My Review Of “Strangeland” 1998

Dee Snider’s 1998 contribution to the shock horror world came in this poignant nightmare titled “Strangeland”. The story is about a worldly monster who calls himself “Captain Howdy” played by Dee Snider himself. Captain Howdy prowls the online chat room inviting young women to a “party” that eventually leads them to their death. A sadist at heart Captain Howdy is a legendary bogeyman in the making. A serial sexual murderer institutionalized then released only to be victimized by the community around him. Acts that force him back into the demonic world of horrors he struggled to suppress. Soon the murderous acts begin again.
This story is poignant for many reasons. In the late 90’s the public outcry for better monitoring  of released sexual offenders and criminals had reach a social boiling point as well as the controversial arguments of said offenders human rights in American society. Dee Snider dared to approach both sides in gritty gore-ific detail bringing personality to both sides of the subject. He gave emotion to the monster while demonizing the community without giving bias to either one. Something of a taboo at the time this film was made.
Not only was the subject of serial offenders rights address there was the whole online chat room stranger danger aspect to this film that brought to light just how deadly the new form of social interaction could be for a naive populous. This was well before the Craigslist killer. Plus the level of production and the caliber of cast displayed in this flick was notably a total homage and tribute to a genre Dee Snider loved. The more serious nature of the film obviously intended to draw a more mature concept back to the horror genre that was lost with more comical horror flicks in the early 90’s.
“Strangeland” did have it’s downsides but for me they were far to few. Captain Howdy’s metamorphosis into a true urban legend is an origins tale that acknowledged the true beginnings of the masked slasher image we all know so well in pop culture. The rise of the monster worthy of fiction yet scarily all too real was innovative as far as I am concerned. Rob Zombie may have conquered this new concept of horror but Dee Snider lead the first wave of assault. Not to mention the whole body piercing self mutilation body modification culture finally getting some true love from the pop culture world as well as an all around good freaky film “Strangeland” is greatly under appreciated.

***I rate this film 3/5 ***