I absolutely love Dee Snider, a person who would always have a place in my heart if only for his role in the 1985 Senate hearings that threatened censorship of the music industry. You’re a beautiful man Snider, even if you make an absolutely horrifying woman. Dee Snider’s Strangeland, which he wrote and starred in, was a fun if hugely flawed horror film about body modification. It led to an amazing soundtrack (Megadeth, System of a Down, Pantera, Snot, etc.), a prequel comic, and finally, a sequel. It’s been in the works for years but he just sat down and talked with the awesome Sam Zimmerman from Fango and let them know that it’s finally happening.
The film will be titled Strangeland: Disciple and will shoot soon in Cleveland and Youngstown Ohio, encouraged by tax breaks for films in the state. The synopsis:
“One year after Carleton Hendricks’, a.k.a. Captain
Howdy’s, sadistic
rampage, much more than the physical scars the schizophrenic, sexual
sadist
gave his victims are left behind. Their lives destroyed by emotional
torment
and the media frenzy surrounding the crimes, Detective Mike Gage, his
daughter
Genevieve and vigilante Jackson Roth each have their crosses to bear.
But when
the badly burned and mentally broken Carleton Hendricks is taken from a
state-run mental hospital and off his medication by billionaire media
mogul
Morgan LaForce, leader of the body modification/fetish haven called ‘The
Torture Garden,’ the door swings wide open for each of Captain Howdy’s
victims
to find closure…and retribution.”
Snider has become an even greater voice in horror thanks to his job as the host of Fango Radio, and he’s certainly looking to get plenty of horror vets on board, along with plenty of new blood. Snider will once again play the villainous Captain Howdy, and Robert Englund is coming back to reprise his role as Jackson Roth. His Fango radio co-host Debbie Rochon will be on board for a role as well.
back some of the other people from the first one,” he continues, “but
mind you,
some of them have gone on to become quite big stars. Amy Smart is a much
bigger
name now, as is Linda Cardellini. … I hope to reach out to Kevin
Gage,
who played Mike Gage, the father and detective, in the original..”
They’ve got a bigger budget to play with this time (five million vs. the original one), and he’s looking to keep away from CGI effects as much as he can, which is smart considering that he has one of the best practical effects men in the biz working on it- Robert Kurtzman, formerly of KNB EFX.
Snider recognizes the flaws of the original but convinced he can make the sequel a better experience.
“I’m very pleased by the on-line chatter and enthusiasm for it within the horror community,” he says. “There are people out there who shit-talk the original STRANGELAND, and the things they say about it are all absolutely true. I say, ‘Was it shocking?’ Yes. Did it seem rushed at times? Yes. Was it all it could be? No. I had a little over a million dollars to work with, and we actually went to litigation with the director because we didn’t want him to be paid; he was pulled from the post work and the edit was taken out of his hands. I hope to correct all the wrongs with the new one.
Can’t wait to see what comes of this. Head on over to Fango’s temp site to read the full interview.
8 comments
I was so underwhelmed by the original. "Whoo…I have piercings". Yeah, so did my stripper girlfriend.
If Dee thinks the first was shocking, then that shows he knows nothing. Dee, gets your head out of your ass, that movie was pretty damn lousy. There was no story, it kept changing randomly. No tension. It was what a rich suburbanite old man would think was edgy and shocking. His heart's in the right place but I don't think he has the talent or judgment.
I thought the first movie was oddly charming and effective while also being utterly retarded…. in a good way…Is it wrong to hope that Captain Howdy runs into Chris Hansen, or some To Catch a Predator type news person in the sequel? Sometimes I imagine the people that post on here are dressed like Captian Howdy writing angry rants about how everyone misunderstood the emo dance scene in Spiderman 3 and then popping over to the "Paying for Sex" thread and trying lure Cleo into there den of sin with the promise of sweet sweet mangoes.
Dee is up there with Rob Zombie in the "I'm a fan, but have no fucking idea what horror actually is!" camp. Who fucking cares about this? Come up with something original and enough with the god damn torture/body piercing bullshit.
Strangeland is a bowl of fuck in movie form. Its so utterly bad. I still appreciate Dee Snider's House of Hair, and his role along with the Dead Kennedys in the battle against censorship gets him a pass for letting Arnold use 'we're not gonna take it' for his governor run, but that movie was torture.
He cannot be any worse at moviemaking than Rob Zombie. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
the first time I saw this movie it was so awful and shocking — because I'd never SEEN such body piercing before that it was like watching SAW for the first time… gross but engrossing. But the next time I watched it was even better…. I loved the sound track.. and YES it has flaws (lots) but that's to be expected with low budget art films. I don't think he ever intended the film to be quite clean-cut and smooth as you would expect… I think it's raw feel fit the jumbled POV of howdy quite well. and for most of insulated america who aren't used to such BDSM and body modification images….. this movie WAS quite visceral.
I very much look forward to the sequel, if only to see what Dee will to next and to see more of those sexy hip grooves… hidden as they are by tattoos…*grin*
I found the first one to be quite disturbing…that I had to see it 3 times…I loved it…and way to go Dee! ♥
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