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Joe Dante

Just like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron,
Dante started his career as a protege of cult filmmaker Roger
Corman. Dante's first big break came when he was just 30, he
directed the Corman-produced low-budget Jaws inspiredPiranha (1978),
a film that should have been awful but somehow Dante made work. It
was a cult hit and even spawned a James Cameron directed sequel.

His next movie was horror/thriller The Howling (1981) which
established Dante as one of the brightest young directors young
directors working at that time. Such was his reputation that he
joined Steven Spielberg, George Miller and John Landis each directing
one of the four segments which made up Twilight Zone - The Movie
(1983).

The Oscar winning Spielberg in particular must have been impressEd Because
Dante's next directorial effort was produced by Spielberg and it ultimately turned
out to be his most famous movie, Gremlins (1984).

Dante's next movie Explorers (1985) starring youngsters River Phoenix
& Ethan Hawke was expected to be as big as Gremlins but unfortunately
the studio decided to rush the production to an early release date
and Dante never fully finished the movie. Explorers did respectably
at the box-office but has since earned a cult reputation.

Sci-fi comedy Innerspace (1987) starring Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan and
Martin Short was another big box-office hit for Dante but dark comedy
The Burbs (1989) starring Tom Hanks misfired despite being regarded
as under-rated by many.

At the end of the 1980's Dante was one of Hollywood's top directors
and his next movie Gremlins---The-New-Batch.html">Gremlins 2 - The New Batch (1990) proved to be the biggest
grossing movie of his career. Unfortunately in the sixteen years since
then Dante's career has proved a massive disappointment.

Dante directed five episodes of TV show Eerie Indiana (1991) but it
was cancelled after one season. His next movie Matinee (1993) was a
box-office flop despite once again slowly building up a cult
reputation. Dante then for some reason decided to direct three TV
movies.

His next theatrical movie was Small Soldiers (1998) which proved
popular at the box-office and seemed to stop the rot in Dante's
career but he went back to directing TV shows and something called
Haunted Lighthouse which appears to be a 3-D children's movie for
Busch Gardens.

Warner Bros then chose Dante to relaunch one of their most popular
franchises when they appointed him director of Looney Tunes Back In Action
(2003). Unfortunately the movie flopped and neither the franchise or Dante's
career has recovered since.



What members say | Filmography

Joe Dante - what members say


  • Gremlins
  • Gremlins review by A customer from Dorset
    Rated - 4.0 stars BRIGHT LIGHT! 21 September 2003
    ...This is a gleefully mischievous movie, in which director Joe Dante envisages a perfect American small town, then introduces malicious Gremlins into the mix and has them ...   Read customer review
  • Piranha
  • Piranha review by darrenfuge from HOVE
    Rated - 5.0 stars PIRANHA 17 September 2008
    ...emake was made in the late 90's, the version I tracked down was made in 1978 by Joe Dante that also made the GREMLINS films. ...   Read customer review
  • Gremlins 2 - The New Batch
  • Gremlins 2 - The New Batch review by from London, England
    Rated - 5.0 stars Sequel goes wher eother sequel fears to tread! 30 July 2004
    ...In Gremlins, Joe Dante filmed a rather sadistically chaotic take on a childrens movie. But where the first movie was wrapped in a neat morality tale, this sequel just g...   Read customer review

