Known for Directing
Joseph James Dante Jr. (born November 28, 1946) is an American filmmaker, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably Gremlins (1984) alongside its sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)—often mix the 1950s-style B movie genre with 1960s radicalism and cartoon comedy. Dante's output includes the films Piranha (1978), The Howling (1981), Explorers (1985), Innerspace (1987), The 'Burbs (1989), Matinee (1993), Small Soldiers (1998), and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). His work for television and cable include the social satire The Second Civil War (1997), episodes of the anthology series Masters of Horror ("Homecoming" and "The Screwfly Solution") and Amazing Stories, as well as Police Squad! and Hawaii Five-0. Description above from the Wikipedia article Joe Dante, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Born
November 28, 1946 (age 79)
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey, USA
Filmography
170 films, 24 shows


Nightmare Cinema
2018 · 1h 59m · US
A series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings.


Burying the Ex
2014 · 1h 29m · US
Before horror enthusiast Max can break things off with his girlfriend Evelyn she dies in a bus accident. In time, Max meets another woman only to have Evelyn resurface as a zombie ready to resume their relationship.


Splatter
2009 · 29m · US
After self-righteous rockstar Johnny Splatter puts a bullet in his own head, only five people are chosen to attend the reading of his will: the manager, the shrink, the guitarist, the lover, and the groupie. Will they get what they came for, or what Splatter thinks they deserve?


The Hole
2009 · 1h 32m · US
After moving into a new neighbourhood, brothers Dane & Lucas and their neighbour Julie discover a bottomless hole in the basement of their home. They find that once the hole is exposed, evil is unleashed. With strange shadows lurking around every corner and nightmares coming to life, they are forced to come face to face with their darkest fears to put an end to the mystery of THE HOLE.


The Screwfly Solution
2006 · 59m · US
A strange virus renders the entire human male population into homicidal maniacs who end up wiping out all females, leaving a woman and her daughter to fend for themselves.


Trapped Ashes
2006 · 1h 45m · JP
Trapped in a house of horror, seven people discover that the only way they'll get out alive is to tell their scariest stories.


Homecoming
2005 · 58m · CA
A hotshot White House speech writer deals with the publicity nightmare of his life when recently deceased soldiers return from beyond the grave.


Looney Tunes: Back in Action
2003 · 1h 32m · US
Fed up with all the attention going to Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck quits Hollywood, teams up with recently-fired stuntman Damien Drake Jr. and embarks on a round-the-world adventure, along with Bugs and The VP of Warner Bros. Their mission? Find Damien's father, and the missing blue diamond... and stay one step ahead of The Acme Corp., who wants the diamond for their own purposes.


Haunted Lighthouse 4-D
2003 · 22m
Two ghosts that are children are forced to stay on a haunted beach and 100 years later find two children on the same beach trying to turn them into ghosts too.


Small Soldiers
1998 · 1h 50m · US
When missile technology is used to enhance toy action figures, the toys soon begin to take their battle programming too seriously.


The Second Civil War
1997 · 1h 37m · US
When a planeload of Pakistani orphans are shipped to his state for permanent relocation, the governor of Idaho defies the president and closes the state's border. News Net Television, a cable news program that makes hay by reporting on political scandals, quickly spins the racist act into an overnight media sensation, creating a divide in national opinion over the issue.


The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy
1996 · 1h 37m · US
The time is the 21st century, after the fall of the Galactic Republic. Technology is at a standstill, families have been dismantled, and those who have survived the destruction now live in a savage age ruled by evil warlords. When a young sister of an outlaw is kidnapped and held captive in another galaxy, an interplanetary scheme is hatched - one that threatens the future.


Picture Windows: Lightning
1995 · 30m · US
Part of the anthology series "Picture Windows," Joe Dante’s "Lightning" is a Gold Rush tale marking Brian Keith’s final screen role. As an aging prospector strikes it rich with the help of a quick-witted mule, two schemers move in—only to find the animal has the last laugh.


Runaway Daughters
1994 · 1h 23m · US
After Mary tells her boyfriend she's pregnant, he enrolls in the Army and skips town, leaving her to fend for herself. With her friends Angie and Laura by her side, Mary steals a car, fakes a kidnapping and heads down to San Diego to chase her errant beau. It's a bumpy ride, however, as the girls are pursued by corrupt cops and homicidal hillbillies, not to mention their own flabbergasted parents.


The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Preshow
1994 · 4m
On a gloomy Halloween night in 1939, patrons at the Hollywood Tower Hotel were riding the elevator when a violent storm struck the building… and they were never seen again. The hotel closed down and has stood empty ever since.


Matinee
1993 · 1h 39m · US
A showman introduces a small coastal town to a unique movie experience and capitalizes on the Cuban Missile crisis hysteria with a kitschy horror extravaganza combining film effects, stage props and actors in rubber suits in this salute to the B-movie.


Gremlins 2: The New Batch
1990 · 1h 46m · US
Young sweethearts Billy and Kate move to the Big Apple, land jobs in a high-tech office park and soon reunite with the friendly and lovable Gizmo. But a series of accidents creates a whole new generation of Gremlins. The situation worsens when the devilish green creatures invade a top-secret laboratory and develop genetically altered powers, making them even harder to destroy!


The 'Burbs
1989 · 1h 42m · US
When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation. But it's hardly how Ray, who much prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper and watching a ball game on the tube expected to spend his vacation.


Amazon Women on the Moon
1987 · 1h 24m · US
Centered on a television station which features a 1950s-style sci-fi movie interspersed with a series of wild commercials, wacky shorts and weird specials, this lampoon of contemporary life and pop culture skewers some of the silliest spectacles ever created in the name of entertainment.


Innerspace
1987 · 2h · US
Test pilot Tuck Pendleton volunteers to test a special vessel for a miniaturization experiment. Accidentally injected into a neurotic hypochondriac, Jack Putter, Tuck must convince Jack to find his ex-girlfriend, Lydia Maxwell, to help him extract Tuck and his ship and re-enlarge them before his oxygen runs out.


Explorers
1985 · 1h 49m · US
Middle schooler Ben spends his free time watching sci-fi films, playing video games and reading comic books. Surprisingly, his affinity for all things fantastical yields a real result – when he has a vivid dream about technology, his prodigy best friend Wolfgang manages to create a working spacecraft. Joined by their buddy Darren, the boys take off into outer space and encounter some very odd extraterrestrial life.


Gremlins
1984 · 1h 46m · US
After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.


Twilight Zone: The Movie
1983 · 1h 41m · US
An anthology film presenting remakes of three episodes from the "Twilight Zone" TV series—"Kick the Can", "It's a Good Life" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"—and one original story, "Time Out."


The Howling
1981 · 1h 31m · US
After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a newswoman is sent to a rehabilitation center whose inhabitants may not be what they seem.


Piranha
1978 · 1h 34m · US
When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.


Hollywood Boulevard
1976 · 1h 23m · US
A Midwestern ingenue 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 fare, which starts being plagued by strange, deadly accidents.


The Movie Orgy
1968 · 4h 36m · US
Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloopers, satirical short films and promotional and government films of the 1950s and 1960s are intercut together to tell a single story of various creatures and societal ills attacking American cities.