You'd have to be the biggest Twisted Sister fan in the world to find anything
redeeming about Strangeland, which was written by and stars former
rocker Dee Snider. He plays Captain Howdy, a sociopath who kidnaps high-school
girls, sews their mouths closed, and tortures them with body piercings. It's
The Silence of the Lambs by way of "Ironman," as Howdy is reformed and
redeemed, then falls back into his old habits when the town refuses to forgive
him.
Setting aside the glorification of rape, torture, and pedophilia, we get
dialogue that doesn't even reach the level of laughably bad, jumpy direction
that makes the simplistic plot confusing, and a wasted cameo by Robert Englund.
For one split-second, when the townspeople are protesting outside Captain
Howdy's home, we see a banner reading, "We're not gonna take it." If only the
rest of the film had poked fun at itself like that reference to Twisted
Sister's hit song, maybe this could have been amusing schlock instead of
disgusting travesty.
--Dan Tobin
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Strangeland 
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Strangeland 
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