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 "Dee Snider's Strangeland" feels like two movies in one. Dee Snider (yes, the same guy from the rock band Twisted Sister and later on, Widowmaker) even has two roles. Although they're both supposed to be the same person, one cannot deny that there is a big difference between the meek geek and the sadistic goth personae. The gothic character seems like a natural role for Snider, but I have never thought that the Twisted Sister would dress up like Mr. Rogers and speak kind of like Edward Scissorhands! He actually does a pretty good job acting as both characters, especially for someone who is not a professional actor. The movie has a false finish at around 45 minutes and feels as though it started a new story immediately afterwards. That in itself doesn't bother me, but unfortunately, the second story does not measure up to the first one, and the movie doesn't flow from the first story to the second very smoothly. The first half of the movie amounts to a promising psychological thriller, with enough blood and torture scenes to place it solidly within the horror genre. Here, a technophobic detective has to catch Capt. Howdy (Dee Snider's gothic role), who lures teenagers from the internet to fictious parties and then tortures them with graphic results. After the false finish which has been mentioned earlier, Capt. Howdy goes straight for a while until some vigilantes (one of whom is played by Robert Englund!) go after him. From there, the movie has some good isolated moments (more torture scenes) but loses its luster quickly. Overall, it is a fairly decent--and different--horror movie, but it could have been a lot better if Dee Snider (who wrote the script) would pay greater mind to smooth transitions and worked more on the second half. |
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QUARTER BY QUARTER ANALYSIS OF MOVIE
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OVERALL RATING
** NOTE: The more dots on the domino, the higher the rating. 11 or 12 dots points to an essential item in a horror video collection. Even the dung beetles would be repelled by a movie rated with one or no dots. ** |
    
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The Worm-Hole Reviews are written by Matt Barnes.