The Hand

Plot synopsis:
Jonathan "Jon" Lansdale (Michael Caine) is a comic illustrator whose marriage is on the rocks. He lives from the local Southern popularity of a super-hero he has been drawing for ten years, Mango. His wife Anne Lansdale (Andrea Marcovicci) doesn't seem too happy, as she gets bored living in a small town outside Reno and wants to go back to school. Jon throws out the idea of her going to live to New York. Several days go by, and one day, Anne tells Jon that she'd like to go back to studying in New York, she'd take their daughter Lizzie Lansdale (Mara Hobel), and he'd stay at their isolated country house. She admits it'd be an opportunity for both of them to do different things and meet different people. Jon gets angry, backs down from his idea, because he realizes that she's looking from a way out of the marriage, while he'd stay behind to pay the bills. They have this argument while they are driving on a village road. They've got a van in front of them, and another car behind. While the argument goes on and on, she honks and tries to overtake the van. At this moment, another van appears in the opposite lane. Jon signals for the car behind his to slow down and give them space to go back to the right lane, but it's too late. There is a traffic accident, resulting in Jon losing his right hand.A policeman (Tracey Walter) and blood-stained Anne look for the missing hand, but the high grass doesn't allow them to see clearly. At hospital, the doctor (Ed Marshall) prepares a gloved prosthetic hand for Jon, and tells him that much of his recovery will have to do with his effort; however, it's unlikely that he'd be able to earn his living as a comic artist anymore. To Lizzie's inquires, Jon answers that, if they had found the hand on the spot, they could have reattached it to his arm, but now, it's too late. Jon is condescendingly forgiving about Anne's part on his accident.Little by little, the Lansdales' life returns to normal... more or less. Anne insists on her idea of going to New York and living in a penthouse, but Jon won't allow it. He tries to draw with his left hand, but the quality is not there. The cat jumps out of the window. Jon goes back to the site of the accident: he can't find the hand, but he finds his seal ring from his university years. At this moment, the camera moves suggesting that something is lurking among the high grass. Jon has a weird moment when he confuses one of the shower taps with the hand. The moment passes and the illusion passes. Anne starts attending yoga classes, with attractive Bill Richamn (Nicholas Hormann) making Jon deeply jealous.Jon's editor, the pushing but pragmatic Karen Wagner (Rosemary Murphy) tries to convince him so that he forgets about drawing and concentrates on the script and the plot themselves. Norman Kaufman, the president of the company, insists in keeping Jon's character Mandro alive. A younger artist called David Maddow (Charles Fleischer) will do the drawings. This is the first time that we see the hand, all black and disgusting, covered with bugs, and the cinematic presentation turns to black and white. Anne thinks it's a way for them to secure their livelihood, as the comic sales will even improve because of a more modern approach to the stories. There is a meeting at Karen's office with Karen, Jon and Maddow, but Jon angrily rejects Maddow's innovative approach, talking about Mandro as though he were a real person with a real personality. Karen offers to make all necessary changes in each drawing, but Jon or the hand have blurred and painted over each drawing. Karen and Maddow stare at Jon in disbelief, as though he were crazy. When Jon leaves the office, he bumps onto a drunk bum (director Oliver Stone), who is also handicapped. The bum replies angrily to Jon. The scene turns in black and white as the hand strangles him. Jon comes back home as normal.Obviously, his is the end of the deal, causing Anne great anxiety, as they have no other financial resources. She doesn't want to explain her conversation with Bill, and Jon doesn't want to explain what went wrong in the meeting. She also feels disappointed that he doesn't want to go on with Dr. Silverman (John Stinson)'s psychotherapy sessions. Silverman thinks that he doesn't want to improve in order to keep Anne tied to him by sheer guilt. If Jon were able to fend for himself, she'd feel free to leave him and start a new life in New York with Lizzie in tow. Jon asks Lizzie whether she touched the drawings of Mandro in any way, and she says she didn't, although she admits she knew that her dad didn't like the drawings at all, and she says she didn't like the new version of Mandro either. Billy is around at the Lansdales' a lot.Luckily, the university of Saraville, in California, has offered Jon a job as a professor. Brian Ferguson (Bruce McGill) tells him that there is a cabin on the woods nearby which he can rent for cheap. For the time being, Anne and Lizzie will stay back in the village. Brian is the psychology professor, and he only cares about getting 15 students in his classroom. Jon's students, Billy Jenkins (Brian Kenneth Hume) and another girl (Lora Pearson) don't even have a favorite comic or comic hero. However, student Stella Roche (Annie McEnroe) is interested in the lessons and in Jon as a person.When Lizzie and Anne phone Jon, he doesn't remember much. Anne insists in staying behind until the Christmas season is over, as they have already paid the rent of their first country house. During the conversation, Jon has visions of the hand strangling Anne, especially when she tells him that both of them should try to meet new people on their own. That night, Jon can't sleep. There seems to be a leak in the shower and a tree breaks a window