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.

Filmography

• 2026Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern
• 2025The Creeps — Uncle John
• Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai — Consulting Producer
• Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow
• 2022Razzennest — Joe Dante
• 2020Time Warp Vol. 1: Midnight Madness — Host
• 2020Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi — Host
• 2020Time Warp Vol. 3: Comedy and Camp — Host
• 2019Class of '79: 40 Years of Rock 'N' Roll High School
• 2018Camp Cold Brook — Executive Producer
• 2018Nightmare Cinema — Director
• 2017Trafficked — Executive Producer
• DC's Legends of Tomorrow — Director
• MacGyver — Director
• 2015Eaten Alive! The Rise and Fall of the Italian Cannibal Film
• 2015Tales of Halloween — Prof. Milo Gottlieb
• 2014Burying the Ex — Director
• 2013Blast Vegas — Salesman #2
• Witches of East End — Director
• 2012The Butterfly Room — Cab Driver
• 2012To Be... A Film Favorite
• 2011Corman's World — Self - Filmmaker, Thanks
• 2011Trail of Blood — Producer
• 2010Embryo — Thanks
• Hawaii Five-0 — Director
• 2009Splatter — Director
• Splatter — Director
• 2009The Hole — Director
• 2006The Screwfly Solution — Director
• 2006Trapped Ashes — Director
• 2005Homecoming — Director
• Masters of Horror — Director
• 2005Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
• CSI: NY — Director
• 2004Welcome to Werewolfland
• 2003Haunted Lighthouse 4-D — Director
• 2003Looney Tunes: Back in Action — Director
• 2003Unleashing the Beast: Making ‘The Howling’
• Night Visions — Director
• 1998Small Soldiers — Director
• 1997The Second Civil War — Director
• 1996The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy — Producer, Director
• Picture Windows — Director
• 1995Picture Windows: Lightning — Director
• 1994Beverly Hills Cop III — Jailer
• 1994Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror — Self, Associate Producer
• Rebel Highway — Director
• 1994Runaway Daughters — Director
• 1994The Silence of the Hams — Dying Man
• 1994The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Preshow — Director
• 1993Matinee — Director
• 1992Sleepwalkers — Lab Assistant
• Eerie, Indiana — Director
• 1991Oscar — Face on the Cutting Room Floor
• 1991Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever — Characters
• 1990Gremlins 2: The New Batch — Grandpa Fred Director (uncredited)
• 1989The 'Burbs — Director
• 1987Amazon Women on the Moon — Director
• 1987Innerspace — Vectorscope Employee (uncredited), Director
• Amazing Stories — Director
• 1985Explorers — Director
• The Twilight Zone — Director
• 1984Gremlins — Mogwai / Gremlins (voice) (uncredited), Director
• 1983Twilight Zone: The Movie — Director
• 1982Eating Raoul — Busboy (uncredited)
• Police Squad! — Director
• 1981The Howling — Director, Editor
• 1979Rock 'n' Roll High School — Story
• 1979The Orson Welles Show — Member of Studio Audience
• 1978Piranha — Scuba Diver #2 (uncredited), Editor, Director
• 1977Grand Theft Auto — Editor
• 1976Cannonball — Kid
• 1976Hollywood Boulevard — Party Waiter (uncredited), Editor, Director
• 1975Tidal Wave
• 1974The Arena — Editor
• 1968The Movie Orgy — Director, Editor
• Fear Paris — Director
• Labrintus — Director
• Mamie Exposed! The Life and Loves of the Last Blonde Bombshell
• The AckerMonster Chronicles!
• The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes — Producer, Director

Appearances as themselves (106)

