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.