because of the storm and the wind. Jon finds his seal ring on top of his pillow.During teaching his next class, Jon uses Mandro as the example of the emotional evolution of a character. Later that evening, the eager Stella visits him on his cottage. They end up making love, and she doesn't seem bothered about Jon's prosthetic hand at all. Afterwards, Jon is worried because he sees a drawing of sexual nature but can't remember doing it. He asks Brian, and he tells him that it's very worrying because of the pornographic nature of the drawing: the hand is menacingly shagging a drawing of Stella. Brian thinks that the amnesia is the subconscious part of Jon's mind acting on its own. He could rape or murder during one of his trances. When Jon leaves the bar, he sees the hand moving under a piece of clothe within a shop, in black and white, and it attacks Jon.Jon calls Stella on at her workplace. Later on, she mentions that she'll go to LA for the Christmas, as she has friends there. Jon bought a present for Stella: it's a black negligee, wrapped in a luxurious gift box and a handwritten gift card. Stella is helping Jon to put up the Christmas tree, even though she hates those days; she adds that she has to go back to work, but that she'll come back to the cottage to make love to Jon. During that period of time, Jon decides to meet Brian at the local bar again. At the Last Chance Saloon, a country bar, the Country Bumpkins (Jack, Scott, Randy and Patrick Evans) are playing live. Brian tells him that he's going to LA, to a motel, to shag one of her students, wild Stella, whom Brian has been going after for quite some time.After work, Stella goes back to Jon's. The door is open, but he doesn't seem to be in. The hand is under the black negligée, and rapes and kills Stella.The next day, Jon goes to Reno to pick Lizzie and Anne up from the airport. Supposedly, they have arrived to California to stay. However, Jon soon realizes that Anne has no intention of staying put, as she hasn't even unpacked one of her two suitcases. Jon admits to have opened one of the letters which Billy sent to Anne. Anne says that she wants to move to New York because she has finally found a job there. She tries to calm him down saying that Lizzie likes Billy as a friend, but not as a father; so he will always have a place in their lives. Jon gets angry, and he keeps on seeing white flashes of light; he also becomes threatening and violent, telling her to leave, putting his remaining hand on top of her mouth to shut her up.She wants to leave, scared to death. Jon will lend her his car, but in the meantime Lizzie will stay with him. He notices that the hand has crawled to the back seat, but doesn't say anything. Anne realizes some disgusting stink, but Jon convinces her of dismissing it. Lizzie and Jon stay behind, playing Majong. Jon is stressed, and sweaty; he "sees" what must be happening to Anne at that moment - the hand crawling from behind Anne and trying to strangle her while she's driving in the rainy night. She has a car accident and the car blows up in flames with Anne inside. Lizzie notices that her father is confused, sweating like a pig, distracted. Lizzie gets happy when she hears somebody ringing the bell and runs to open up for her; her father thinks it's going to be some local police officers. However, it's Anne, who took long outside because the car stopped and she couldn't start it up again, so she had to phone for the towing truck. Jon had apparently imagined the entire event.Another day, at the same bar, Brian tells Jon that Stella didn't go to the date. That day, Jon states that he was traveling to Reno to pick his family up. Jon later admits that he had just seen her right before leaving for Reno. Brian drives drunk. The car finally starts up, and it's then when the hand strangles him in the rainy night. Blood splits everywhere.Anne will sleep at Jon's in the spare bedroom. Jon doesn't mind letting her go, but he wants Lizzie to stay with him. Anne looks a bit scared of Jon.In the middle of the night, Jon seems to be muttering something to himself. The hand attacks Anne who had just dozed off but realized that there was a kind of strange bulk under the sheets of her bedroom. Jon goes to Anne's bedroom and sees the hand leaving through the window. Lizzie wakes up because of the noise and thinks that Jon is hurting her mother. Anne looks in a coma, but alive. Lizzie calls the police while Jon goes out in the freezing rain in search of the hand. He follows it to the garage/barn nearby. The hand jumps at him from behind a heap of straw and tries to kill him. Jon stabs the hand but it crawls away, until it touches a tire and it explodes releasing a cloud of smoke. That hand strangles him, and he passes off.When Jon wakes up, there are flashlights pointing to him. The sheriff (Pat Corley) interrogates him softly. Lizzie is present while the conversation takes place, and a sergeant (Sparky Watt) is trying to calm her down. Jon thinks that the sheriff is staring at him. The sergeant notices an awfully nasty odour coming from the trunk of the car. The sheriff insists on opening it up. Jon gets frantic. The dead bodies of Brian and Stella are inside. (Jon remembers for the first time him killing Stella first and then Brian.)In the final scene at a local insane asylum, a psychologist (Viveca Lindfors) is trying to communicate with Jon. She wants him to remember and admit that it was him, not the hand, who killed all the victims. Jon says that the hand wants to kill her because it hates her. Suddenly, the hand (which apparently existed all along) appears from behind the psychiatrist and kills her. The now-deranged Jon laughs, releases himself from the chair straps and is free to leave the place, smiling.

