2002 By Steve Newton The promoters of Cabin Fever are using a quote from director Peter Jackson in print ads for their new horror flick. BRILLIANT! and FANTASTIC! are some of the adjectives attributed to the visionary filmmaker behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now, this … Continue reading Horror review: Cabin Fever
Heath Ledger is wasted in The Order, a silly exercise in satanic nonentertainment
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 11, 2003 By Steve Newton Writer-director-producer Brian Helgeland attempted to turn the medieval action film on its ear with 2001’s A Knight’s Tale, which was best known for incorporating ’70s rock music into its 17th-century tale of an underdog jouster (Heath Ledger) out for love and glory. With The Order, Helgeland … Continue reading Heath Ledger is wasted in The Order, a silly exercise in satanic nonentertainment
Horror review: Jeepers Creepers 2
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 4, 2003 The first Jeepers Creepers movie (2001) started out promisingly, with suspenseful scenes involving a sinister character dumping bodies and a Duel-like truck-from-hell chase scene. But half an hour through it turned into a routine, monster-on-the-rampage gore flick about a winged man-beast that, every 23 years, has … Continue reading Horror review: Jeepers Creepers 2
Horror review: Gothika
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 27, 2003 I got my first hint that Gothika might be a bad movie from the hokey newspaper ad, which depicts a shocked and dishevelled-looking Halle Berry staring out from behind a pane of wet glass, the words not alone carved across the underside of her forearm. Then … Continue reading Horror review: Gothika
Horror review: Freddy vs. Jason
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 21, 2003 I think I’ve seen every Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street movie ever made. I’m not proud of that; in fact, I’m kind of ashamed. As the Straight’s on-call horror reviewer, I’ve had to view some of these films as part of the job, … Continue reading Horror review: Freddy vs. Jason
Horror review: Dreamcatcher
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 27, 2003 Several Stephen King novels have been made into films and TV shows shot in B.C., including the 1990 miniseries It, the ’93 feature Needful Things, and the current cable offering The Dead Zone. But none of them has been as suspenseful, horrifying, and engrossing—with an accent … Continue reading Horror review: Dreamcatcher
Wrong Turn is a decent backwoods-slasher blend of Deliverance and Friday the 13th
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 5, 2003 By Steve Newton This horror flick about young campers stalked and slaughtered by gruesome backwoods barbarians is a fairly decent crossbreeding of Friday the 13th and Deliverance. Despite the typical hunky-guys/babes-in-tank-tops Hollywood cast, Wrong Turn is gritty and uncompromising, and it includes several suspenseful and shocking moments. Unlike Deliverance, … Continue reading Wrong Turn is a decent backwoods-slasher blend of Deliverance and Friday the 13th
Horror review: Identity
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MAY 1, 2003 You know how it feels when you’re driving on the highway at night and, just when it seems like it couldn’t rain any harder, a truck hauling a semitrailer whips by, momentarily blinding you with its spray? There’s that split second before the wipers do their … Continue reading Horror review: Identity
Horror review: House of 1000 Corpses
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 17, 2003 By Steve Newton That Rob Zombie is one sick puppy. Of course, anyone who’s ever listened to the L.A. shock rocker’s CDs or seen his grotesque concert act already knows this. But with the release of his film debut, the depth of Zombie’s depravity is unearthed for all to … Continue reading Horror review: House of 1000 Corpses