Joe Dante - filmography


  • American Grindhouse (2010)
    Starring: Joe Dante,  Robert Forster,  Jeremy Kasten
    Director: Elijah Drenner
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    This documentary explores the hidden history of the American Exploitation Film. The movie digs deep into this often overlooked category of U.S. cinema and unearths the shameless and occasionally shocking origins of this popular entertainment.
    3.5 stars out of 5 72% from 10 members
    Currently unavailable
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  • The Hole on DVD (2009)
    Starring: Chris Massoglia,  Nathan Gamble,  Teri Polo
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
    A pair of brothers stumble upon a mysterious hole in their basement that leads to the darkest corridors of their fears and nightmares.
    3.5 stars out of 5 66% from 10,590 members
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  • Looney Tunes - Back in Action on DVD (2003)
    Starring: Brendan Fraser,  Jenna Elfman,  Steve Martin
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Joe Dante directs this fast-paced, inventive combination of animation and live action with irreverent, comic flair. In Hollywood, Daffy Duck is jealous of Bugs Bunny's success and demands a pay increase. Instead of giving him a rise, Kate (Jenna Elfman) a fed-up studio executive, fires Daffy and ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 61% from 6,419 members
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  • Small Soldiers on DVD (1998)
    Starring: Kirsten Dunst,  Jay Mohr,  Phil Hartman
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    A toy company believes it is onto something when it employs the latest government military technology in a series of action figures, enabling them to talk. They underestimate the power of the special micro chips they've employed, however, as the two opposing sides of the toy line start thinking for ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 62% from 5,704 members
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  • Matinee (1992)
    Starring: David Clennon,  Robert Picardo,  John Sayles
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    It's 1962 and 15-year-old horror film fan Gene Loomis (Simon Fenton) is the new kid in a small Key West town; the Cuban Missile Crisis is happening in his own backyard; an intriguing girl (Lisa Jakub) is actually looking his way, and best of all, master showman Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman) is in ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 62% from 406 members
    Not currently released
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  • The Burbs on DVD (1989)
    Starring: Tom Hanks,  Carrie Fisher,  Rick Ducommun
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Tom Hanks portrays suburbanite Ray Peterson, whose plans for a peaceful vacation are disturbed by a creepy new family on the block, in this outrageous suspense-comedy directed by Joe Dante. To the disappointment of his wife Carol (Carrie Fisher), Ray decides to spend a relaxing week at home, and ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 66% from 7,461 members
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  • Innerspace on DVD (1987)
    Starring: Dennis Quaid,  Meg Ryan,  Kevin McCarthy
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Dennis Quaid stars as Lieutenant Tuck Pendleton, a hell-raising Navy test pilot, in this fantasy-suspense comedy that harkens back to 1966's FANTASTIC VOYAGE. Pendleton volunteers to be miniaturised in a scientific experiment and fly a capsule injected into a rabbit's bloodstream for top-secret ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 68% from 8,730 members
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  • Explorers (1985)
    Starring: Ethan Hawke,  Jason Presson,  River Phoenix
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    This adventurous space tale stars Ethan Hawke (in his film debut at the age of 14) and young star River Phoenix as misfit best friends whose dreams of space travel become a reality when they create an interplanetary spacecraft in their homemade laboratory. Ben Crandall (Hawke) is a young visionary ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 70% from 310 members
    Currently unavailable
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  • Gremlins - Blu-ray (1984)
    Starring: Zach Galligan,  Phoebe Cates,  Hoyt Axton
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Young Billy Peltzer's (Zach Galligan) everyday smalltown life is given a lift when his travelling salesman father Rand (Hoyt Axton) buys him the ultimate Christmas gift in a far-off Chinatown--the mogwai--an adorable little big-eared, furry, brown and white creature. But the old man who sold the ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 77% from 2,035 members
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  • Gremlins on DVD (1984)
    Starring: Zach Galligan,  Phoebe Cates,  Hoyt Axton
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Young Billy Peltzer's (Zach Galligan) everyday smalltown life is given a lift when his travelling salesman father Rand (Hoyt Axton) buys him the ultimate Christmas gift in a far-off Chinatown--the mogwai--an adorable little big-eared, furry, brown and white creature. But the old man who sold the ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 71% from 19,301 members
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  • The Howling on DVD (1980)
    Starring: Elisabeth Brooks,  Dee Wallace,  Patrick Macnee
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    Severely shaken after a near-fatal encounter with a serial killer, TV newscaster Karen White (Dee Wallace-Stone) takes some much-needed time off. Hoping to conquer her inner demons, she heads for the 'Colony', a secluded retreat where her new neighbors are just a tad too eager to make her feel at ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 61% from 2,382 members
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  • Piranha on DVD (1978)
    Starring: Bradford Dillman,  Heather Menzies,  Barbara Steele
    Director: Joe Dante
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    "Operation Razorteeth," a government project involving the breeding of mutant piranhas, gets way out of hand when the fish raid a lake at a summer camp for kids in this Roger Corman-produced, Joe Dante-directed classic. Heather Menzies stars as Maggie McKeown, an insurance investigator out to trace ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 58% from 985 members
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Joe Dante facts

5 most recent films

American Grindhouse - 3.5 stars
The Hole - 3.5 stars
The Hole - Blu-ray - 3.0 stars
The Hole - 3D Blu-ray - 3.0 stars
Fantastic Flesh - The Art of Make-Up EFX - 3.0 stars

5 highest-rated films

Gremlins - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
Eerie Indiana - The Complete Series - 3.5 stars
Gremlins - 3.5 stars
Explorers - 3.5 stars
Innerspace - 3.5 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Fantastic Flesh - The Art of Make-Up EFX - 3.0 stars
American Grindhouse - 3.5 stars
Amazon Women On The Moon - 3.0 stars
Piranha - 3.0 stars
The Howling - 3.0 stars

Most frequent co-stars

John Carradine - 10 times - show films
Peter Coyote - 7 times - show films
Elliott Gould - 7 times - show films
Robert Klein - 7 times - show films
Victor Garber - 7 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Paul L - 7 times - show films
William Friedkin - 7 times - show films
Wes Craven - 7 times - show films
Bob Balaban - 4 times - show films
Sean S. Cunningham - 2 times - show films