Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Taste the pain, January 29, 2005
The horror genre has introduced us to many memorable icons; Freddy, Jason, Pinhead, Leatherface and countless more. Some of these ghouls are scarier than others and some are really not scary at all, but rather comedic and foolish. If you've never seen "Strangeland" you've probably never heard of "Captain Howdy" which would be a shame because they don't come any scarier than this dude. His methods of torture and reasonings for his attacks had me squirming in my seat the whole time. Somebody give this man a franchise!
"Stangeland" opens up with two young women sitting in front of a computer screen and chatting up guys in an internet room. They become intrigued by a guy with the user name "Captain Howdy" who claims to lead a wild life and know what fun is all about. When Howdy writes the line "Wanna come to a party?" the girls go to his place and soon find themselves trapped in his underground basement of torture. One of the girls is the daughter of a police detective who will do whatever it takes to get her back safely before Howdy gets to sink another one of his patented hooks into her...
I find critiquing Strangeland as a horror movie to be twofold. The positives are the unique style and imagery scenes of things like goth clubs, torture chambers, Captain Howdy's appearance, a man of countless tattoos and piercings, all of it to the boom of a great heavy metal soundtrack. If you're a fan of this culture like I am then you will really enjoy this movie. On the negative side this film can appear downright amateurish at times, especially with its plot and awkward dialogue scenes with none too impressive actors. In other words a film of style over substance all the way. And of course it hasn't exactly aged very well, being a movie where "The Web" and chatrooms are portrayed as being cutting-edge.
But the real reason to watch this film is for Captain Howdy. Imagine a violent and twice as muscular Marilyn Manson with an insane glare in his eyes and you will get a good idea. Howdy's life revolves around the ultimate pursuit of pain as pleasure inflicted both upon himself and onto others. He fears nobody and nothing, not even death, as pain inflicted upon him gives him a rush. This guy is way more deranged than the usual horror movie villain. Sure, it's got its bad moments however if you like horror movies and goth/freak culture I would recommend you give this one a try but caution: it just might make you reconsider that nose piercing you've wanted so much...
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Strangeland is a waste land, March 30, 1999
By A Customer
I love horror movies but Strangeland is simply horrible thanks to bad acting, direction and writing. Snider even steals a big scene from "Silence of the Lambs" with no shame. Stay clear if you like movies and still have brain cells.
|
|
|
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Just Lame, May 30, 2006
I don't write many reviews, but this movie was just so pitifully lame that I felt it was my public duty to warn you about it. The fact that Amazon tries to bundle it with "House of 1,000 Corpses" must be some kind of joke! The dialogue and acting don't even rise to the standards of a made-for-TV movie. The cops don't look, talk, or act like cops, and the lead detective/protagonist works damn hard not to express any kind of personality (his only emotions appear to be boredom and irritation).
Also, though they try to sell this as a horror film, it isn't. This film doesn't even try to be scary. The first half is a boring, brainless detective story with robotic detectives tracking down a pretentious Buffalo Bill-esque sociopath (Dee Snider). In the second half, our psycho gets released from prison, apparently reformed, but after the townspeople try to lynch him he goes bad again and has to be put down for good.
What really makes this a waste of time is that our psycho isn't even a killer. He captures his victims and tortures them for a while. And the torture is nothing terribly gruesome, either. His idea of torture apparently doesn't go much further than sewing his victims' mouths shut and giving them unwanted piercings. Then the cops find them and haul them off to the hospital. The only victim he actually kills dies accidentally. This dung heap of a movie is just not scary, and not worth your time.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
DVD ~ Samantha Adams (II)
DVD ~ Edward Norton
~ Various Artists - Soundtracks - 1998
DVD ~ Chad Bannon
DVD ~ Sid Haig
DVD ~ Robert Englund
DVD ~ Robert Picardo
