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Male 3.0 Stars (980) Want To See 589 Not Interested 2365

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Plot: Predatory sadomasochist Capt. Howdy (aptly played by Dee Snider, former Twisted Sister frontman) scours the Internet chat rooms for vulnerable teenage girls to lure them to his torture chamber. When G...( read more read more... )enevieve (Linda Cardellini), the daughter of veteran cop Mike Gage (Kevin Gage), disappears after hooking up with Howdy, the desperate detective engages in a cyberspace cat-and-mouse game with the stalker as the clock ticks down on Genevieve.

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Recent Reviews

  • 3.0 Stars
    MCT:
    July 21, 2008
    Finally seen it last night!good movie in it's own way!


    D
  • 3.0 Stars
    MCT:
    July 6, 2008
    I thought this was a fairly descent piece of fiction about an online predator at first glance. Upon watching it a second time, I still liked some things about it but felt that it really didn't dig deep enough into the sadism. I enjoyed Dee Snider as Capt. Howdy and the descriptions that he gave to his victims about what was being done to them. However, I felt there was more talk with weak action. I guess Mr. Snider wrote the script but it seemed, to me, like a rough draft. It should have been "fleshed out" so to speak. The basic tale of justice vs. injustice was well taken and the basic plot of sanity vs. insanity. Both of these could have been explored further to bring a broader audience to this film. Instead, Capt. Snider chose the surface of bondage, torture, the law and a fair but hardly intense soundtrack of B-rated songs by A-list musicians (including himself). The main officer came off the screen like a low-budget Buffalo Bill (from "Silence of the Lambs"). It was actually funny watching him learn about computers (thanks to a newbie but still adorable Amy Smart) and then grow into a tech savvy guy. One scene he doesn't know how to use his daughters computer after she disappears because of a party invitation by the Captain. Next we see him with a cell phone. Later, he walks into his house and Howdy is conversing with him via web-cam all without any further instructions. I guess we are led to believe that all the women run the techie gear around this cop. Great to see Robert (Freddy Krueger) Englund playing the ringleader of a lynch-mob after Capt. Howdy is released from his psychiatric sentence. This was underdeveloped and overacted. My favorite line from this flick was:
    "I find sadists to be rather dull. I'm interested in heightening people's awareness, altering states through primative rituals." He does this throughout the film without anyone benefiting from the heightening. Descent premise with an average execution (no pun intended).
  • 5.0 Stars
    MCT:
    July 4, 2008
    Awesome movie. Saw it on the IFC channel. Great movie. Sewing the mouths shut it smart. But I knew that guy wouldn't stay changed. But I felt bad for him when the people wanted him dead after he was all nice. Wasn't really scary but gory.
  • 4.5 Stars
    MCT:
    June 21, 2008
    I am not really one for horror movie, but I sat through this one and I would sit through it again! I felt this film didn't hold a lot back in showing alot of details, i guess thats what attracted me to it.
  • 5.0 Stars
    MCT:
    June 20, 2008
    Strangeland - "We must all go through a rite of passage, and it must be physical, it must be painful, and it must leave a mark."
  • 4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    June 1, 2008
    In my opinion, Snider's character in the film really wasn't what the body mod culture needed as their representative in 1998. This movie was far ahead of its time, not only in that it illustrates the threat of internet stalkers but the eposing of the body mod culture as well. I feel that people were just not ready to see or deal with alot of the content in this movie. Many of the "torture" techniques used by Snider's character are common practices amongst this culture of the pricked and inked. All in all, it was a decent movie and I give to the creators for having the balls to even come out with it.
  • 4.5 Stars
    MCT:
    March 18, 2008
    i'm told the first time i attempted to watch this i freaked out a lot. i guess the whole getting your mouth sown closed will freak you out!
  • 4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    March 10, 2008
    I had almost forgotten about this film.I watched it for the first time in years yesterday and had totally forgotten that Dee Snider is flipping nuts.Great film!This film introduced us to online chat rooms for a horror concept.Amy Smart also stars even though she is not featured as cast.
  • 1.5 Stars
    MCT:
    February 28, 2008
    Dee Snider is one bad actor!
    There in nothing memorable about this move either.
    And whats so shocking??
    I guess this was only a movie for it's time considering you can encounter a freak or child molester anywhere today.
  • 2.0 Stars
    MCT:
    February 10, 2008
    well it's not really great after you saw it once it's ok 'cus there's nothing special with this movie...
  • 4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    February 9, 2008
    Remember waaaay back in 1998 when every "horror" film starred somebody from the WB and just seemed to parody horror films themselves?

    Well in the middle of all the screams and the know what you did last summers' came Dee Snider's Strangeland. As far as I can remember this is the first horror film to really show the internet as a deadly weapon to a suicidal killer and the first movie to really explore the torture element that is so popular in more recent horror films like Saw and Hostel.

