Though often erroneously considered a protege of Steven Spielberg, for whom he directed several big-budget projects ("Gremlins" 1984; "Innerspace" 1987; "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" 1990), Dante actually has deep roots in 70s low-budget exploitation films. He learned his craft at New World Pictures under legendary producer-director Roger Corman. Working as a film editor with future filmmaker Allan Arkush, Dante was responsible for cobbling together scenes to construct deliriously misleading trailers for New World's cheap drive-in fodder. The pair eventually colloborated as co-directors on a ten-day wonder called "Hollywood Boulevard" (1976), made under an understanding with Corman that it had to be the cheapest film ever made at the studio. With a budget of $60,000, this was a clever action-comedy spoof of the studio's product comprised of discarded clips joined by footage shot by two different crews shooting different scenes with different actors in different locations. "Hollywood Boulevard" was held together by lots of movie in-jokes and a shaky plot about an exploitation studio called Mirakle Pictures. ("If It's a Good Picture, It's A Mirakle!") Though quite ragged, this film established much of the tone of his subsequent work.

Dante earned his first feature credits at New World as an editor on the period actioner "The Arena" (1974) and Ron Howard's "Grand Theft Auto" (1977). He edited and made his solo directorial debut on "Piranha" (1978), a clever "Jaws"-ripoff scripted by John Sayles from his own story. (This was the project that caught Spielberg's eye.) Dante also co-scripted and provided the story for Arkush's "Rock 'n' Roll High School" (1979) before gaining considerable attention as the director-editor of "The Howling" (1980), again scripted by Sayles.

Dante enjoyed his first blockbuster success with the Spielberg-produced "Gremlins". A wicked commentary on "E.T." mania and all things cute, the film exulted in depicting the dark side of fantasy. He also contributed the most thoughtful remake segment to the preceding year's "Twilight Zone - The Movie" (1983), with "It's A Good Life". Like his "mentor" Dante deals extensively with the world of children, but unlike Spielberg he finds it to be murky and ambiguous. His influence was strongly felt on the likably paranoid and subversive children's TV series "Eerie, Indiana" (NBC, 1991-92) on which he served as creative consultant and a frequent director.

Dante's films display a proficiency with special effects and a fondness for pop culture references, in-jokes cameos and interesting character actors (e.g. Dick Miller, Robert Picardo). His narrative sense, however, is not the strongest. When Dante has an uninspired script, his films turn into amiable but aimless messes ("The 'Burbs" 1989). When the scripts work, one loses concern about plot and just enjoys the showmanship ("Gremlins 2: The New Batch"). While most of Dante's best work has been in the realm of horror and fantasy, he did helm the overlooked coming of age tale "Matinee" (1993). This wonderfully knowing and nostalgic comedy celebrated the old days of movie going and cheesy exploitation gimmicks and how they reflected and impacted upon Cold War anxieties and awakening adolescent sexuality.

After a five-year absence, Dante returned to the big screen at the helm of "Small Soldiers" (1998), a somewhat violent children's film that featured action figures who are implanted with state-of-the-art military technology causing them to develop personalities of their own. While the film had homages to Dante's favorite director James Whale, many deemed the carnage too realistic for its target audience. In many ways, the director was repeating himself, having already presented some of the same sight gags in his "Gremlins" movies. In that same vein, on paper Dante seemed like the ideal candidate to bring Bugs Bunny and the beloved Looney Tunes stable of cartoon icons to the big screen when Warner Bros. tapped him to direct "Looney Tunes: Back In Action" (2003), but the finished film--a mix of animation and live action which offered a healthy dose of madcap energy and some decent comedy bits, lacked the fresh, subversive nature that inhabited the original source material. Of course, this may have had less to do with Dante and more to do with Warners ensuring a "safe" vision of the characters, by now more valauble as licensing properties than as entertainment figures.