Joe Dante first gained cult notoriety for his now legendary movie-mash-up, The Movie Orgy. His first feature was Hollywood Blvd. which he co-directed with Allan Arkush for mentor Roger Corman. He made a splash with Piranha and then a slash with the werewolf thriller, The Howling. A well-received segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie led to the smash hit Gremlins for Steven Spielberg.
Subsequent films include: Explorers, Innerspace, The ‘Burbs, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Matinee, Small Soldiers, Looney Tunes: Back in Action (featuring one of Dante’s favorite actors, Bugs Bunny), The Hole 3D and Burying the Ex.
Dante has directed television episodes of Amazing Stories, Twilight Zone, Police Squad!, Night Visions, Picture Windows, CSI: New York, Hawaii Five-O, Salem, MacGyver, Witches of East End, and Legends of Tomorrow, as well as pilots for The Osiris Chronicles and Eerie, Indiana, on which he was also creative consultant. He received Cable Ace nominations for his direction of the Showtime movie Runaway Daughters and HBO’s The Second Civil War.
His politically-charged Homecoming episode of Showtime’s Masters of Horror received rave reviews and was named to numerous critics lists. He also directed The Screwfly Solution for that show’s second season. Dante currently produces the acclaimed new media series Trailers from Hell, and is the co-host (with Josh Olson) of TFH’s flagship podcast The Movies That Made Me.
Dante has two new projects slated for release this year: the horror anthology film Nightmare Cinema, for which Joe directed the segment Mirari, and Camp Cold Brook, which Joe executive produced through his company Renfield Productions.
He has been honored with lifetime achievement awards and career retrospectives at prestigious film festivals, museums and cinematheques around the world.