Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

I first experienced Manos: The Hands of Fate the same way anyone who wasn't packed into the 1966 premier in El Paso did.  It was through Mystery Science Theater 3000, the little Minneapolis late night show that made fun of bad movies by talking back to them.  The show blew up in the early 1990s and is still popular today.  Manos was one of the movies that that it is most famous for lampooning. 

The first time I didn't get through it.  The group of people I was watching it with decided they had enough - it was at about the part where one of the Mads is apologizing for even showing the movie - and we put on an MST3K underground parody video that riffed on Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.  It was years before I gave the episode a full go, since the idea of watching the movie without their commentary was a frightening one.  What I discovered, though not a hidden gem of any sort - Manos: The Hands of Fate deserves its reputation - was a somewhat enjoyable mess of a film that at least tried to be a movie, unlike so many other contenders for worst movie ever. 

Michael (Harold P. Warren) is heading to an isolated lodge with his wife Margaret (Diane Adelson) and daughter Debbie (Jackey Neyman Jones).  After getting lost they come across a home that appears out of nowhere.  With it getting dark and nowhere else to go, Michael knocks on the door to ask directions.  He meets Torgo (John Reynolds), the home's caretaker, who informs them that the Master (Tom Neyman) will not be pleased with their arrival.  However, he relents, and decides to allow them to stay.

Strange events begin to happen.  There are strange sounds in the desert, and soon a sinister dog featured in a portrait of the Master appears with Debbie in tow.  Torgo informs them that the master has taken a liking to Margaret, but so has he, thinking that he deserves to have a wife when the Master already has his own harem.  While Michael looks for some way to escape the Master awakens and, displeased with Torgo's disobedience, arranges for him to be punished, while his wives discuss what to do with Margaret and Debbie. 

Manos: The Hands of Fate was made on a bet that Warren, who wrote and directed the picture, made with Stirling Silliphant that he could make a horror film on his own because it was not too difficult.  It turned out that he found the second part of that statement was not so true, but he managed to win the bet, getting a premier at the Capri Theater in El Paso and then some regional drive-in showings before the movie disappeared.  Almost no one, outside of those who had seen it at the time or had been involved in making it, knew it existed until MST3K dug it up.  Warren had failed to put proper copyright disclaimers on it, thus Manos fell into public domain. 

There are many problems with the film.  The rented cameras only ran for a bit over 30 seconds, meaning a scene would need to be shot and then the film re-loaded and the whole thing edited together.  The editing was done in the space of a few hours, resulting in many weird jumps as well as the clapperboard making an appearance at one point.  The beginning is a long driving sequence that proved to be torturous at the above-mentioned party in which we tried to watch it but was supposed to have opening credits played over it.  There are also several scenes of a couple making out that have no bearing on the plot, but were just in there because Joyce Molleur, who was supposed to be one of the Master's wives, broke her foot during filming.  Warren had run out of money and, I assume, patience by the end of the production, so the movie came out as it was. 

Since that first attempted watching I have seen so many movies that are worse than this, many with better production values.  Warren wasn't trying to do much more than win a bet, so the plot is right out of any Hammer or American International horror film that would have been its contemporaries.  There are long stretches where nothing happens and some scenes that are laughable but were done the way they were because of the lack of a even a moderate budget.  Still, there is something about John Reynolds's portrayal of Torgo - that something may just be the LSD he was on - that makes him one of the most memorable villains in cinema history, and that theme music that goes along with him is unmistakable now.  Even better is Tom Neyman who hams it up as the Master, having to write or improvise most his dialog so he didn't just stand there trying to look evil.  

It is short enough that the dull parts don't drag on forever and, unlike most movies of its type, I have to admit it is quite watchable.  The plot is thin, but at least there is one, and the actors were putting in some effort.  Everyone, including Warren, realized what the movie was and had no illusions about it, but after all the years the Neymans were happy to be a part of something that so many enjoyed, even if it was for a different reason than Warren intended.  I'm not alone in that as there has been enough interest to produce a prequel dwelling on Torgo and, after years of attempting to do so, a sequel produced by Jackey Neyman Jones in which her father got to return to the role as the Master. 

Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

Time: 70 minutes

Starring: Harold P. Warren, Diane Adelson, Jackie Neyman Jones, John Reynolds, Tom Neyman

Director: Harold P. Warren