Ranking All Of Director Joe Dante’s Movies
“What are Joe Dante’s Best Movies?” We looked at all of Dante’s directed filmography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!
We took all of the movies directed by Joe Dante and looked at his Rotten Tomato Critic, Rotten Tomato User, Metacritic, Metacritic User, IMDB, and Letterboxd scores, ranking them against one another to see which movies came out on top. The movies are ranked in our list below based on which movies have the highest overall score between all 6 review sites in comparison with all of the other movies by the same director. The process is all very scientific with no flaws at all.
The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page. We will update the article if/when a new movie by Joe Dante is released. Although it probably won’t be immediate so the scores on each site have time to settle and aren’t overly influenced by the early, usually much more opinionated, users.
Happy Viewing!
The Top Film’s Of Joe Dante
17 ) Trapped Ashes (2004)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 15
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 17
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 17
- Letterboxd User Score: 17
Trapped in a house of horror, seven people discover that the only way they’ll get out alive is to tell their scariest stories, setting the stage for five tales from directors Ken Russell, Sean S. Cunningham, Joe Dante, Monte Hellman and John Gaeta. This anthology includes spine-tingling tales of sexy succubi, possessed breast implants, nightmarish dream hauntings and more. Jayce Bartok, Lara Harris and Henry Gibson star.
16 ) Burying the Ex (2014)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 16
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 16
- Metacritc Critic Score: 8
- Metacritic User Score: 8
- IMDB User Review Score: 16
- Letterboxd User Score: 16
It seemed like a great idea when all-around nice guy Max and his beautiful girlfriend, Evelyn moved in together. But when Evelyn turns out to be a controlling, manipulative nightmare, Max knows it’s time to call it quits. There’s just one problem: he’s terrified of breaking up with her. Fate steps in when Evelyn is the victim of a fatal, freak accident, leaving Max single and ready to mingle. Just as Max is thinking about moving on with what could be his dream girl, Olivia – Evelyn has returned from the grave and is determined to get her boyfriend back…even if that means transforming him into one of the undead.
15 ) Small Soldiers (1998)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 13
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 14
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 12
- Letterboxd User Score: 13
When missile technology is used to enhance toy action figures, the toys soon begin to take their battle programming too seriously.
13 ) Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 17
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 12
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 9
- Letterboxd User Score: 8
Joe Dante directs this story of the glamour, the glitter, the magical allure of Hollywood… and not a speck of it rubs off on Miracle Pictures, where “If it’s a good picture, it’s a Miracle.” This is a hilarious tribute to the unsung heroes who grind out the B movies massacred by critics, but nursed fondly in the hearts of film fans everywhere.
13 ) Piranha (1978)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 7
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 15
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 13
- Letterboxd User Score: 12
When flesh-eating piranhas are accidently released into a summer resort’s rivers, the guests become their next meal.
12 ) Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 12
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 11
- Metacritc Critic Score: 4
- Metacritic User Score: 5
- IMDB User Review Score: 14
- Letterboxd User Score: 15
Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are up to their feuding ways again. Tired of playing second fiddle to Bugs, Daffy has decided to leave the Studio for good. He is aided by Warner Bros.’ humor impaired Vice President of Comedy, Kate Houghton, who releases him from his contract and instructs WB security guard/aspiring stunt man DJ Drake to capture and “escort” Daffy off the studio lot.
10 ) Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 11
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 7
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 10
- Letterboxd User Score: 11
Acclaimed director John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers) presents this madcap send-up of late night TV, low-budget sci-fi films and canned-laughter-filled sitcoms packed with off-the-wall sketches that will have you in stitches. Centered around 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. A truly outrageous look at the best of the worst that television has to offer.
10 ) The Hole (2009)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 4
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 13
- Metacritc Critic Score: 5
- Metacritic User Score: 7
- IMDB User Review Score: 14
- Letterboxd User Score: 14
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.
9 ) Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 8
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 9
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 9
- Letterboxd User Score: 7
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!
7 ) The Howling (1981)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 8
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 8
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 6
- Letterboxd User Score: 6
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.
7 ) Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 10
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 10
- Metacritc Critic Score: 6
- Metacritic User Score: 4
- IMDB User Review Score: 8
- Letterboxd User Score: 8
Four directors collaborated to remake four episodes of the popular television series ‘The Twilight Zone’ for this movie. The episodes are updated slightly and in color (the television show was in black-and-white), but very true to the originals, where eerie and disturbing situations gradually spin out of control. “A Quality of Mercy”, “Kick the Can”, “It’s a Good Life”, and “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”.
6 ) Explorers (1985)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 6
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 4
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 6
- Letterboxd User Score: 8
The visionary dreams of three curious and adventuresome young boys become an exciting reality in Explorers, the action-fantasy from director Joe Dante, who combines keen humor, warmth and fantasy with unexpected twists. In their makeshift laboratory, the boys use an amazing discovery and their ingenuity to build their own spaceship and launch themselves on a fantastic interplanetary journey.
4 ) The ‘Burbs (1989)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 13
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 3
- Metacritc Critic Score: 6
- Metacritic User Score: 2
- IMDB User Review Score: 2
- Letterboxd User Score: 4
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.
4 ) Matinee (1993)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 1
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 6
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 9
- IMDB User Review Score: 3
- Letterboxd User Score: 2
A showman introduces a small coastal town to a unique movie experience and capitalises 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.
2 ) Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 5
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 2
- Metacritc Critic Score: 1
- Metacritic User Score: 5
- IMDB User Review Score: 3
- Letterboxd User Score: 3
A group of rock-music-loving students, with the help of the Ramones, take over their school to combat its newly installed oppressive administration.
2 ) Innerspace (1987)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 3
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 5
- Metacritc Critic Score: 3
- Metacritic User Score: 1
- IMDB User Review Score: 3
- Letterboxd User Score: 4
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.
1 ) Gremlins (1984)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 2
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 1
- Metacritc Critic Score: 1
- Metacritic User Score: 3
- IMDB User Review Score: 1
- Letterboxd User Score: 1
When Billy Peltzer is given a strange but adorable pet named Gizmo for Christmas, he inadvertently breaks the three important rules of caring for a Mogwai, and unleashes a horde of mischievous gremlins on a small town.
Joe Dante’s Best Movies
Joe Dante Review Website Filmography Rankings
| Film | RT Critic | RT User | MC Critic | MC User | IMDB | Letterboxd | Overal Rank |
| Gremlins | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Rock ‘n’ Roll High School | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Innerspace | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| The ‘Burbs | 13 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Matinee | 1 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Explorers | 6 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| The Howling | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Twilight Zone: The Movie | 10 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 7 |
| Gremlins 2: The New Batch | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 9 |
| Amazon Women on the Moon | 11 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10 |
| The Hole | 4 | 13 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 10 |
| Looney Tunes: Back in Action | 12 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 15 | 12 |
| Hollywood Boulevard | 17 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 13 |
| Piranha | 7 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 13 |
| Small Soldiers | 13 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 15 |
| Burying the Ex | 16 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Trapped Ashes | 15 | 17 | 9 | 9 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