Tags: good versus evil, cult, gothic, murder

Review:
I don't know if I was in a rare forgiving frame of mind but The Hand actually worked for me.It doesn't go very deep in the psychological department and just about every average viewer can spot the twist but then the end just throws everything out the window and leaves the audience shouting; What the ****!
Oliver Stone and Michael Caine may well feel a little embarrassed by this tale of a cartoonist haunted by his own severed drawing hand, but despite it's ludicrous premise and rather rubbery effects from Stan Winston, the film isn't all THAT bad.Michael Caine brings an amiable nonchalance to the E.C. horror comic style proceedings while portraying his character's ever growing bitterness perfectly.
While the story provides little in surprises the film does work on more than one level, leaving the viewer wondering if what's going on, is all in mind of Caine's character or that it is indeed actually happening.
It's inserted to show michael caine getting unhinged the more he suspects he's got a pet killer hand out there.A great movie to check out.
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 .
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 .
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 .
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.
There Is No Hand, Jon. The comic book writer and cartoonist Jonathan "Jon" Lansdale (Michael Caine) is the creator of the successful hero "Mandro" and lives with his wife Anne Lansdale (Andrea Marcovicci) and their daughter Lizzie in the countryside.
Is it possible that the hand does exist to kill whoever anger him?"The Hand" is an early film directed by Oliver Stone with a creepy story.
As a B movie about a killer hand or a schizo cartoonist it features Olive Stone's tortured man, driven to ruin by a woman, whose lack of self-knowledge and unchecked rage propel him to violence.
Andrea Marcovicci is also very good as the wife who is a woman with principles" and wants to find herself"  it's stereotype, but high quality stereotype.The best and really memorable scene of the movie takes place in a class room in the attic of a college deep in the sticks.
Still, the latter bunch are, for all their glaring faults, hardly unwatchable and, at times, fairly tolerable and this rare horror item is certainly among his more interesting failures.Apart from its horror elements and the chance to watch another Michael Caine stinker (although, as it turns out, Jon Voight and Christopher Walken had both previously turned down the lead role), the film's main draw nowadays is watching an early (though not the first) directorial stint from Oliver Stone (he even has an amusing unbilled cameo as an ill-fated tramp) and, most intriguingly, within an exploitation genre from which he has distanced himself completely since then.
In fact, Stone infuses the film with a modicum of style including subjective shots from the marauding hand's point of view, delirious dream sequences often shot in monochrome and, most incredibly, an utterly grisly freak car accident sequence (with fake blood galore) early on in the film in which cartoonist Caine loses his drawing hand and which sets the narrative in motion.The thing is that, while it starts well enough, the film is soon bogged down by repetitive marital squabbles between an increasingly unhinged Caine and his free-spirited wife Andrea Marcovicci.
Still, that such an old-fashioned concept was revived at this point in time and by these film-makers is extraordinary in itself but, even if they did try to bring it up-to-date with the addition of gore and sleaze, I can't say I was too surprised by the twist ending which - while not making a great deal of sense and somewhat dispelling the strong similarities with Michael Caine's previous role in another imitative (but much more successful) slasher, DRESSED TO KILL (1980), which had previously been to the fore - provided Hollywood veteran Viveca Lindfors with a very brief but notable cameo as Caine's no-nonsense shrink..
