The Howling (1981)
May 24, 2013Werewolves/Genre Spoof
The film that made the name of Joe Dante who fills it with a barrage of werewolf movie in-references. The film's reputation rests on an amazing effects sequence where a man transforms into a wolf
Robert Picardo
Explorers (1985)
Jan 18, 2001Teenagers Build Spaceship
Joe Dante's successor to Gremlins and a box-office flop. This nevertheless evokes a genteel sense of wonder in its story with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix as teen inventors who build a backyard spaceship
Legend (1985)
Apr 27, 2003Adult Fairytale
Hugely underrated Ridley Scott film that was a box-office flop. Scott attempts to reconstruct the fairytale as something dark and primal and creates moments that are superlative cinema
Innerspace (1987)
Nov 3, 2003Fantastic Voyage Spoof
Joe Dante pays homage to Fantastic Voyage, the classic film about a submarine journey through the human body. Here Dante plays it as a screwball comedy but his in-jokey style failed to catch on with audiences
Bates Motel (1987)
May 12, 2013Psycho TV Pilot Spinoff
Not the tv series, this is an unsold earlier tv pilot that attempted to spin a series off from Psycho, An ill-conceived disaster, the film's clumsy
direction could not be further away from Alfred Hitchcock if it tried
976-Evil (1988)
Jun 10, 2002Demonic Telephone Line
Riding on his fame as Freddy Krueger in the Elm Street films, actor Robert Englund made his directorial debut here but the film is lumbered with the lame concept of a demonic phone line
Jack’s Back (1988)
Apr 4, 2018Modern-Day Jack the Ripper Copycat
This comes with a fantastic pitch – it was released on the centenary of the Jack the Ripper killings and features a Ripper copycat operating in the present. Alas, this becomes a massive wasted opportunity
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Dec 6, 2002Malicious Creatures
A less successful sequel to the mega-hit of Gremlins where director Joe Dante brings the gremlins to Manhattan and allows the silliness to go completely over-the-top and into orbit, even breaking the fourth wall
Matinee (1993)
May 23, 2003B-Movie Homage/Genre Fandom Childhood
A Joe Dante film set during the Cuban Missile Crisis about a childhood in B movie fandom. John Goodman is on great form in a role that pays homage to filmmaker William Castle
Small Soldiers (1998)
Nov 5, 1999War Between Toys
Joe Dante has resorted to a rehash of his biggest hit Gremlins, seemingly conceptually slung together with Toy Story - concerning an army of malevolent toy soldiers come to life
Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (2010)
Jan 16, 2015Giant Monsters
The first sequel to The Asylum’s Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. This is less sparing with the cheap effects, while it plants tongue-in-cheek and tries to make a virtue out of the sheer ridiculousness of the action
Morlocks (2011)
Mar 5, 2012Mutant Monsters/Time Portal
Not as you might assume an adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine but another cheap, tatty Syfy Channel production that grafts Wells' Morlocks onto their typical monster movie formula
The Captains (2011)
Oct 30, 2012Star Trek Documentary
Documentary where William Shatner interviews the actors who played the captains in the other incarnations of Star Trek. The entire show is hijacked by the Shatner ego as he constantly overrides his interview subjects
Atlas Shrugged II: The Strike (2012)
Apr 9, 2013Libertarian Political Fantasy/Ayn Rand Adaptation
The second film from Ayn Rand's libertarian fantasy. This gets more into the meat of Rand's ideas (wherein the wealthy decide to ignore an undeserving world) and is even more ridiculous than the first film
Age of Tomorrow (2014)
Oct 29, 2015The Asylum Mockbuster/Alien Invasion
The Asylum's mockbuster answer to the Tom Cruise film Edge of Tomorrow, which has very little to do with it other than both featuring an alien invasion. A film created with more ambition than budget to convey it
Discontinued (2022)
Mar 10, 2025Shutting Down the Reality Simulation
We’ve all heard the theory that we might be living in The Matrix. This asks the question of what happens when it is announced that the simulation is being shut down