ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 23, 1990 By Steve Newton Seventeen years ago the highly original and ultra-shocking Exorcist had faint-hearted theatre-goers across North America passing out or racing down the aisles in terror. With the dull and nonsensical Exorcist III, you're more likely to see folks nodding off or fleeing down the … Continue reading Horror review: The Exorcist III
Tag: review
Horror review: Darkman
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 30, 1990 By Steve Newton Sam Raimi has finally done it. The director of the wildly imaginative Evil Dead films has shunned the Freddy/Jason syndrome and come up with a brand new deformed killer who horror audiences can cheer for without feeling guilty. This new creation, Darkman, doesn’t … Continue reading Horror review: Darkman
Horror review: Hardware
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 25, 1990 By Steve Newton The advance press on British writer/director Richard Stanley’s futuristic thriller, Hardware, was enough to get any horror/sci-fi fan foaming at the mouth. “Ferocious, stylish, and hallucinatory,” wrote horror auteur Clive Barker. “As terrifying as Alien,” blubbered US magazine. “The best science-fiction horror film … Continue reading Horror review: Hardware
Horror review: Devil’s Due
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JAN. 17, 2004 For horror fans, 2014 kicked off with Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, which proved that Hollywood was still keen to flog the found-footage format to make a buck. The second fright flick out of Tinseltown this year, Devil's Due, is another supernatural entry that's even heavier on Blair Witch-style hand-held … Continue reading Horror review: Devil’s Due
Horror review: Paranormal Activity–The Marked Ones
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JAN. 3, 2014 The first three Paranormal Activity films were extremely engrossing and scary as hell. Their low-budget tales of demonic forces plaguing innocent couples and families in the safety and comfort of their open-design suburban homes made fine use of the idea that what you can't see--or can just barely get a … Continue reading Horror review: Paranormal Activity–The Marked Ones
Horror review: Bad Milo!
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, DEC. 4, 2013 If you’re the type of bad-movie fan who got all psyched at Blockbuster back in ’85 when you spotted the video box for Ghoulies with that grinning, sharp-toothed, cheapjack monster coming out of a toilet, have I got a film for you. But it’s really gonna help if Jeff Daniels’s … Continue reading Horror review: Bad Milo!
Horror review: Oldboy
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 27, 2013 Hard-core fans of the original Oldboy likely had two main concerns about the 2003 South Korean shocker’s Hollywood remaking. They probably wondered why anyone would screw with the ultraviolent masterpiece in the first place. And also why—when the flick had Tarantino written all over it—Spike Lee was doing the screwing. … Continue reading Horror review: Oldboy
Horror review: Carrie
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 18, 2013 Carrie was one of the most impressive film adaptations of a Stephen King horror novel ever, right up there with The Shining, The Dead Zone, and Misery. In director Brian De Palma's capable hands, King's tale of a timid teenaged outsider with telekinetic powers who uses them to strike back against the … Continue reading Horror review: Carrie
Horror review: Insidious–Chapter 2
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 12, 2013 I thought 2011’s Insidious was actually pretty decent—the first hour, anyway. It did a commendable job of building suspense in its tale about married couple Renai and Josh Lambert (Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson) trying to rescue their comatose son from supernatural forces. It didn’t start to falter until the … Continue reading Horror review: Insidious–Chapter 2
Horror review: Riddick
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 5, 2013 The owners of the Riddick franchise definitely had the right idea with this third film in the Vin Diesel–driven series—for the first 20 minutes, at least. After that, everything goes to Diesel-powered shit. But for the first few scenes, David Twohy—who also directed 2000’s Pitch Black and its follow-up, The Chronicles … Continue reading Horror review: Riddick
Horror review: You’re Next
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 21, 2013 For all the gorehounds who’ve ever wondered how Jason Voorhees and a couple of his clones might operate in a home-invasion scenario, have I got a flick for you. In You’re Next, it’s wedding-anniversary time for the wealthy Davison couple (Rob Moran and horror icon Barbara Crampton of Re-Animator fame), who … Continue reading Horror review: You’re Next
Horror review: Berberian Sound Studio
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 7, 2013 With his wimpy, sad-sack face and sheepish, mama’s-boy persona, Toby Jones is not your typical leading man. But he sure was the right choice to top-line this stylishly creepy psycho thriller that pays homage to the Italian horror scene of the ’70s. Jones stars as Gilderoy, a British … Continue reading Horror review: Berberian Sound Studio
Horror review: The Conjuring
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JULY 18, 2013 Aiming to impress horror freaks, the poster for The Conjuring boasts “from the director of Saw and Insidious”, which was a much wiser choice than “from the writers of The Reaping”. But the fact remains that the team of director James Wan and scripters Chad and Carey Hayes comes up short with this demonic-possession … Continue reading Horror review: The Conjuring