Biography
After working as an editor on several Corman projects like "Student Teachers" (1974) and "Grand Theft Auto" (1977), Dante made his directorial debut with the camp classic, "Piranha" (1978), a satirical take on "Jaws" (1975) that served as a calling card for more mainstream Hollywood movies. He made more of a cult splash with "The Howling" (1981), a comic horror take on the classic werewolf tale that featured then groundbreaking special …
Latest Tv Credits
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Career Milestones
1998 | Returned to features at in the director's chair of "Small Soldiers", a somewhat violent tale of action figures that mistakenly are implanted with state-of-the-art military technology and develop minds of their own | |
1997 | Directed the HBO satire "The Second Civil War" | |
1995 | Appeared as an interview subject on "The Roger Corman Special" on the Sci-Fi Channel | |
1994 | TV-movie directing debut, "Runaway Daughters", a remake of a 1957 American International Pictures release, shown as part of Showtime's "Rebel Highway" series | |
1994 | Delivered a cameo as a jailer in Landis' "Beverly Hills Cop III" | |
1993 | Returned to films after a three-year absence with "Matinee", a semi-autobiographical look at the movie showmen (like William Castle) of the 1960s | |
1992 | Appeared as an interview subject in "The Magical World of Chuck Jones", a documentary cum compilation film devoted to the celebrated animation director | |
1992 | Performed a cameo as a lab assistant in "Stephen King's Sleepwalkers" | |
1991 | Appeared as an interview subject on "Naked Hollywood", a British documentary series broadcast on A&E | |
1991 | Received a creator's credit (shared with Arkush) on the direct-to-video sequel "Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever" | |
1991 | Credited as "Face on the Cutting Room Floor" in John Landis' Sylvester Stallone vehicle, "Oscar" | |
| Served as creative consultant and directed the pilot and five subsequent episodes of "Eerie, Indiana", an NBC teen fantasy adventure series | ||
1990 | Helmed the sequel "Gremlins 2: The New Batch"; first film under the Renfield banner | |
| Formed Renfield Productions | ||
1987 | Helmed the sci-fi comedy "Innerspace", about a Naval officer who participates in an experiment wherein he is miniaturized and then is accidentally injected into the body of an unsuspecting civilian | |
1986 | Provided assistance for "The Puppetoon Movie", a compilation film of George Pal's animated shorts from the 1940s, directed by Arnold Leibovit | |
1986 | Appeared as an interview subject and provided assistance for "The Fantasy Film World of George Pal", a documentary directed by Arnold Leibovit about the innovative and influential producer-director | |
1986 | Helmed an episode of "Amazing Stories", a Spielberg-produced fantasy anthology series, entitled "Boo" starring Eddie Bracken and scripted by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel; directed another episode the following season | |
1985 | Directed "The Shadow Man", an episode on the revival of "The Twilight Zone" | |
1981 | Feature acting debut, "The Slumber Party Massacre" | |
1984 | Directed commercial breakthrough feature, "Gremlins"; produced by Steven Spielberg | |
1983 | Directed "It's a Good Life", a segment of "Twilight Zone - The Movie"; first collaborations with producer-directors Steven Spielberg and John Landis | |
1982 | Helmed episodes of "Police Squad!", a spoof of cop shows from producer-writers David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker | |
1980 | Directed critical breakthrough feature, "The Howling" | |
| Replaced the director attached to a project entitled "The Howling"; had John Sayles rewrite the screenplay | ||
1979 | Co-wrote (with Arkush) story for "Rock 'n' Roll High School" | |
| Invited to direct "Jaws: 3--People: 0", a "National Lampoon" horror-comedy spoof produced by David Brown and Richard Zanuck; left the project due to excessive studio interference | ||
| Offered $50,000 by producer Dino DeLaurentis to direct "Orca II"; project was canceled | ||
1978 | Solo directing debut, "Piranha" | |
1978 | Appeared as an interview subject in the documentary "Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel" | |
1977 | Served as editor on Ron Howard's "Grand Theft Auto" | |
1976 | Co-directing debut (with Allan Arkush), "Hollywood Boulevard" | |
1974 | First feature credit, editor of "The Arena", a New World period actioner directed by Steve Carver | |
1974 | Started working at Roger Corman's New World Pictures making trailers; first assignment "Student Teachers" | |
1974 | Began working in film advertising | |
1974 | Moved to California with future producer Jon Davison, Jonathan Kaplan and some other people recommended by Martin Scorsese | |
1968 | Served as a reviewer and managing editor for FILM BULLETIN, a trade magazine (dates approximate) | |
| At age seven, suffered a bout with polio | ||