Idle Hands (1999)

[Bartwald]

IDLE HANDS (1999)

DIRECTOR: Rodman Flender

CAST: Devon Sawa, Seth Green, Elden Henson, Jessica Alba

GRADE: 6/10


The gore-drenched main titles and Fred Willard-munching beginning promise a lot of fun. What you get in the end is not as cool as the promise (the introductory under-the-bed mayhem seems inadequate when the identity of the killer is finally revealed) but it still is quite a lot of fun.

Without spoiling any major stuff, the plot of ‘Idle Hands’ goes alongside these lines: parents of the main character here (Devon Sawa) get murdered but he doesn’t notice it at all as his lazy nature keeps him glued to the TV screen and his headphones, while his awareness of the outside world is further weakened by the awful habit of smoking nutmeg and oregano or some other shit. It’s only after he has to eventually leave the house to get some food that he realises not everything’s right: someone has been killing folks in his town for several days now and most probably this is also why the parents were nowhere to be seen recently... Well, all the bloody events will soon be carefully explained, some humour will be added to it thanks to Sawa character’s buddies (Green and Henson), some sexiness will pop up courtesy of Jessica Alba and Vivica A. Fox, and everything will be not-too-gently sewn into a story with the help of some devilish force and Sam Raimi-homages (including, most obviously, a haunted hand).

The introductory scenes are deadpan but then it goes into all sorts of directions – parody, slapstick comedy, slasher, post-modern horror, etc. Sometimes it gets a bit too silly even for me, but thankfully never gets too sentimental or stale. The mood changes all the time and you may always hope for some truly anti-nice stuff to happen or a sharp one-liner to appear and spoil your sense of ‘Geez, I knew it will go into that direction’ (Seth Green’s impatient ‘No Kevin Costner speeches’ is one of my favourites).

As for the talent that went into this movie... Call me naive but I really liked the acting of Devon Sawa (and his enormous devotion to the role – look carefully how he's struggling with his demonic hand and you’ll see!), and Seth Green’s perfect comic timing, the girls should be praised for behaving sexy (while the scriptwriter should be spanked for not giving them any hotter scenes), Graeme Revell did a great job writing a straight horror score for the movie, and the f/x guys can be proud of at least 75% of what they did here. On the other hand, I wish this movie could shrug off some overly stupid scenes (like that one where Vivica flies a damn long distance after she’s hit by a car; what is it? A ‘Crouching Tiger’?!), and that the remaining 25% of f/x were at least a bit less lame (strangely enough, these are the Haunted Hand effects which belong to the greatest f/x highlights of the movie AND which soon after that plunge deep and scratch the f/x rock bottom). Still though, as for the horror-comedy standards this ain’t that bad at all; I’d even say that’s pretty cool indeed.

If you happen to grab the DVD version of the movie, be sure to check out the alternate ending scene: it’s more of an effects show off than what’s actually ending the movie, but it would probably not fit all the preceding stuff too well (there’s a nice homage to ‘Day Of The Dead’, however, so still worth taking a peek). Plus, do yourself a favour and listen to at least some parts of the commentary provided by the director with Seth Green and Elden Henson. They’re probably a little too shy and self-conscious at the beginning (‘tis yer first time doing it, boys, eh?), but after 10 minutes or so you’ll feel like you’re watching this movie in the company of Beavis and Butthead. Which is OK with me.

[slayrrr666]

Not bad, bart. I've always wanted to see it, and they always show it cut-up on Sci-Fi or something like that. May finally have to give this one a look see.

[Bartwald]

I think you should like it, slayrrr - it's got enough humour, nastiness and welcome horror homages to make up for the weaker parts.

[slayrrr666]

I'll watch it if it's on then, and I'll guess at the "cut-out parts" of the film.

[Quorthon]

The only thing that looked interesting to me about this film was Jessica "Fuckin' Sweet" Alba.

[Bartwald]

That was the first Alba movie for me - and since her first appearance here I made sure to remember the name. A nice girl.

[slayrrr666]

“Idle Hands” is a lot of fun and features some really good points.

**SPOILERS**

Waking up one morning, teen Anton Tobias, (Devon Sawa) finds that both his parents have mysteriously disappeared, and after noticing they’ve been gone for a while, friends Mick, (Seth Green) and Pnub, (Elden Hanson) convince him to throw a party. Using it as an opportunity to meet crush Molly, (Jessica Alba) he manages to get the job done. When a mysterious killer suddenly starts to terrorize the community, the clues point to him yet he can’t remember doing anything. As he leaves a trail of destruction through the town, he comes to realize that it was actually his hand that was possessed by the Devil and was causing all the murders. With investigator Debi LeCure, (Vivica A. Fox) on his trail, he discovers the real reason why the hand’s possessed and together try to stop it before it continues it’s quest.

The Good News: This one wasn’t that bad at all. The fact that this contains a large amount of humor is a pleasant surprise. The gags and humor in this one are actually funny. There’s plenty in here that are quite funny, yet the most side-splitting is the first encounter on the couch after the discovery of the situation. The fight for control of the remote and the gags between the two are just flat-out hilarious, and the moments where the reanimated parts are soon incorporated back into the story and that brings in some good laughs. The film does put in some nice horror motives later on when the truth is revealed. This is quite evident in the film’s conclusion, where the confrontation at the school is quite creepy at times. The sight of the dismembered hand stalking around the school’s hallways and scuttling around the tubes and wires make for some real chilling moments. The film’s kills aren’t that bad either, and are pretty clever at times. There’s a scalping from the front to the back, a knitting needle through the side of the head, an eye cut out, tied up through a rope noose which is then pulled through a spinning fan and splattered to pieces and a beer bottle stuck in the head, among many more great deaths in here. These are all given some nice amount of blood unleashed at each one, with the big ones getting in some really wet displays. The last real positive is that there’s a really great pace on display. Things constantly keep moving forward here with just about nothing really spoiling the pacing. These are all parts of a really good film.

The Bad News: There really wasn’t all that much wrong with this one. The fact that there’s a lot of drug humor in here might be a little off-putting to some, as there’s plenty of references and jokes about that. It’s a topic that can be a source of worry to some, and the fact that the majority of the film either references familiar objects and themes or makes jokes about them can be a detriment. This is especially obvious in the beginning half, where there’s a ton of it going on. The only other part that doesn’t make any sense is the weird ending it has. It’s quite unusual and doesn’t really make any sense at all, other than serving up a final joke to go out on. The fact that it was blatantly set-up to do that is what’s the real problem, as the joke is quite obvious from the initial setup and it becomes even more so afterward. These, though, don’t take away from the film’s entertainment.

The Final Verdict: With some really good points about this one and a lot of entertainment to be derived from it, this is a really solid film. The minor flaws aren’t that bad and don’t really interfere too much, leaving this one as a solidly recommendable film in all areas.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and drug use

[Fenril]

I remember this movie, and seeing it when it first came out... lots of fun; it's hard to believe it stars Devon Sawa and Jessica Alba, since they both seemed so convincing here [come on, neither of them are good actors. Attractive, sure, but not good actors], but for me the selling point was Vivica A. Fox she's HOT, period.

The movie proper is pretty good, but seems to have come out at a time when people just didn't want to see gore comedies. It just never found its audience, I guess.

By the way, as for the opening "under the bed mayhem":

SPOILER

Technically the killer isn't so much Anthony or his hand as it's Satan itself. And in this movie, Satan clearly enjoys playing games with its victims, hence the writing on the ceiling. At least that's how I interpreted it

SPOILER END

It got a bit cartoonish at times (the hand puppet, for instance), but IMHO that actually fit well with the over-the-top tone of the movie.