phantom limb /ˈfan(t)əm’lim/ n. an often painful sensation of the presence of a limb that has been amputated.
Welcome to Phantom Limbs, a recurring feature which will take a look at intended yet unproduced horror sequels and remakes – extensions to genre films we love, appendages to horror franchises that we adore – that were sadly lopped off before making it beyond the planning stages. Here, we will be chatting with the creators of these unmade extremities to gain their unique insight into these follow-ups that never were, with the discussions standing as hopefully illuminating but undoubtedly painful reminders of what might have been.
With this installment, we’re delving into Strangeland: Disciple, the planned but as-yet-unrealized sequel to 1998’s Strangeland, penned by metal legend Dee Snider and directed by John Pieplow. That film starred Snider as Carleton Hendricks, aka “Captain Howdy”, a sadistic and heavily pierced/tattooed modern primitive who uses nascent social media (namely, chat rooms) to lure victims into his web before brutally torturing them. Hendricks is brought down, institutionalized, medicated and eventually released, before a lynch mob enacts a brutal retribution which reawakens Captain Howdy and sets him onto a collision course with Mike Gage (Heat’s Kevin Gage), a vengeful cop whose daughter had been victimized by Hendricks during his prior reign of terror. The film ends with a vicious battle between Gage and Captain Howdy, which culminates with the cop setting the murderer alight and watching him burn.
Joining us for this entry is Mr. Snider, who discusses where the sequel would have taken Captain Howdy, why it hasn’t yet happened, and whether we may yet see Captain Howdy’s exploits continue on some day.
“You know, part of me still hopes that it’s going to happen,” Mr. Snider begins, noting his reluctance at revealing too much of a tale that he yet plans to make some day. “The story is so rich that I don’t want to give it away. I’ve currently got a movie called My Enemy’s Enemy that is in development with the people who produced the Halloween films, Malek Akkad, and I’m going to be directing that in the spring. I’m really hoping that’s going to get me back in the door to somehow get Strangeland made. ‘Cause right now, I’ve just had so many false starts with it.”
Indeed, rumors of a sequel go back all the way to the time of the first film’s release. Every few years, it seems as though the possibility of Disciple getting made would be discussed, with serious attempts made in 2010 and 2015 convincing fans that we might actually see the long-awaited follow-up come to fruition. A 2007 comic book prequel titled Strangeland: Seven Sins, penned by Snider’s son Jesse, stoked interest in the character even more, though that series would go unfinished when publisher Fangoria Comics unexpectedly went under after the release of its first issue.
Dee Snider as Captain Howdy in ‘Strangeland’ (1998)
Nevertheless, Snider insists that we will see Captain Howdy again some day, hence his reticence at revealing too much of the story. Still, he does offer some tantalizing tidbits on where the sequel’s story would take its villain. “We took the original Halloween format of picking up where the last one left off,” he reveals. “It literally started with the autopsy on Captain Howdy’s body.
“It was very brutal, very gruesome, and it went haywire from there. Things happened, he was institutionalized, and he was broken out by a collector who wanted to add Captain Howdy to his collection of ‘oddities’. That’s a mistake! He thought maybe he could control him. There is no controlling Captain Howdy. He’s sick and fucked up!”
This would have opened the story that was intended to be filmed not long after the release of the first film, sure. But that’s two decades ago now. How would the story be affected by that passage of time?
“So many years have gone by that I went back and rewrote it as in real time. It does still start with a very gruesome autopsy, but needless to say he’s not dead. He’s institutionalized, but he is released the way they released the guy who shot Reagan, if you remember. You know, these crazy people do get released after decades. He actually comes out, and the story goes from there. He’s being medicated, that’s why they think he’s okay to release.
“He comes out into a world twenty years later where he’s a legend. It’s like Charles Manson. He has people who admire him and look up to him, send marriage proposals to him. He comes into this world and everything picks up twenty years later.
“And … Mike Gage, he’s been waiting. Twenty years later, he’s been waiting. We see Gage, his world is in complete shambles. He’s in a trailer park. He’s out. And he’s got a heavy bag hanging from a tree in front of his decrepit trailer, and he’s just beating the shit out of this bag. Just waiting. So it becomes this whole revenge thing.”
Kevin Gage as Mike Gage in ‘Strangeland’ (1998)
The first film had Captain Howdy being institutionalized and seemingly rehabilitated as well, with Carleton Hendricks being medicated and sent back out into the world. The original movie seemed to point at society’s refusal to allow Hendricks to reclaim his mental health and find redemption. Would Disciple have been equally concerned with this notion, or would it have gone another way entirely?
“It really does, and it doesn’t,” Snider says. “One of the working titles before Disciple was called Cult of Personality, because he quickly becomes a celebrity. I even see it at signings at horror conventions. Girls come up…they’re like into him, you know what I mean? They want to come to a party. And I go, ‘I tried to make this guy as demented and sick as possible.’ And yet, there are women who found that sexy and attractive, the idea of being tortured. What is wrong with these girls? So yeah, it was really an exploration of fame that comes from doing something bad and something evil.
“I also played with the fact that he’s cured, but it’s that same thing – off his meds, he’s as dangerous as he ever was. And there are people who think that that’s okay, for someone like that to be off his meds. There was a line in the movie in the script – ‘You’re amongst friends, Captain.’ And Carleton Hendricks, he’s reverting back, he says ‘He has no friends.’
“He’s not looking for a date. He’s not looking for playmates. He’s not looking for like-minded individuals. He doesn’t like anybody. He hates everybody, and he wants to hurt everybody. Why don’t people understand that? I’ll make that clearer this time!”
It sounds as though the film’s title would have been explored, with Captain Howdy having followers and a possible protégé. “Well, yeah. There are people who are followers, that look up to him and admire him. They don’t understand. They’re disciples of Captain Howdy, but they don’t really understand the truth of just how fucked up he is. The fact that you like what he is makes him want to hurt you more. Just the arrogance of thinking you understand him, makes him want to hurt you more.
“And when you try to do what he does, he’s offended. He runs into somebody who was just such a disciple of his, and he’s offended. ‘You think doing what I do, that you’re paying me a compliment? It’s a fucking insult, what you’ve done.’ And he hurts that guy. He hurts everybody, because that’s what he does! He hurts people. Not a person you want to hang around with.”
In closing out our conversation, Snider promises the sequel will be extreme. “That was the first film rated ‘R’ for scenes of torture. So since then, people have…y’know, upped the ante? Well, I didn’t up the ante. I dug a hole in the ground and lowered the bar. I dropped the bar into the hole to make it low enough. The stuff that I brought to the table…nobody’s fucking ready. Even twenty years later, they’re still not ready for what Captain Howdy is about to unleash. I say ‘about’, because…one of these days!
“I don’t know if I’ll be wearing a loincloth, or somebody else will be replacing me, but he will rise. He will rise. We will hear from him one more time.”
Very special thanks to Dee Snider for his time and insights.
‘Strangeland’ (1998)