Hand of Death (1962)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent, a Must See

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I saw this movie at a theater as an 8 year old,and was literally scared under the seat. I haven't seen it since 1962, but vividly remember the monster he became. As young as I was, I remember finding it odd that he wandered the streets without garnering more attention. It IS a shame that it hasn't been made available on DVD; I'd grab it up in a minute. It would probably seem hokey now,but, on the other hand,maybe it would still impress, like " The Day the Earth Stood Still" (no insult intended to THAT classic). We don't have AMC available in Canada, so it appears that I'll have a long wait before refreshing my memory of my first REALLY scary horror movie.

Reading through some of the IMDb reviews, I was truly bewildered by the responses. It was like bullies beating up on the weakling in school...not because he necessarily needed to be beat up, but just because the bullies could. Well, I'm the principal here to tell those folks to lighten up and leave the poor kid alone! My goodness, this movie had a budget of $1.95, yet everyone is expecting "Lawrence of Arabia"? Come on.John Agar is a government scientist out in the California desert who thinks he is a few steps away from creating a revolutionary nerve gas agent that will eliminate all wars. His mentor, the mentor's secretary, his scientist buddy, and even his own college intern think it's too dangerous and want him to stop, but John has noble and lofty goals and pushes on. Well, John has an accident, spills one of the liquefied variations on his hands, and slowly turns into a hideous, mutated creature whose touch can kill...and kill he does.Maybe I was just in the mood for a fun little film like this, but I must say the acting didn't bother me, nor did the production values, the music, the directing, or the monster make-up. Yes, the screenplay is dopey, has holes in the logic, and a rather abrupt and unsatisfying ending, but this is a Z-grade film aimed at kids at a drive-in theater looking for a fun time, not stuffy film critics or pretentious film snobs.Set your expectations at a reasonable level, have fun, and enjoy a great little throw-back to a bygone age of sci-fi/horror.

A lost "classic"? A "long-sought horror gem"? Nawww! This is just a crappy little monster movie shoved out to drive-ins by a confused 20th Century-Fox no longer run by Darryl Zanuck. Fox had the knack back then to put out some of the most miserable, boring little b-films in various genres. Somebody thought THIS was worth making. Then again, at only an hour in length it didn't cost much in film stock. The cast came cheap, too, as did the effects. Poor John Agar could only get star parts in horror films and must've figured it was worth taking any part as long as he was top-billed. Unfortunately for him, he spends the second half of the film encased in a bulging, grotesque Halloween costume and is never seen again (there's not even the cliché deathbed return-to-normal moment). In fact, his voice is gone as well, reduced to a series of muffled, unintelligible growls and cries (for all we know he's yelling "get this monster mask off of me, I can't breathe!" or "I'm calling my agent!") Is it no wonder he virtually drank himself out of the business? And then there's that atrocious score by Sonny Burke, an otherwise successful producer-arranger of contempo music (Sinatra, etc.) Burke wallpapers the first part of the film with shrill organ and theremin noise, then tiring of that, decides to add bongos and bassoon-like honking to the mix, for a combination you could describe as 'Horror-Jazz Fusion.' A lethal cocktail for the ears, unless one is in search of bad scoring just for the laughs.Plotwise it's the story of scientist who unleashes a gas upon himself that makes his touch lethal and his mind insane, and the only response to that is for him to spend the rest of the film running madly around town avoiding medical assistance. Coincidentally, this film's effect upon the viewer is the same as its story: A lethal gas that makes you insane and want to run madly in the streets trying to avoid any further contact with it.

AMC just ran HAND OF DEATH early Sunday morning at 5 am. The print was the same as what ran on Fox Movie Channel but with a major difference. The AMC print ( courtesy of Fox television ) was not a dark and muddy mess that obscured the monster make up. It was nice and bright with far better contrasts. So it was still a cruddy 16mm pan and scan print, but at least you could appreciate the effects and make up. If you are interested keep an eye on AMC as they are in the habit of running horror and sci-fi stuff late night on the weekends and this will undoubtedly get another broadcast over the coming months. As for the film itself, I'd agree with other comments that it is not a lost classic, but an entertaining way to pass 58 minutes if you are a fan of this genre. Fans of John Agar will certainly enjoy his performance, the guy played so many roles like this he could do them in his sleep ( and sometimes did ). Plus you get to see a young Eddie Munster almost menaced!