Under normal circumstances, I have no problem with musicians trying to cross over into movies by trying their hand at acting or directing. Sure, there’s a good chance that they won’t be able to pull it off, but there are a lot of talented people who can do both, and there’s no reason to deny them the opportunity just because they’ve established themselves in another field. That said, I’m already growing tired of the “metalheads making horror movies” trend. Call me crazy, but I have this idea that people who are into loud and obnoxious music tend to have the wrong idea about what makes a horror movie work.

I suppose Rob Zombie is the most successful example of a hard rocker turned horror director, but 5 years before Zombie directed his first film, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister fame wrote and starred in a little flick called Strangeland. Maybe you’ve heard of it and maybe you haven’t, but if you’ve seen it you can probably agree that it’s not a great film. Snider plays a serial killer who lures teens into his traps via internet chatrooms (as soon as the internet is involved, you know it’s a bad sign). Just like Zombie, he pays tribute to his favourite horror movies in the most obvious of ways; for example, the character’s chatroom handle is Captain Howdy, better known as the demon from The Exorcist. Cinematical reports that Snider thinks the time is right for a sequel (which is probably true, and I’m sure he’s applying for membership in The Splat Pack as we speak). The thing is, he had to go through an arduous legal battle to get the rights back to the Strangeland name… to which I would say, why bother? The original stunk, why not come up with a fresh idea instead? The sequel will apparently be called Strangeland 2: Disciple, and I’m guessing it will be direct to video quality, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up in theatres.