• 2026Boorman and the Devil — Self
• 2026Gremlins, an american nightmare! — Himself
• 2026Shrinkage: The Making of Innerspace — Self
• 2025The Vincent Price Legacy — Himself
• 2024Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters — Self
• 2024Ishiro Honda: Memoirs of a Film Director — Himself
• 2024Sharksploitation — Self
• 2024The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee — Self
• 2022Boris Karloff: The Rest of the Story — Self - Interviewee
• 2022In Search of Darkness: Part III — Self
• 2022In Search of Tomorrow — Self - Interviewee
• 2022Soylent Green and Red Alert: When Reality Catches Up with Fiction — Self
• The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time — Self
• 2021Blood, Guts and Sunshine: The History of Horror Made in Florida — Self [archival]
• 2021Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster — Self
• 2021Roger Corman, the Pope of Pop Cinema — Self
• 2020Bugs Bunny's 80th What's Up, Doc-umentary! — Self (archive footage)
• 2020In Search of Darkness: Part II — Self
• 2020Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies — Self
• 2020Tales of the Uncanny — Self
• Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All Time — Self - Host
• 2019In Search of Darkness — Self
• 2019Love, Antosha — Self
• 2019Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film — Self
• 2019Mark of The Beast: The Legacy of the Universal Werewolf — Self
• 2019Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters — Self
• Eli Roth's History of Horror — Self
• 2018Hammer Horror: The Warner Bros. Years — Self
• 2018King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen — Self
• 2018Sad Hill Unearthed — Self - Filmmaker
• 2018The Fear Is Real — Self
• 2017Monstres, l'ennemi de l'intérieur — Self
• 201624×36 — Self
• 2016Long Live the King — himself
• 2016Unspeakable Horrors: The Plan 9 Conspiracy — Himself
• 201542nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Street — Self
• 2015Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex — Self
• 2014Clawing! A Journey Through the Spanish Horror — Self - Director
• 2014Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous: Making Gremlins — Self
• 2014From Gizmo to Gremlins: Creating the Creatures — Self
• 2014Out of Print — Self
• 2014That Guy Dick Miller — Self
• The Real History of Science Fiction — Himself
• 2014There Goes the Neighborhood: The Making of The 'Burbs — Self
• 2014We Come In Pieces: The Rebirth of the Horror Anthology Film — Self
• 2013A Fuller Life — Self - Reader (segment "Sicily Black and Blue")
• 2013House of Wax: Unlike Anything You've Seen Before! — Self
• 2012Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan — Self
• 2012The Birds: Hitchcock's Monster Movie — Self
• 2012The Flesh and the Fury: X-posing Twins of Evil — Self - Director
• 2012Trailer War — Himself
• 2011A Night at the Movies: Merry Christmas! — Self - Interviewee
• 2011American Grindhouse — Himself
• 2011Produce Your Own Damn Movie! — Self
• 2011The Future of Fear — Self
• 2010Machete Maidens Unleashed! — Self
• 2010Pure in Heart: The Life and Legacy of Lon Chaney, Jr. — Self
• 2010RKO, A Story made in Hollywood — Himself
• 2010The Bloodiest Show on Earth: Making Vampire Circus — Self
• 2010The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry — Self
• 2010The Wolf Man: From Ancient Curse to Modern Myth — Self
• 2009Coming Attractions: The History of the Movie Trailer — Self
• 2009Direct Your Own Damn Movie! — Self
• 2009Fulci in the House: The Italian Master of Splatter — Self
• 2009Monsterland — Self
• 2009Nightmares in Red, White and Blue — Self
• 2008Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up EFX — Self
• 2008RKO Production 601: The Making of “Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World” — Self
• 2007Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman — Self
• 2007Spider Stravinsky: The Cinema Sounds of Ronald Stein — Himself
• 2007Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story — Self
• 2007The Hatching of Spider Baby — Himself
• 2007The Return of the Living Dead: The Decade of Darkness — Self
• 2006Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet — Self
• 2006Hitchcocked! — Self
• 2006Karloff: The Gentle Monster — Self
• 2006Lugosi: The Dark Prince — Self
• 2006Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon — Self
• 2005Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection — Self
• 2005The Perfect Scary Movie — Self
• 100 Scariest Movie Moments — Self
• 2004Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen — Self
• 2004Il castello dell'orrore — self
• Leçon de Cinéma — Self
• 2004Mario Bava: Operazione paura — Self / Host
• 2004Männer im Trenchcoat, Frauen im Pelz — Self
• 2004The Art of Crime — Himself
• 2004The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing — Self
• 2002Cinerama Adventure — Self
• 2001It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures — Self
• 2001Making The Earth Stand Still — Self
• 2000Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens - A Life in Animation — Self
• 2000Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre — Self
• 1999Ray Harryhausen: Working with Dinosaurs — Self
• 1999She's Alive! Creating 'The Bride of Frankenstein' — Self / Host
• 1997Hollywood Rated 'R' — Self
• 1994A Century of Cinema — Self
• 1992Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The 'Plan 9' Companion — Himself
• 1992The Magical World of Chuck Jones — Self
• 1991Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy — Self
• 1991The Horror Hall of Fame II — Self
• 1986The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal — Self
• 1981Making a Monster Movie: Inside 'the Howling' — Self
• 1978Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel — Self
• Great Performances — Self
• Mary Woronov: Cult Queen — Self