The ‘Burbs

#7 in my ranking of Joe Dante's filmography. Joe Dante met some mild success with Innerspace and went to the Universal backlot to shoot a little film with Tom Hanks that ends up feeling as much like a collection of influences as it does a movie. It's like a combination of Universal monster film, Looney…

Innerspace

#2 in my ranking of Joe Dante's filmography. Joe Dante goes corporate, sanding off most of his edges, and coming up with a movie that ends up both distinctly his and feeling more like a product than anything else he'd made before. Perhaps giving him a box to operate in (similar to what he was…

Explorers

#5 in my ranking of Joe Dante's filmography. There's something about horror directors that makes them ideal children's film filmmakers. There's a lack of reticence about upping tension and fear just to certain levels that kids can take and scare them that makes them slightly more dangerous than the typical kids entertainment. The key is…

Gremlins

#6 in my ranking of Joe Dante's filmography. Joe Dante was moving up in the world. He'd met some good success with The Howling, caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, and got the assignment to bring the script by Chris Columbus script about mysterious little anarchic creatures at Christmas. He ended up creating one of…

The Howling

#9 in my ranking of Joe Dante's filmography. I really think both Joe Dante and John Sayles had a fair bit to learn about how to structure a film, but they certainly had learned something about how to deliver on thrills in the third act of one. Sharing some of the lackadaisical pace of Piranha…