chris cameron photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MARCH 25, 1988 By Steve Newton Some guys have it and some guys don't. A great band, that is. Springsteen had one when he played here in 1984. And the latest hero of the American heartland, John Cougar Mellencamp, had one at the sold-out Coliseum last Saturday (March 19). Mellencamp was definitely the … Continue reading John Cougar Mellencamp sells seats, not principles, in Vancouver
Tag: 1988
Kiss struggles on stage in 1988, can’t rekindle the magic of Alive! from ’75
kevin statham photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MARCH 18, 1988 By Steve Newton One of the most memorable concerts of this scribbler's young life was seeing Kiss at the Commodore Ballroom just after the release of its second album, Hotter Than Hell. A bunch of my buddies and I had crammed into a rented van and driven up … Continue reading Kiss struggles on stage in 1988, can’t rekindle the magic of Alive! from ’75
Def Leppard’s Steve Clark on the long wait for Hysteria and the legacy of Pyromania
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 17, 1988 By Steve Newton Most successful recording bands like to put an album out every year. Sometimes they'll skip a year, to vacation in the Bahamas or release a live or best-of LP. After three years their fans start to get a bit worried, not to mention the band's record … Continue reading Def Leppard’s Steve Clark on the long wait for Hysteria and the legacy of Pyromania
Braving Vancouver’s seedy Granville strip for Midnight Matinee in 1988
By Steve Newton One of the first set-visit stories I did for Fangoria was back in 1988, when I went down to Vancouver's Granville Mall to cover a low-budget flick called Midnight Matinee, which is also known as just Matinee, not to be confused with Joe Dante's Matinee of 1993. The movie--which nobody bothered telling … Continue reading Braving Vancouver’s seedy Granville strip for Midnight Matinee in 1988
John Carpenter unmasks evil Republicans in They Live
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 18, 1988 By Steve Newton With such harrowing films as The Thing, Halloween, and Escape From New York under his belt, John Carpenter has proven himself one of the world's top directors in the sci-fi/horror/thriller genres. So what's he doing making a lightweight piece of fluff like They Live? He's trying … Continue reading John Carpenter unmasks evil Republicans in They Live
The aliens don’t seem alien enough in Alien Nation
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 28, 1988 By Steve Newton Looking at the credits for Alien Nation, fans of the horror/sci-fi thriller genres could be forgiven for foaming at the mouth. The movie was produced by Gale Anne Hurd, whose Aliens and The Terminator were landmark films in the annals of fright cinemas. Then there's director … Continue reading The aliens don’t seem alien enough in Alien Nation
David Cronenberg strives to make the realistic seem fantastic in Dead Ringers
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 28, 1988 By Steve Newton Dead Ringers opens with a scene wherein studious young twin boys, Elliot and Beverly Mantle, are seen poring over an anatomically correct model of a woman. The twins are fascinated with female anatomy--internal female anatomy, that is. "They're so different from us," observes Beverly. "We're going … Continue reading David Cronenberg strives to make the realistic seem fantastic in Dead Ringers
Ken Russell gets freaky with The Lair of the White Worm
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 2, 1988 By Steve Newton Ken Russell, the man who blew minds with his hallucinatory Altered States and then twisted them with his erotically charged psycho-sexual drama Crimes of Passion, has really gone out of his way to freak people out this time. With The Lair of the White Worm, a … Continue reading Ken Russell gets freaky with The Lair of the White Worm
Child’s Play is a hilarious hair-raiser that’s equal portions frolic and fear
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 2, 1988 By Steve Newton Were you ever frightened by dolls or other inanimate objects as a kid? Maybe you woke up in the middle of the night, and thought you saw something grinning evilly at you through the darkness of your bedroom? If so, then Tom Holland's new movie Child's … Continue reading Child’s Play is a hilarious hair-raiser that’s equal portions frolic and fear
Watching Dean Koontz’s beloved Watchers get trashed in Vancouver
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
Dean R. Koontz won’t be happy with how Watchers turned out
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 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 I'm not sure … Continue reading Dean R. Koontz won’t be happy with how Watchers turned out