Day 223: "We must all go through a rite of passage, and it must be physical, it must be painful, and it must leave a mark."

I've been a Twisted Sister fan since I was in grade school.  On their most popular album, Stay Hungry, There was a song called  Horror-Teria A) Captain Howdy B) Street Justice.  This was a song about a normal suburban neighborhood that played host to a serial killer who preyed upon children who called himself Captain Howdy.  He was eventually caught and tried, only to be released on a technicality by an incompetent judge.  At this point, the parents of the victims decided that enough was enough and took matters into their own hands.  Today's movie, Strangeland was written by the songwriter of Horror-teria, Dee Snider, and is the visual tale of Captain Howdy's misdeeds.  It follows the basic story of the song, but with some minor adjustments for plots' sake.  The song was written in the early 80's, and , in the film, Captain Howdy's hunting ground is the internet, so that adjustment had to be made, as well as making him stalk teenagers instead of young children.  I found this movie to be mighty uncomfortable to watch at times, as Howdy goes from hunter to prey to hunter, and the fact that his victims (the ones who survive) seem to come back for more (Stockholm Syndrome, maybe?).  It was effective as a horror movie, and it made several nods to other films from the time (Nightmare on Elm Street, anyone?).

Dee Snider plays Captain Howdy, or Carleton Hendricks as his birth certificate says.  He seems to be the only guy who could have played him, because Snider knows this creature better than anyone else could.  The only time I had an issue, was when Snider had to portray Hendricks as victim, I just didn't believe him.  Linda Cardellini is his main victim, Genevieve Gage.  She was really good and I had no trouble seeing her as completely helpless in those horrific circumstances.  Elizabeth Pena, Tucker Smallwood, a really young Amy Smart, and horror staple Robert Englund also make appearances as well.

A really dark story, despicable characters, and occasional humor all mix together her to make a pretty satisfying horror movie.  Strangeland does suffer from the usual cliches and awful one-liners, but if you're in the mood to creeped out on a pretty big scale (I'm talking uncomfortable, squirming creeped-out not "eew, gross" creeped-out)catch it on Netflix.  It is October, and it's time for that sort of thing.  7.5/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!