DEE SNIDER / EX-ROCKER TURNED ACTOR

The last time you saw Dee Snider, he was probably in Grand Guignol makeup with the ‘80s band Twisted Sister. Next time you see him, he’ll be made up for film cameras, starring as a psychopath in “StrangeLand,” which he also wrote and is producing with the Shooting Gallery company (which did “Sling Blade”). New York native Snider, 42, is getting a crash course in moviemaking with the $1.5-million project.

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AN OUTSIDER’S ADVICE: “Aim higher, Hollywood! People say, ‘I want to make another “Scream” ’ . . . but ‘Scream’ was a parody of slasher films. Point to the top. See the greatest slasher film of all time, and make that your goal.”

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MULTIPLEX TEST: “I’m standing in a multiplex hallway waiting for my kids and seeing people come out, and it dawned on me that if it wasn’t for the signs over the doors, I’d have no idea what people had seen. Films should affect people more than 50 feet after they leave the theater.”

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THE CLINT FACTOR: “The best film I’ve seen for reaction in recent years is ‘Unforgiven.’ I went and saw it again two days later. It affected my writing as well--I wanted to play with the perceptions of good and evil, the accepted views of right and wrong. I brought some elements of that into my film.”

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WHAT WOULD CLINT SAY?: “He’ll say, ‘Dee who?’ But if he sees the movie, he may not enjoy the subject matter, but he’ll appreciate the way it was executed.”

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MAN OF LETTERS: “I got the writing bug after writing the Twisted Sister videos in ’84. Between that and a cameo in ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure,’ spending a day on the set with Pee-wee and Tim Burton, I said, ‘I want to do this--put crazy stuff on paper and watch people run around and make it happen.’ ”

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OVERNIGHT SENSATION: “This is my fifth screenplay. Taken all this time to get something produced. Had some nibbles, had something optioned, and finally I came up with what I think is a truly timely property.”

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PROUD PAPA: “I know Marilyn Manson and [his guitarist] Twiggy, but never saw them until they were on the MTV Video Music Awards, and I was beaming. Look what I begat. His satanic stuff? That’s crap. But it’s something. Exciting.”

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WHERE’S THE MONEY?: “I still get Twisted Sister royalties, which is very nice. But the multimillions of the ‘80s, well, you keep thinking you’ll be different from the other guys, but you’re not. It wasn’t spent on drugs, which is one thing I had going for me. Never got high or drank.”