Review of Strangeland (1998) by Jd T — 05 Jul 2008

I thought this was a fairly descent piece of fiction about an online predator at first glance. Upon watching it a second time, I still liked some things about it but felt that it really didn't dig deep enough into the sadism. I enjoyed Dee Snider as Capt. Howdy and the descriptions that he gave to his victims about what was being done to them. However, I felt there was more talk with weak action. I guess Mr. Snider wrote the script but it seemed, to me, like a rough draft. It should have been "fleshed out" so to speak. The basic tale of justice vs. injustice was well taken and the basic plot of sanity vs. insanity. Both of these could have been explored further to bring a broader audience to this film. Instead, Capt. Snider chose the surface of bondage, torture, the law and a fair but hardly intense soundtrack of B-rated songs by A-list musicians (including himself). The main officer came off the screen like a low-budget Buffalo Bill (from "Silence of the Lambs"). It was actually funny watching him learn about computers (thanks to a newbie but still adorable Amy Smart) and then grow into a tech savvy guy. One scene he doesn't know how to use his daughters computer after she disappears because of a party invitation by the Captain. Next we see him with a cell phone. Later, he walks into his house and Howdy is conversing with him via web-cam all without any further instructions. I guess we are led to believe that all the women run the techie gear around this cop. Great to see Robert (Freddy Krueger) Englund playing the ringleader of a lynch-mob after Capt. Howdy is released from his psychiatric sentence. This was underdeveloped and overacted. My favorite line from this flick was:

"I find sadists to be rather dull. I'm interested in heightening people's awareness, altering states through primative rituals." He does this throughout the film without anyone benefiting from the heightening. Descent premise with an average execution (no pun intended).