Movies
Dee Snider Will Return As Captain Howdy In a ‘StrangeLand’ Remake!
After years and years in development hell, Dee Snider is finally returning as the psychotic Captain Howdy.
Emaji, Inc.’s Emaji Entertainment tell Bloody Disgusting that they have acquired the rights to remake Snider’s StrangeLand, the 1998 horror film written by and starring Snider, the frontman of heavy metal giant Twisted Sister.
Dee Snider’s portrayal of Carlton Hendricks aka Captain Howdy in the original film created a character that has become a cult horror legend. Bloody has also learned that Emaji will accompany the singer-songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality and actor back into the dark underground world of ritualistic body modification where victims are lured via an ever pervasive world of social media.
StrangeLand: Disciple is being called a “reboot” but also sounds as if it’s a continuation. My guess is that the film will reference the 1998 film while bringing the terror of Captain Howdy to modern audience. StrangeLand is primed for a modern adaptation as the original was a first-of-its-kind techno thriller where teenage girls are victimized by a psycho (Snider) who lures them using the Internet.
The 1998 soundtrack included an incredible array of bands-System Of A Down, Sevendust, Soulfly, Slipknot, Kid Rock, Coal Chamber, Twisted Sister, Megadeth, Marilyn Manson and Pantera-handpicked by Snider. “Music was intrinsic to me in the first one. We really tried to create the ultimate heavy soundtrack. Music will be important to me again for this film,” adds Snider.
The movie will be set in the “underworld of body modification fetishists, amid the secret sado-masochistic freak societies of perverted pleasures that lurk just underneath the veneer of respectable society,” said Snider back in 2009.
Back in 2010 we learned that Robert Englund was also returning as Jackson Roth, and came across the following synopsis on a casting website:
“One year after Carleton Hendricks aka Captain Howdy’s (Dee Snider) 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 Geneveve and vigilante Jackson Roth (Robert Englund) each have their crosses to bear. But when the badly burned and mentally broken Carlton 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.”
It’s unclear how much has changed in the years of development, but I personally love Snider’s Strangeland and consider it a cult classic. You?
Movies
‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts
In the wake of Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man back in 2020, Universal has been struggling to achieve further box office success with their Universal Monsters brand. Even in the early days of the pandemic, Invisible Man scared up $144 million at the worldwide box office, while last year’s Universal Monsters: Dracula movies The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield didn’t even approach that number when you COMBINE their individual box office hauls.
The horror-comedy Renfield came along first in April 2023, ending its run with just $26 million. The period piece Last Voyage of the Demeter ended its own run with a mere $21 million.
But Universal is trying again with their ballerina vampire movie Abigail this weekend, the latest bloodbath directed by the filmmakers known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).
Unlike Demeter and Renfield, the early reviews for Abigail are incredibly strong, with our own Meagan Navarro calling the film “savagely inventive in terms of its vampiric gore,” ultimately “offering a thrill ride with sharp, pointy teeth.” Read her full review here.
That early buzz – coupled with some excellent trailers – should drive Abigail to moderate box office success, the film already scaring up $1 million in Thursday previews last night. Variety notes that Abigail is currently on track to enjoy a $12 million – $15 million opening weekend, which would smash Renfield ($8 million) and Demeter’s ($6 million) opening weekends.
Working to Abigail‘s advantage is the film’s reported $28 million production budget, making it a more affordable box office bet for Universal than the two aforementioned movies.
Stay tuned for more box office reporting in the coming days.
In Abigail, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
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