13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2009: Night #1 Strangeland

Hello, and welcome to the first of the thirteen nights of Hallowe’en.

What we do with these thirteen nights is we watch a horror movie or other kind of movie fitting to the festive spirit of All Hallows Eve. The full list of this years movies is available at WraithStop™. Tonight is the first night running to Hallowe’en, which is the thirteenth night. Come back to this blog every day for a heads up about that night’s movie.

Tonight’s movie is "Strangeland" which was written by and stars Dee Snider who is most famously known for the glam metal band Twisted Sister. Yes, a twisted movie from Twisted Sister, including even a song from a briefly re-united Twisted Sister. It's not just being cute to call this a twisted movie. Strangeland is about Captain Howdy, a cyber-stalker looking to help people by providing them the physical trials and pain of primitive cultures. The movie made the circuit of tradeshows revolving around tattoos, piercings, and body modification, rather than the film festivals. One thing you may notice is that Genevieve is played by Linda Cardellini from the last seasons of ER. Also included in the cast is Robert Englund, the original man of your nightmare, Freddy Krueger, in a role that really surprises.

By now some might be wondering from where they know that name, Captain Howdy. In the Exorcist, Regan MacNeil (played by Linda Blair) said with her Ouija board that she spoke to someone named Captain Howdy. Similarly that name is a song title from Twisted Sister's album "Stay Hungry" and the remixed "Still Hungry". While still on the topic of music, Strangeland has an awesome soundtrack available that is just full of great songs from a number of great bands. As for the movie itself, don't worry it's not gorno, though it could be easy to imagine as a step in that direction, this was 1998 after all. No instead it's a horror in the thriller vein and it certainly has its twists and turns. It is not your run of the mill retread plot. Enjoy, like all of this year's movies it's one of my favourites.

Mood: excited.

Music: Captain Howdy by Twisted Sister off of Still Hungry.