Joe Dante Movies
by BaxterCallow | created - 08 Jun 2017 | updated - 08 Jun 2017 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
R | 83 min | Comedy, Thriller
A young woman arrives in Hollywood to try her luck as an actress. An incompetent agent hooks her up with a production company which specializes in low budget B-movie fair, plagued by strange deadly accidents.
Directors: Allan Arkush, Joe Dante | Stars: Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, George Wagner, Jonathan Kaplan
Votes: 1,488
The slapped-together élan is enchanting
2. Piranha (1978)
R | 94 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies-Urich, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn
Votes: 24,696 | Gross: $6.00M
It's played more for laughs and digs at America's war policy than for scares.
3. Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Music
Ramones fanatic and delinquent Riff Randell battles it out with the strict new principal of Vince Lombardi High School, Miss Togar, with help from the Ramones.
Directors: Allan Arkush, Joe Dante | Stars: P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten, Clint Howard, Dey Young
Votes: 11,201
It's more cleverly cut than shot -- which means that it moves quickly and energetically even as the concepts and characters disintegrate.
4. The Howling (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
After a bizarre and near deadly encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone
Votes: 40,170 | Gross: $17.99M
A perverse, satirical contribution to the oft-maligned werewolf genre.
5. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
PG | 101 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Four horror and science fiction segments, directed by four famous directors, each of them being a new version of a classic story from Rod Serling's landmark television series.
Directors: Joe Dante, John Landis, George Miller, Steven Spielberg | Stars: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Doug McGrath
Votes: 41,171 | Gross: $29.50M
The Twilight Zone: The Movie suffers from the typical anthology-film highs and lows; thankfully, the former outnumber the latter.
6. Gremlins (1984)
PG | 106 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, John Louie
Votes: 247,704 | Gross: $148.17M
Whether you choose to see it as a statement on consumer culture or simply a special effects-heavy popcorn flick, Gremlins is a minor classic.
7. Explorers (1985)
PG | 109 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A boy obsessed with '50s sci-fi movies about aliens has a recurring dream about a blueprint of some kind, which he draws for his inventor friend. With the help of a third kid, they follow it and build themselves a spaceship. Now what?
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Bobby Fite, Bradley Gregg
Votes: 23,731 | Gross: $9.87M
With a terrific young cast (including Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix) and some typically energetic work from director Joe Dante, Explorers soars past its '80s kiddie flick competitors with wit, good-looking effects, and tons of charm.
8. Innerspace (1987)
PG | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A test pilot is miniaturized in a secret experiment, and accidentally injected into a hapless store clerk.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy
Votes: 65,096 | Gross: $25.89M
A manic, overstuffed blend of sci-fi, comedy, and romance, Innerspace nonetheless charms, thanks to Martin Short's fine performance and the insistent zaniness of the plot.
9. Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
R | 85 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
A spoof of low budget 1950s science-fiction movies, interspersed with various comedy sketches and fake commercials making fun of late-night television.
Directors: Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, Robert K. Weiss | Stars: Rosanna Arquette, Michelle Pfeiffer, Arsenio Hall, Donald F. Muhich
Votes: 12,635 | Gross: $0.55M
Satirists are in trouble when their subjects are funnier than they are.
10. The 'Burbs (1989)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
An overstressed suburbanite and his neighbors are convinced that the new family on the block is part of a murderous Satanic cult.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Corey Feldman
Votes: 83,463 | Gross: $36.60M
The 'Burbs doesnit quite go the distance, but for most of its length it is a superbly inventive, insightful and funny black comedy.
11. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
The Gremlins are back, and this time, they've taken control of a New York City media mogul's high-tech skyscraper.
Directors: Joe Dante, Chuck Jones | Stars: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Howie Mandel, Tony Randall
Votes: 112,800 | Gross: $41.48M
Too many gremlins and not enough story line.
