The Hand (1981)

You won't be disappointed!

Powerful

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I really don't know what's wrong with this movie to get an average rating around 5. There was never a dull moment in this movie. Everybody acted perfectly in this movie. Story is excellent, especially the end, that was a very clever double-twist end i.e a twist followed by another twist. Since it's a supernatural story, we need not worry about logic. Lovers of thriller movies should not ignore this movie.

If you are interested in Stone's cinematic evolution or you like to spend time watching horror movies, this one is watchable. Using a part of body as an horror object might be an original idea at that time. Yet, I don't recommend the movie to those who prefer more realistic psychological thrillers because the script becomes more and more supernatural while watching the film and psychological explanations for actions of the hand and its owner are rather weak. I think the final 10 or 15 minutes of the film surprised many watchers at that time, but for today's horror movie admirers, it can be dull. The dialogs between Jonathan Lansdale and Bruce McGill are worth listening. I like Stone's camera angles serving to show the scene to us from the point of view of the hand, especially the one from within the grass. In addition, two women characters of the film, Stella Roche and Anne Lansdale, are powerful, independent, beautiful and interesting. I appreciate it.

This is an exciting psychological thriller based on the novel by Mark Brandel "The tail of the lizard" , though was consistently underrated by most reviewers . It's a surprising flick and very intriguing whose value more remarkable is the ambiguity that its filmmaker Oliver Stone poses in this . A surreal psycho-horror pastiche in which a famous cartoonist of comics named "Jonathan Lansdale" (Michael Caine) who lives unhappily with his wife (Andrea Marcovicci) loses a hand , being severed in an unfortunate car accident that ends with his career and creates a strong tension in their marriage . Soon after , the hand is on the loose with a mind of its own . As a harrowing nightmare, the lost hand appears seeking out victims , committing atrocious murders with an obsessive revenge.This first important Oliver Stone film contains chills , thrills , suspenseful and is quite entertaining . It's the first commercial outing in medium budget from Oliver Stone, which was not well received by the criticism at the time. . Stone's sophomore directorial shows us a dense , unique , atmospheric and surreal ambient , where the subjectivity seizes the story . There are times when the film that we question whether what we recount and we see is really the case or any other remedy used to deceive and confuse the spectator . Through the film and gradual manner the story is complicating and becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish reality from fantasy . This theme about a hand on the loose with a a mind on its own is already been seen in former films such as The Hands of Orlac (1924 by Rober Wiene , Mad Love (1934) by Karl Freund with Peter Lorre and Hands of Orlac (1960) by Edmond T Greville with Christopher Lee and Mel Ferrer . First rate acting by Michael Caine as Jon Lansdale , a comic book artist who loses his right hand in a car accident , though Michael said in a TV interview that the only reason he did this film was to earn enough to put a down payment on a new garage he was having built .Oliver Stone initially wanted Jon Voight to play the lead role, but was turned down by him ; Christopher Walken and Dustin Hoffman also declined the role . Very good support cast formed by expert secondary actors such as Bruce McGill , Viveca Lindfords , Rosemary Murphy , among others . Furthermore , a cameo by Oliver Stone as Bum . Colorful cinematography with a right management of the camera by Baggot , as the picture packs a turbid, dark, surreal, disturbing atmosphere . Thrilling and tense musical score by the great James Horner .The motion picture was professionally directed by Oliver Stone , though usually panned by mostly critics , nowadays is best considered .Stone returning from the Vietnam war did his first film , it was a student film entitled Last Year in Viet Nam (1971), followed by the gritty horror film Seizure (1974) for which he also wrote the screenplay. The next seven years saw him direct two films: Mad Man of Martinique (1979) and this The Hand (1981) . He also wrote many screenplays for films such as Midnight express (1978), Conan (1982), and Scarface (1983). Stone won his first Oscar for Midnight express (1978), but his fame was just beginning to show.

The Hand starts in sunny Vermont where Mandro comic book artist John Lansdale (Michael Caine) lives with his wife Anne (Andrea Marcovicci) & young daughter Lizzy (Mara Hobel), while driving along arguing about moving to New York for the winter John's right hand is severed in a freak car accident. John's hand is never found & he has to learn to cope with a prosthetic hand from now on, the accident has a big effect on John's life as he can't draw anymore & has to accept a lowly teaching job in a small town called Sarahville in California which means he has to separate from Anne who then has an affair while John is away. As things go from bad to worse John gets the feeling that his severed right hand has a mind of it's own & is single-handedly (ha!)killing people around him who have angered him...Written & directed by Oliver Stone this psychological horror thriller with a touch of drama has a pretty bad reputation but I have to say I quite liked it, it's certainly not a film that will appeal to a general audience but I think there's enough here to keep one interested throughout it's 100 odd minute duration. The script was based on a novel called 'The Lizard's Tail' by Marc Brandell & centers a tale of psychological drama about a man losing his sanity & failing to adjust after a life changing accident around the old horror cliché of the living disembodied hand used to good effect (or not depending on your opinion) in such films as The Beast with Five Fingers (1947), The Crawling Hand (1963) & Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1964) amongst other's & I thought the concept, plot & way the story progresses was pretty good. The character's are good & I was interested in them, it's nice to see proper people in a horror film rather than faceless teenagers & while the pace isn't the quickest it develops it's story to the point where the events actually matter & have some significance to the audience. I also liked the way Stone gives the film a certain ambiguity & mystery, it's not clear until the end whether John's severed hand is responsible or whether it's John himself committing the murders during his blackouts. Having said that The Hand is not perfect, it's undeniably silly, who did that car belong to that rolled down the diff on fire & why was that scene even in the film in the first place & I really thought the ending was poor too.The film has a nice clean look about it, it looks a bit dated with a very static camera but it's well made. There's not much gore here but there is one half decent money shot here as John gets his hand severed & we see his bloody stump spurting blood everywhere. The severed hand effects are variable & to be honest not that good although I suspect they look better than any modern equivalent CGI effects would. While not overly scary the film does have a few creepy moments here & there & at least it does try to create a bit of an atmosphere although the bizarre scene when a cat decides to literally jump through a window for no apparent reason is unintentionally funny. There's some nudity as well if that sort of thing interests you as the local slut gets her breast's out within five minutes of meeting Caine, I wish I had that effect on women...Filmed in California The Hand has good production values & looks nice enough. The acting is pretty good even if Michael Caine goes a little over the top at times, apparently he took the role after Jon Voight, Christopher Walken & Dustin Hoffman turned the part down & Caine has also said in interviews the only reason he made The Hand was to earn the money to pay for a new garage he was having built at the time! Fair enough I suppose but was rolling around on the floor fighting your own severed hand really worth it?The Hand is a film that I feel like I shouldn't have liked but I did like it & even if I would find it hard to recommend it to one & all I think anyone interested in psychological horror could do a lot worse & watching Michael Caine overact as he wrestles with his own severed hand (& lose) is fun too. If nothing else The Hand teaches us one very important thing, never put your hand out of a car window while your wife is driving otherwise it'll end in tears...