    The acting is pretty average and the effects aren't all that bad, but it really gets it's points though for being original for it's time and for setting the trend for today. Definately not for everybody...but if you like the Saw or Hostel series, then this one is for you.
  • 4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    January 8, 2008
    "Strangeland" is one disturbing, brutal little horror movie. The film basically revolves around a detective and his family. After his teenage daughter disappears after supposedly attending a house party (which she heard of while talking in an online chatroom) with her best friend, he is committed to finding his daughter, like any other parent would be. Turns out a tattooed, pierced, schizophrenic sadist by the name of "Captain Howdy" (a reference to "The Exorcist") is responsible for the disappearance. Captain Howdy spends his time torturing and brutally slaying young teenagers in his basement torture chamber, after luring them in via the internet. After the corpse of his daughter's best friend is found, Captain Howdy is caught, and locked up, and luckily the detective's daughter made it out alive. But upon the maniac's release from the mental hospital, the townspeople are outraged, and Captain Howdy starts all over again.

    The internet is a scary place to begin with, especially in today's age, so I think many people can relate to the film's premise. It fleshes out all of the potential dangers of internet chatrooms, and giving out personal information to the world wide web. I have to admit that many things in this film were quite disturbing. It isn't necessarily scary per se, but it is unsettling. The Captain Howdy character is a vile, disgusting person, doing inhumane things to his victims (example being sewing their mouths shut), and sometimes his little torture methods were hard to watch. Dee Snider plays the maniac well, and he is a thoroughly creepy villain. There was some decent acting, from recognizable stars including Linda Cardellini, Amy Smart, and horror legend Robert Englund.

    Overall, "Strangeland" is a decent horror movie. It's not a perfect movie, but it is far from the traditional teenage slasher film, so don't expect anything along those terms. Most people won't find this scary, but it was good for a horror film. This movie goes to show you how scary of a place the internet can be.
  • 3.0 Stars
    MCT:
    December 27, 2007
    I dunno where to start... this was a real... experience. I can;t really describe it to you, but I did like it.
  • Want To See
    MCT:
    December 4, 2007
    I heard good things about this one. "Good" meaning "Sick" of course... and yeah... it has everybody's favorite Twisted Sister in it!
  • 3.0 Stars
    MCT:
    November 14, 2007
    I remembered this being a lot cooler when I saw it for the first time as a teenager. I thought the torture devices and sewn lips were sick... little did I know what the future would bring! I also remember there being acting in this movie somewhere, but I just couldn't find it anymore. Except for Dee Snider's monologues about body modification, of course!

    This movie made me see Linda Cardellini of Freaks and Geeks fame in a different light... a naked, catheter sporting, caged light.

    Kevin Gage looks like the lost Baldwin.
  • Not Interested
    MCT:
    October 28, 2007
    I watched about 15 minutes of this on TV. Saw the scene where this chick was in a cage with her lips sewn up and he was getting ready to pierce some dude. This kind of shit would give me nightmares!
  • Want To See
    MCT:
    October 13, 2007
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  • 2.5 Stars
    MCT:
    August 10, 2007
    I know this is considered a cult film now, but I really didnt think it was all that good. Dee Snider cant act. There wasant that much gore, and the acting in general was bad. I guess the it was the movie that brought back the teen horror movie thing, but, even thats getting old now. The only reason I'm giving it as many stars is I do like the piercing images.
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  • 2.5 Stars
    MCT:
    August 2, 2007
    One of the first torture horror I had seen but it's only ok. Dee Snyder from Twisted Sister wrote, produced, and was the villian. Focuses on a internet predator in the earlier days and Snyder's character is way over the top. It was cool to see Linda Cardellini and Amy Smart in early roles. Some of the other acting is... wooden to say the least.
  • 3.0 Stars
    MCT:
    July 27, 2007
    I started to watch this movie on T.V., but I didn't get to finish watching it, is it in the video stores?
  • 5.0 Stars
    MCT:
    July 22, 2007
    i love this movie..it opened my eyes and this is my all time favorite movie,.dee snider did a great job
  • 2.0 Stars
    MCT:
    June 16, 2007
    I like this movie, but more because I love Dee Snyder and Robert Englund - as a horror film there are a shit ton of plot holes and oddness, and it's more just a gorefest, but who said you have to psychoanalyze your horror to death? Turn it on, kill brain cells. It's good for that.

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Comments

  • GoodPossum
    In a teen chat room, Genevieve Gage (Linda Cardellini), the teenager daughter of detective Mike Gage (Kevin Gage) is invited to a blind date by the cool Capt Howdy (Dee Snider). The guy is indeed a pierced a schizophrenic sick and sadistic maniac, and he kidnaps Genevieve and her friend Tiana Moore (Amal Rhoe). He submits the girls and other adolescents to tortures. When the body of Tiana is found, Mike hunts Capt Howdy and puts him in jail first and then he is sent to a mental institution. Four years later, Capt Howdy is considered rehabilitated and released from the asylum, against the will of the local population. After an incident, Capt Howdy abducts Genevieve again, and Mike promises to kill him
    posted 529 days ago
  • Yakwhacker
    anyone who needs to see a retarded slasher movie to know that the internet gives people a chance to pretend is in need of a reality check.
    posted 548 days ago
  • canadasgirl18
    it good movie and it good story how it not safe meet ppl on onile u ever know who it could be
    posted 550 days ago
  • master4slave2007

    The story of a schizophrenic, sexual sadist who lures victims through the internet and forces them to submit to tribal rituals against their will. He inadvertently abducts the daughter of a police detective...and the chase is on.
    posted 565 days ago

Details

  • Rated: (R)
  • Directed by: John Pieplow
  • Genres: Horror
  • Released: October 2, 1998
  • DVD Released: March 23, 1999

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