12. Matinee (1993)
PG | 99 min | Comedy, Drama
The teenage son of a navy sailor newly stationed in Key West gets some excitement with his friends when a small-time film producer comes to town to premiere a kitschy horror film during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz
Votes: 12,396 | Gross: $9.53M
Smart, funny, and disarmingly sweet, Matinee is a film that film buffs will love -- and might even convert some non-believers.
13. The Second Civil War (1997 TV Movie)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
A simple immigration issue spins wildly out of control for those involved, ranging from the President of the United States, to a news producer.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Beau Bridges, Joanna Cassidy, Phil Hartman, James Earl Jones
Votes: 2,264
The news is fleeting and so is politics and that's exactly what's portrayed here.
14. The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy (1998 TV Movie)
97 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
In the future, galactic civil war destroys the human space civilization and a new Dark Age begins. On a distant planet, a scavenger looking for his abducted sister teams up with a former general who wishes to rebuild the Galactic Republic.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: John Corbett, Carolyn McCormick, John Pyper-Ferguson, Elisabeth Harnois
Votes: 274
15. Small Soldiers (1998)
PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
When missile technology is used to enhance toy action figures, the toys soon begin to take their battle programming too seriously.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Gregory Smith, David Cross, Jay Mohr
Votes: 105,683 | Gross: $54.68M
What bothered me most about Small Soldiers is that it didn't tell me where to stand--what attitude to adopt.
16. Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
PG | 91 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The Looney Tunes search for a man's missing father and the mythical Blue Monkey diamond.
Directors: Joe Dante, Eric Goldberg | Stars: Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Steve Martin, Heather Locklear
Votes: 40,417 | Gross: $20.99M
The plot is a nonsensical, hyperactive jumble and the gags are relatively uninspired compared to the classic Looney Tunes cartoons.
17. Trapped Ashes (2006)
R | 105 min | Horror
Seven strangers on a Hollywood movie studio tour are trapped inside an infamous House of Horror and forced to tell their most terrifying stories to get out alive.
Directors: Sean S. Cunningham, Joe Dante, John Gaeta, Monte Hellman, Ken Russell | Stars: Jayce Bartok, Henry Gibson, Lara Harris, Scott Lowell
Votes: 1,805
With its gore-comic sensibility and self-conscious flashes of nudity, Trapped Ashes clunks along, and (to be completely petty) never really overcomes its clunky title.
18. The Greatest Show Ever (2007 TV Movie)
Comedy
Directors: Joe Dante, Huston Huddleston, Scott Leva, Stacy Title | Stars: Traci Lords, Mickey Rooney, Daniel Alm, Adrian Arminius
Votes: 46
19. The Hole (2009)
PG-13 | 92 min | Fantasy, Thriller
A pair of brothers stumble upon a mysterious hole in their basement that leads to the darkest corridors of their fears and nightmares.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble, Teri Polo
Votes: 24,249
A welcome throwback to the suburban teen thrillers of the 1980s, The Hole is a scary, enjoyable return to form for director Joe Dante.
20. Burying the Ex (2014)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Horror, Romance
A guy's regrets over moving in with his girlfriend are compounded when she dies and comes back as a zombie.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Anton Yelchin, Ashley Greene, Alexandra Daddario, Oliver Cooper
Votes: 11,482
Burying the Ex boasts flickers of director Joe Dante's former flair, but neither the concept nor its execution live up to the standard set by his best efforts.
21. The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes
Biography, Comedy | Pre-production
In 1967, strait-laced exploitation movie king Roger Corman embarks on a life-changing attempt to capture the psychedelic world of LSD on film by taking a "trip" himself, abetted by Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.
Director: Joe Dante
22. Labirintus
Fantasy, Thriller | Pre-production
A crew enters a mysterious maze buried underneath an abandoned Soviet research facility where supernatural disturbances occur.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Rachel Hurd-Wood, Ville Virtanen, Lorànt Deutsch
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