Dee Snider’s Strangeland contains ideas that can be loosely associated with body modification cultistry and body enhancement through pain. Also, when the film was produced (1998) one or two of its bits for online abuse did seem to be relevant. The rest, from the writing to the acting to the camerawork to the editing, is genre Z, as in zero. It is not simply cringe and off-putting, it is inept.
The plot follows one Carlton Hendricks, a “Captain Howdy” in chatrooms. Snider portrays Captain Howdy as a chap who enjoys tormentors who interact with him through chatrooms. To pain is genic for him. Carlton and his ventures are shrugs at his social circles. The character abuses Genevieve Gage, the daughter of a local officer. The torture begins when his meeting with a young girl Tiana does not end as well as expected. She only adds to the imaginations of Captain Howdy and so does Gen. But unlike Tiana who does not survive, Gen does survive and lives with 24/7 trauma.
Mike, much to the chagrin of his wife Toni (Elizabeth Pena), remains unemotional in professional matters, now however he is on the case of his daughter’s kidnapping with the assistance of his aggressive partner Steve Christianson (Brett Harrelson). His niece Angela (Amy Smart) fills him in about his daughter’s online habits and accidentally leads Mike to find his daughter and pick up Carlton. For now, it appears the saga has finally reached its conclusion, but in truth it’s barely the start, even though the average viewer has watched more than enough by now.
To me, it seems that some themes in Strangeland, or the next Cronenberg cut, were the same ideas that had cut into the mind of David. What throws me off, however, is the fact that it is easy to imagine Cronenberg’s cinematic version of the story much better composed than this. There are also connections with A Nightmare on Elm Street aspects of the narrative (the vigilante vengeance) echo those of the horror franchise’s back story and its own Freddy, Robert Englund, has a supporting role here as well. The name ‘Captain Howdy’ was borrowed from the movie The Exorcist and some of its elements had their genesis in the 1984 Twisted Sister song ‘Horror-Teria’ which Snider co-wrote when he was the band’s frontman.
But in the process of reading Strangeland quite a few ideas seem to scream out the fact that a lot of entertaining pedophiles posing as well-wishers attacked children in chat rooms over the web What is even more unfortunate, however, is that these types of crimes started way back in the primitive days of the internet and advanced towards the facets of non-social media. By then the late 1990s, those who had internet in one way or the other were already doing so from the comfort of their homes which made such cases to increase. The level at which it is presented in this movie, however, is disturbing and embarrassing for this age a cheap ploy.
In addition, there is complete disbelief about the way the police conducted the investigations as well as the poor computer knowledge of the primary investigator. Even in 1998, one was unlikely to find someone in Mike’s position who had no qualms about disconnecting a computer as a means to switch it off and in fact, had to rely on a teenage niece as an authoritative source.
No, the portrayal of any individual body modifications is a gross display of character, Captain Howdy, and the character’s portrayal of his deeds. But that is not enough to render the film unwatchable (Hannibal Lecter’s habits were not exactly good taste either). How did it cross someone’s mind to construct the man in such a way, who while engaged in such a complex thinking process somehow lacking the basic logic, in desperation of their existence purpose and reality scope, had to speak about the significance of body modifications and perform their operatively sadistic attacks. There is nothing quite as disheartening to the spirit of a horror film as the viewer’s primary response is to try and stop himself from dozing off.
Snider was expressive on stage in concert with his Twisted Sister group, but that appeal is not present in this movie. His Captain Howdy is embellishing in a way that is hard to watch and makes one cringe. Snider seems to be determined to outdo everyone in every nonlinear scenario, so he casts career TV actor Kevin Gage in the lead role, who delivers an equally unimpressive but boring performance and surrounds him with brilliantly average Taiwanese actors. Robert Englund was hilarious as an extremely concerned and loving father while Linda Cardellini is decently convincing as one who seems terrified (which involves standing there unclothed and unmoving apart from having her lips tightly stitched). As for the rest, it would be better to ignore them completely save for hearing some critiques.
The only other work of John Pieplow, the movie’s director, was the little-known Jurassic Women that was released as a TV film in 1996. While I’ve heard of such a blasphemous film being around, I cannot comment on whether it exists. Looks like he didn’t get hired to direct another film, after the way Strangeland was shot, it’s safe to presume that he was never hired again. One thing is certain, he was produced as a writer, and he probably ran off with all the directing as well. Doesn’t matter who’s to blame it was a service to the public to keep them away from all the other projects.
Strangeland, regrettably, failed to carry out its purposes in terms of earning revenue. Suffice it to say that several devoted Twisted Sister scaffolds showed up, but that’s not sufficient attendance. Controversial factors such as the theme itself as well as some reviews focused on ‘crunchy’ moments facilitated people’s avoidance of the movie, and the few who still went perhaps found the surreal torture scenes less disturbing than the barely adequate cinematography. Strangeland, like many awful films that have a devoted fan base, was made into a “cult classic.” As several people point out, it is mostly about the overall poor quality, and if that is the case, then yes. In any case, people who are not used to it should not expect to change their minds about who Captain Howdy is, whose numerous piercings and tattoos are impressive.
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