ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 11, 2011 By Steve Newton Those Final Destination flicks are hit-and-miss affairs. The ones that take themselves too seriously, like the 2000 original, are a drag, while others, like Final Destination 2 and the new FD5, earn a severed thumbs-up because they cut to the chase and give today’s thrill-seeking horror fans exactly what they … Continue reading Horror review: Final Destination 5
Tag: Stephen King
Drive Angry director Patrick Lussier inspired by classic horror and Canuck rock
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FEB. 23, 2011 By Steve Newton Vancouver native Patrick Lussier has made quite a name for himself in the Hollywood horror scene, having edited all three of Wes Craven’s Scream films before taking on the slasher genre himself with the 2009 remake of My Bloody Valentine. He also helped kick-start the past decade’s vampire … Continue reading Drive Angry director Patrick Lussier inspired by classic horror and Canuck rock
Horror review: The Mist
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 21, 2007 By Steve Newton Writer-director Frank Darabont had skillfully translated the human drama of Stephen King's work in The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, but he seems hopelessly lost in The Mist , his adaptation of the horror master's 1980 novella. Its first half-hour echoes the severe lousiness of Maximum Overdrive, King's first and last … Continue reading Horror review: The Mist
Horror review: Resident Evil–Extinction
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 26, 2007 A couple of months back, a promotional item came into the Georgia Straight office advertising the second sequel to the 2002 video-game spinoff Resident Evil. It was a plastic globe that, when you flipped it over, had sand filter down through letters cut into a surface so the words … Continue reading Horror review: Resident Evil–Extinction
Horror review: 1408
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 20, 2007 By Steve Newton 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 through maximizes the potential for untimely death and … Continue reading Horror review: 1408
Stephen King calls Marah America’s best unknown rock band
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 2, 2006 By Steve Newton Not only is Stephen King among the world's most popular writers, he also has good taste in music. He's long been known as a devotee of AC/DC and the Ramones, and when it came time to choose a pseudonym to put on the covers of … Continue reading Stephen King calls Marah America’s best unknown rock band
The only picker Fucking Champs guitarist Tim Green adores more than Gary Moore is John McLaughlin
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 5, 2007 By Steve Newton When I call up Tim Green of the Fucking Champs, the San Francisco–based guitarist is on vacation with his girlfriend, visiting his dad and stepmom in Maine. He says they're not too far from Bangor, the fabled hometown of Stephen King, which kinda makes sense since … Continue reading The only picker Fucking Champs guitarist Tim Green adores more than Gary Moore is John McLaughlin