Great, in fact.This early Oliver Stone film is quite good in that you really have to be "sharp" to "get it".
I mean, Idle Hands was gory, funnier, fast-moving, has a great soundtrack, and better, but it's still a great flick.The story is about a cartoonist played by Michael Caine who shows his girl a lizard's tail (The name of the story the movie is based on) which is still moving which fore-shadows what happens later in the movie.
A bum (played by director Oliver Stone) is killed by the hand (In a brilliant black and white sequence).
Michael Caine does something wonderful in this movie: he makes his character tender and gentle as well as creepy and terrifying,Annie McEnroe does a fantastic job in a very small role.
You remember why you started watching it (early Oliver Stone written/directed horror film about a comic book writer who's hand comes alive and kills people), but despite the fact that that group of words seem like they could equal anything that could do any wrong, it sure does not deliver.
Instead you get a wannabe sophisticated slow masterpiece theatre type horror film, with unbelievable pointless B and C stories, with great acting that doesn't make any sense, directed by someone who would prove to be a genius just 5 years later.If the premise to this movie seems awesome, and you are looking for something similar that is actually pretty dope(if you're into super B movie type stuff), check out Cellar Dweller directedby John Carl Buechler, the amazing special effects artist; written but don Mancini (childs play), and produced by Charles Band(the doll obsessed puppet master).
Unfortunately, it is a not very interesting psychological thriller.Michael Caine plays a cartoonist whose relationship with his wife and daughter is strained.
He hallucinates hands everywhere, and has violent visions, coming to believe his distended appendage has taken on a mind of its own.I think that second-time filmmaker Stone would have been better advised to have either made a straight horror flick, or a straight thriller.
A towering, powerhouse performance by Michael Caine brings life to Oliver Stone's horrifically bad film, The Hand.
He only surpasses his work here in The Island, one of the very worst films ever made and still one worth watching for Caine's magnificent skill at raising the worst directors' work to a level of some acceptability, if not art (recalling The Island is painful and was one of the worst cinema experiences of my life although Caine gave it all he had.) The Hand is just terrible and the story and direction both fail miserably.
The sole redeeming feature of the motion picture fiasco known as The Hand is that Michael Caine is such a truly superb actor that he single handedly pulls this stinking mess from the sewer of bungled films and brilliantly distracts viewers with his excellent work so they are not completely embarrassed to find themselves watching total trash..
Good For Oliver Stone Fans and Horror Movie Admirers.
If you are interested in Stone's cinematic evolution or you like to spend time watching horror movies, this one is watchable.
Oliver Stone's second feature film, The Hand is an effective horror yarn based on a novel by Marc Brandell.
(This is a condition where the sensation of - in this example - hand and fingers, can still be felt, despite the limbs absence.)Caine is a comic book artist, and in a freak car accident, he loses his right hand.
Michael Caine is absolutely embarrassing in this 1981 bore-fest that tries too hard to pass itself off as legitimate "horror" but comes off as any other number of his misfire films from the 70's and 80's that can be found in a cut-out bin at your local non-chain video store (or nowhere at all).There are only a few moments of unintentional humor, such as the "paper crumpling" sounds that can be heard whenever "the hand" goes for a walk, or the complete inability to act by Andrea Marcovicci who plays his wife.
Basically Caine is a comic illustrator/writer who loses his hand in an accident after he sticks it out of a car window while his wife fails to pay attention to the truck in front of them.
So by now, this would make a great movie to watch while either stoned or in the mood for a comedy, but it provides no entertainment to either party.Most of the actors/characters in this movie are so grating, unsympathetic and obnoxious, you pray that "the hand" is going to get them fast, especially the wife.
But then again, all lousy horror movies need to end with a scene that leave them open for sequelitis should they become financially successful ("BASKET CASE", here's looking at you!).Caine acts to a level that is unnecessary for the dreck that he is starring in.
We're given the tragedy of a character, Joe Lansdale, who loses his hand in a rather freak accident while his wife is driving the car, and he can't seem to find the bloody thing in a field.
Maybe Stone wasn't really equipped for this material anyway, that in his defense (if possible) he was a hired gun- based more possibly on his first film Seizure, a horror film, than any clout he got from his first Oscar- and whatever skills he brought weren't put into a style that really made things work.Indeed, now that we have a movie like Raimi's Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn, we see how cheesy a killer-hand flick really is and how it would be simply better off as unintentional comedy.
A horror movie from Oliver Stone...the Lone Hand assassinated JFK?.
