Dee Snider Movies
A performer best known for his tenure as the frontman of rock group Twisted Sister (a post he held from 1976 to 1987), Dee Snider almost single-handedly evolved that outfit from a glam rock act into a goth-tinged heavy metal act with an incomparably harsh sound, and a tremendous amount of on-the-sleeve influence by such forerunners as Alice Cooper. Like Cooper, Snider carefully cultivated dual images -- a public persona, marked in his Sister days by outrageous costumes that incorporated fishnet stockings, mutilated dresses, and messy lipstick -- and a comparatively quiet offscreen life that found Snider raising a family on Long Island with his wife since 1981, Twisted costume designer Suzette Gargiulo.After Sister broke up in 1987, Snider reportedly experienced a difficult period of clinical depression and debt, but rebounded professionally, both in the music arena (by temporarily forming the bands Desperado and Widowmaker with colleagues) and on a cinematic level, by writing and starring in his first movie -- the 1998 StrangeLand. The picture, which co-starred Robert Englund and Linda Cardellini, tells of a psychopath named "Captain Howdy" (Snider) who spends most of his waking hours on the Internet, luring unwitting teenage girls into an S & M torture chamber; it received scathing reviews and reportedly grossed just over 700,000 dollars domestically. After the release of this film, Snider made a guest appearance as himself in an episode of The Drew Carey Show (2001), participated as an interviewee in the heavy metal-themed documentaries KISS Loves You (2004) and Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005), and landed a bit part as a bartender in the melodrama Deepwater (2005).
Snider also gained some publicity from repeat appearances on his friend Howard Stern's daily radio broadcasts, and -- in a most unusual turn of events -- participated in the CMT network's reality series Gone Country, wherein music mogul John Rich plunges entertainers of all stripes into a "country" environment in order to produce the next country and western superstar. Snider's fellow participants on that program included rapper Bobby Brown and Maureen McCormick of The Brady Bunch. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Heavy metal might be regarded as the High School Shop Class of rock & roll -- there's a lot going on there, but most folks don't credit the participants with being either very smart or terribly ambitious. Not everyone feels that way, though, and filmmaker, anthropologist, and heavy metal enthusiast Sam Dunn offers an insider's look at the music and subculture of metal with this documentary, created in collaboration with filmmakers Scot McFadyen and Jessica Joy Wise. Metal: A Headbanger's Journey examines the history of hard rock's extreme wing, offers a look at the various subsections within the heavy metal pantheon (from innocuous hair metal bands such as Poison and Warrant to the homicidal lunatic fringe of Norwegian black metal); examines the sociology of metal in terms of class, race, gender and economics; celebrates the music with a nod toward its underestimated intelligence as well as its physical power; and allows members of such landmark bands as Black Sabbath, Slayer, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, White Zombie to speak for themselves about their work. Metal: A Headbanger's Journey received a fist-pumpingly enthusiastic reception for its premiere screenings at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Dunn, Alice Cooper, (more)
An orphaned drifter recently released from the hospital and seeking gainful employment finds that sometimes fate can play cruel tricks on the desperate in a tightly wound tale of adultery, deception, and murder starring Peter Coyote and Lucas Black. Nat Banyon (Black) is an orphan just looking to get back on his feet after an extended convalescence in a Wyoming hospital. When by chance Nat spots a bad car accident and bravely acts to save the life of the car's eccentric driver, Herman Finch (Coyote), the grateful wheelman kindly extends an offer of work to the young drifter, with the understanding that room and board will be provided free of charge. Assigned the task of cleaning up Finch's rundown Deepwater motel in exchange for a street-worthy car, Nat sets about performing his duties while slowly becoming aware that, in this ramshackle motel, nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucas Black, Peter Coyote, (more)
The music-themed documentary KISS Loves You travels back to the mid-1990s -a point when the famous arena rock band KISS had begun to lose much of its initial popularity and longtime fans were pining for the group's 1970s heyday. This enthusiasm blossomed into numerous KISS fan clubs, which prompted the four original band members - Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley - to reunite for a period of time. KISS Loves You observes a number of KISS fans as they follow the rock outfit through the vicissitudes of this period. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 2001
It's something of a "dom-sub" relationship between Drew (Drew Carey) and Christine (Wanda Sykes), with meek Drew meekly doing Christine's bidding without question or complaint. At the same time, Mimi (Kathy Kinney) is told by guest star Dee Snider) that she has been ousted as president of the Twisted Sister Fan Club because all her time is being taken up by motherhood. In an effort to recapture her carefree past, Mimi buys a sports car--and ends up Drag-racing against Drew, who for his part is making a bid to reassert his manhood and wrest himself from Christine's iron grasp! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dee Snider, of the Twisted Sister heavy metal music group, made his debut as a screenwriter and producer with this horror film, directed by John Pieplow. A psycho on the Internet uses the handle, "Captain Howdy" (Snider), an obvious reference to the unseen Ouija board spirit in The Exorcist (1973). After the abduction of his daughter Genevieve (Linda Cardellini), detective Mike Gage (Kevin Gage) is on the case, joined by detective Christian (Brett Harrelson). Kidnapper Captain Howdy is eventually captured and sent off to the asylum. Released four years later, Howdy is hanged by a vigilante mob led by redneck Jackson Roth (Robert Englund). Reborn as Carleton Hendricks (Snider), Howdy turns against the vigilantes, kidnaps Genevieve a second time, and once again confronts Gage. Snider also contributes an original heavy-metal tune for the closing credits. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dee Snider, Kevin Gage, (more)
In this madcap comedy, Demi Moore plays Cassandra and John Cusack is Hoops McCann, two people who eventually fall in love and help each other out. Hoops is a cartoonist working on a teen love story that he hopes will get him accepted into art school. Cassandra is a troubled young woman about to lose her home to a money-hungry developer. Characters with names like Squid Calamari, Clay Stork, or Ack Ack Raymond are involved in the unfolding romance and figure in several slapstick routines. Several cartoon sequences are inserted throughout this comedy to comment on the story. This was director Savage Steve Holland's second feature-length film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Demi Moore, (more)
Co-written by Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman, Pee Wee's Big Adventure marks the debut of director Tim Burton, who stamps the entire film with his quirky trademark style. The premise: Pee Wee (Reubens), an overgrown pre-pubescent boy sporting a molded Princeton cut, blush, lipstick, and a shrunken gray flannel suit, lives an idyllic life in his bizarre home (some have compared the remarkable set design to the expressionistic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) until someone nabs his most prized possession: a fire engine-red customized bicycle. He then embarks on an epic cross-country search to find his lost love, not to mention more than a little adventure. Along the way, he makes friends with various oddball characters, visits the Alamo, endures various hallucinatory nightmares, and has a supernatural run-in with a spectral trucker. In this reprisal of his popular standup routine, Reubens is wonderful as the nerdy man child; he plays it silly, yet he manages to imbue the role with some sensitivity without ever seeming maudlin. The score by Danny Elfman is terrific -- as is the case in nearly every film Burton has directed -- and the script is fresh and inventive. Some of the most memorable moments: the opening sequence involving Pee Wee's morning activities is a stroke of genius (note the bunny slippers and talking breakfast), as are the scenes at the truck stop, and the "Hollywood" version of Pee Wee's story at the end (starring James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild in surprise cameos). In all, Pee Wee's Big Adventure is a delightful film, enjoyable for children as well as adults. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, (more)
