Revisiting Cinefex (32): RoboCop, Innerspace

With its modest $13 million budget and domestic takings of over $50 million*, Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop was one of the big summer hits of 1987. Its main character became a classic '80s icon - thanks largely to Peter Weller's compelling performance and Rob Bottin's remarkable costume and makeup effects - and is clearly represented here on … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (32): RoboCop, Innerspace

Revisiting Cinefex (31): Spaceballs, The Witches of Eastwick, Masters of the Universe

Want to see a Winnebago zooming through space? Just park yourself in front of Mel Brooks's 1987 sci-fi parody Spaceballs. Alternatively you could take a look at the front cover of Cinefex #31. The celestial camper in question goes by the name of Eagle 5 and is in fact a detailed miniature photographed on Apogee's … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (31): Spaceballs, The Witches of Eastwick, Masters of the Universe

Revisiting Cinefex (30): Little Shop of Horrors, The Gate, The Golden Child

Ellen Greene's looking worried on the front cover of Cinefex #30, and why wouldn't she? She's face to face (or is that lips?) with carnivorous space-plant Audrey II in a scene from Frank Oz's 1986 musical Little Shop of Horrors. The voracious vegetable was created live 0n-set by Lyle Conway in a tour-de-force of puppetry. … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (30): Little Shop of Horrors, The Gate, The Golden Child

Revisiting Cinefex (29): Star Trek IV, King Kong Lives, Top Gun

It's hardware all the way on both the front and back covers of Cinefex #29. Up front is the Klingon 'Bird of Prey' spaceship swooping under the Golden Gate Bridge in Leonard Nimoy's 1986 film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The back cover shows a missile strike on a MiG fighter from Tony Scott's … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (29): Star Trek IV, King Kong Lives, Top Gun

Revisiting Cinefex (28): The Fly, Big Trouble in Little China, Short Circuit

One glance at the front cover of Cinefex #28 should give you good reason to be afraid - very afraid. Staring right back at you is the grotesque visage of doomed scientist Seth Brundle following his metamorphosis into a half-human, half-insect hybrid at the climax of David Cronenberg's horror classic The Fly (1986). Known to … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (28): The Fly, Big Trouble in Little China, Short Circuit

Revisiting Cinefex (27): Aliens

The human star of Aliens might be Sigourney Weaver, but it's her extraterrestrial adversary - the ferocious alien queen - that features on the front cover of Cinefex #27, No surprise, then, that this issue is devoted entirely to the Oscar-winning visual effects of James Cameron's 1986 blockbuster. The cover shot shows Stan Winston's remarkable full-size queen … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (27): Aliens

Revisiting Cinefex (26): Poltergeist II, Young Sherlock Holmes

Carol Anne's in trouble on the front cover of Cinefex #26, assailed by a whole new host of ghostly apparitions in Brian Gibson's 1986 sequel Poltergeist II: The Other Side. The apparitions come courtesy of Richard Edlund's Boss Film Studios and are thus of superior quality (though most folk wouldn't say the same about the … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (26): Poltergeist II, Young Sherlock Holmes

Revisiting Cinefex (25): Enemy Mine, Der Trickfilm, Fright Night

There's a rule of thumb in the graphic design business: if you want the magazine to sell, put a pretty face on the cover. This is my 25th trip into my personal Cinefex archive, and well over half the covers I've looked at more or less follow that rule (remember, in the world of visual effects, … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (25): Enemy Mine, Der Trickfilm, Fright Night

Revisiting Cinefex (24): Cocoon, The Goonies, Back to the Future

Both the front and back covers of Cinefex issue #24 feature one of the big hit movies of 1985: Ron Howard's Cocoon. On the front we see - in extreme close-up - actor Brian Dennehy pulling down his lower eyelid to reveal the glowing skin of his alien Anterean self. The super-stretchy eyelid was a … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (24): Cocoon, The Goonies, Back to the Future

Revisiting Cinefex (23): Explorers, Lifeforce, My Science Project

Cinefex issue #23 examines no less than three movies but, as far as the cover pictures go, the star of this particular show is Explorers, Joe Dante's 1985 slice of family-friendly science fiction. Up front is a hero shot of the rather funky-looking spaceship operated by whimsical aliens Wak and Neek. Look closely and you'll … Continue reading Revisiting Cinefex (23): Explorers, Lifeforce, My Science Project