Michael Caine plays Jonathan Lansdale, a cartoonist whose hand gets knocked off in an accident.
this movie kinda reminded me of the classic short story The Monkey's Paw,only it isn't as good.it's too long for one thing,and too slow.the concept is interesting,but to me the execution of it goes wrong somewhere.i did find it interesting that Oliver Stone wrote the screenplay and directed the movie.there is nothing political about the movie.this doesn't mean the movie is good of course,but it is an interesting aside,nonetheless.Michael Caine is the lead,and and does an OK job,but the material is not really compelling or even mildly interesting.i watched it for awhile and got bored,so i started talking on the phone with a friend while i continued watching halfheartedly.having said all that,i don't think it is an awful movie,it's just not very interesting.by the way,this movie is part of the Twisted terror Collection,and is also contained in the box set(along with five other titles)of the same name.anyway,my vote for the hand is a 4/10.
This is a story of a comic book artist who looses his hand in an accident, which costs him his job and in turn helps ruin his marriage while in the meantime "his hand comes back to life and slowly begins to kill those around him who victimize him".
That's the sixty-four dollar question that we never really learn, although there's more than a hundred minutes in which to watch it all unravel - the movie that is (it only takes Caine one scene to reach maximum lunacy).Capable supporting cast (McEnroe, McGill, Corley, Lindfors and Murphy) restore some mental equilibrium and the music and cinematography also help create a sense of psychological nightmare in spite of the credibility weaknesses.
Comic book artist Jonathan Lansdale (Michael Caine) lives in the country with his young wife Anne and young daughter Lizzie.
Comic book artist Jon Lansdale is involved in a car accident where he loses his right hand .
It should also be pointed out that that Stone's first preference for Lansdale was Jon Voight , then Dustin Hoffman then Christopher Walken then finally Michael Caine who in this part of his career was in total slumming it for the money mode and apparently did the film to pay for his new garage .
At the risk of being the sound of one hand clapping, I have say to say that Stone doesn't pull any punches and comes up with a gripping story.Seriously, this is about as good as an above average Stephen King movie.
The film has potential with a great cast and a VERY bloody scene at the beginning where Caine losses his hand.
(There are Spoilers) The movie "The Hand" starts off with national syndicated cartoonist Jon Lansdale, Michael Caine, losing his right hand in a car accident that put an end of his career but also sent Jon into a tailspin with his mind snapping well before the film was over.
With the police on the scene it's found that Jon has gone totally nuts and not only murdered a number of people,Stella & Brian, but in a last act of desperation to keep from being put away for good tries to blame his bad, or severed from his body,right hand for all the murderers he committed.***MAJOR SPOILER*** If the movie "The Hand" ended with the deranged Jon taken away by the police and kept from hurting, or murdering, both himself and those around him it would have been a fairly decent horror film.
The Hand is especially interesting on a curiosity level because it is directed by the great Oliver Stone.
Who knows.Michael Caine is pretty good as a cartoonist who loses his hand in a freak car accident.
Later, the severed hand comes to life and starts killing all the people who have ever wronged Caine.
Easily influenced by "The Beast with Five Fingers", film-maker Oliver Stone makes his major film debut tackling early 80s horror pulp starring Michael Caine as a comic book illustrator who loses his hand in a freak car accident (that sequence is torturous to watch) and then suddenly he starts to have tormenting visions of his missing hand coming to life committing murders.
Though this is not Stone's first movie, for an early one it is still a very impressive indication of his skill behind the camera, his ability to direct actors, and his visual acumen.For someone looking for scare-a-minute thrills, the plodding length and necessary character development will get in the way, but for those who like their psychological thrillers slowly bubbling up from the bottom, The Hand is very well-paced fare.
Successful comic book artist Jon Lansdale (an excellent and credible performance by Michael Caine) loses his right hand in a freak automobile accident.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Comic book artist Jonathan Lansdale(Michael Caine)loses his good hand in a freak car accident.
A very absurd thing in the movie was the fact that they couldn't find his severed hand on the scene of the accident.
Oliver Stone should keep his HANDS off the horror genre.
***Small Spoilers***Michael Caine plays an entangled cartoonist who loses his hand in an accident.
Overall, the whole movie contains exactly ONE scene that is worth mentioning and that is the accident sequence in which Caine loses his hand.
Oliver Stone might be a master in certain fields but, when it comes to horror, he surely needs a helping hand NEXT!