Starring - Mel Ferrer (Nightmare City, Eaten Alive!), Christopher Lee (Sleepy Hollow, Howling II... Your Sister is a Werewolf), and Dany Carrel (Inferno, The Chaser)
Release Date - 1960
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "The frightening nightmare of a man who finds himself with hands which he can't control"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
I've been lucky enough to review several Christopher Lee movies over the years. Most were horror tales but a few, like the previous film Beat Girl, are not from my beloved genre. Lee will always be remembered for his long and varied career but horror fans will always be grateful for his contributions to the genre. Many genre fans, myself included, hail Lee for his performances in the many Hammer horror films. His performance as Dracula and many other characters for Hammer horror is legendary by any standards. As I started down the list for the new Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 3 I noticed a movie that I was very unfamiliar of. When I was in high school I went through a period where I was obsessed with silent cinema. It was during this time that I watched The Hands of Orlac which was a classic from it's time. However, this set just happened to contain a movie by the same name. This was a huge surprise to me because I had no idea that it was remade in 1960. I was really excited to see this one and couldn't wait to hit play on it.
The film follows a world famous pianist who finds himself in a life threatening accident where his hands are severely burned. His hands start to heal after the accident but he is unable to play to the degree that he was able to before the accident. To make matters worse, he learns that his hands were actually transplanted to him and once belonged to a murderer. Now his hands are taking on a life of their own and want to murder everyone around him.
I went into The Hands of Orlac not knowing what to expect. It had been damn near 20 years ago that I had seen the original film and did not remember a lot about it but I was excited to see this early 60s horror title that featured the legendary Lee. The acting in this one is great. I absolutely loved Lee's character in the film. It was as if he was written for Lee specifically. His larger than life performance was great but was overshadowed by the film's star, Mel Ferrer. Ferrer made the film for me. His performance is pretty fucking intense, especially during the last portion of the film, and brought out so many emotions. He really does a fantastic job making the film what it was. The story for this one is great for a drive-in era horror title. As I stated earlier, I don't remember a lot about the original film so I cannot speak on how close it resembles it but I enjoy it for what it is. What I like about this one is that it takes the premise for the brain transplant films and swaps it out with murderous hands. It's a fun little change that works to a certain degree. With that being said, some of the scenes in the film lead to nowhere. They do nothing for the story nor the pacing. Finally, the film has some light make-up effects and that is about the extent of it. Like the films of it's time, the movie doesn't rely on the gore to get a rise out of the viewer. Instead, it's character driven and we are expected to use our imaginations for the deaths. Overall, The Hands of Orlac is not going to be a memorable film in the filmography of such a great actor but it's a decent film for what it was. It's a worthy addition to this set and worth your time. Check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment