Strangeland

Launched in 1998, Strangeland is a horror movie that involves visually disturbing body modification rituals performed by an underground cult. The film is directed by John Pieplow and produced by the collaboration of Larry Mestrich, David Bushell, and Dee Snider.

The storyline starts with a 15-year old girl named Genevieve Gage, played by Linda Cardellini, and her best friend Tiana Moore, played by Amat Rhoe. The girls attend high school in Colorado who spend their leisure time chatting online with strangers. Soon after, they find themselves interacting online with another teenager who is registered with the chat name Capt. Howdy. Genevieve and Tiana are invited by Captain Howdy to a party that he is hosting, giving them an address to his house. Trusting their new friend, Genevieve and Tiana decide to attend the party. They never return home.

The next morning, the girls' parents immediately worry and panic when the girls are nowhere to be found. Genevieve's mother, Toni, informs her husband, Mike Gage, who is actually a local police officer. With the help of a younger police officer, Steve Christian, Gage starts a search for Genevieve and Tiana throughout the locality. They find a significant clue that turns the search into a murder case when Tiana's car is extracted from a nearby lake with Tiana's mutilated body inside. However, the case remains open because Genevieve's body has not been found.

As he further investigates the crime, Mike finds out that Capt. Howdy is a body art enthusiast, engaging in masochistic practices like tattooing and scarification. Then Mike's niece tells him about Genevieve's interest in chatting with unacquainted people via the web. This gives Mike his first solid lead in solving the case. Mike uses Genevieve's account to chat with Captain Howdy and to get himself invited to Captain Howdy's next party.

Although the plan fails, Mike is able to trace Captain Howdy's location along with his torture facility. There, he makes a horrific discovery of her daughter naked and tied up with her mouth sewn shut. He also finds other victims who are in the same state as his daughter's. Succeeding an abrupt fight in which Captain Howdy gets shot, Mike apprehends the deranged man, whose name is later revealed as Carlton Hendricks.