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Mano: Hands of Fate, 1966
A family (Hal Warren, Diane Adelson, Jackey Neyman Jones) gets turned around on the way to vacation and end up in a strange desert property where a creepy caretaker (John Reynolds) awaits the arrival of a mysterious master (Tom Neyman).
At this point, what can a person even say about Manos that hasn't been said before (and probably better) by the legions of people who have flocked to it as one of the infamous worst films ever made.
The only movies I truly hate are those with loathsome messages or exploitative content. But Manos really is something special. It's the kind of movie you forget you're watching while you are watching it. I kept slightly zoning out, and then I'd snap back to attention and, yep, the nightgown-clad women are still somehow slowly wrestling on the desert floor.
What does "elevate" this movie in bad-movie status is the way that it does manage to resist some so-bad-it's-good stuff. Sure, whenever people say or do anything on screen, chances are you can get a good laugh out of it. But there are long, inexplicable lulls between those words or actions. Often this is down to editing or actors missing cues or something. Someone will say something and then just . . . wait in silence for another person to speak or for the camera to cut. At times this is funny--when for example a scene would demand some kind of urgency--but often it's just totally dull.
The trivia about the film is also kind of like a gift that keeps on giving. All of the voices of female characters were dubbed by the same actress?!
One element that makes bagging on the film a little less fun is knowing that Reynolds died of suicide after completing the film (not necessarily connected, but still . . .). Being asked to play the weirdest character in an inept movie puts a lot of weight on him, and I wish there were a less tragic backstory to the actor/character.
Something that was a little hard for me is that I've seen the MST3K episode twice, and the phrase "I don't want to see Torgo in anything sheer" lives rent-free in my brain. So I didn't enjoy the movie itself, per se, but I have positive associations with watching it, if that makes sense. I also have kind of a soft spot for no-budget productions.
Good job, absolutely terrible!
Infamy:
1/2
Mano: Hands of Fate, 1966
A family (Hal Warren, Diane Adelson, Jackey Neyman Jones) gets turned around on the way to vacation and end up in a strange desert property where a creepy caretaker (John Reynolds) awaits the arrival of a mysterious master (Tom Neyman).
At this point, what can a person even say about Manos that hasn't been said before (and probably better) by the legions of people who have flocked to it as one of the infamous worst films ever made.
The only movies I truly hate are those with loathsome messages or exploitative content. But Manos really is something special. It's the kind of movie you forget you're watching while you are watching it. I kept slightly zoning out, and then I'd snap back to attention and, yep, the nightgown-clad women are still somehow slowly wrestling on the desert floor.
What does "elevate" this movie in bad-movie status is the way that it does manage to resist some so-bad-it's-good stuff. Sure, whenever people say or do anything on screen, chances are you can get a good laugh out of it. But there are long, inexplicable lulls between those words or actions. Often this is down to editing or actors missing cues or something. Someone will say something and then just . . . wait in silence for another person to speak or for the camera to cut. At times this is funny--when for example a scene would demand some kind of urgency--but often it's just totally dull.
The trivia about the film is also kind of like a gift that keeps on giving. All of the voices of female characters were dubbed by the same actress?!
One element that makes bagging on the film a little less fun is knowing that Reynolds died of suicide after completing the film (not necessarily connected, but still . . .). Being asked to play the weirdest character in an inept movie puts a lot of weight on him, and I wish there were a less tragic backstory to the actor/character.
Something that was a little hard for me is that I've seen the MST3K episode twice, and the phrase "I don't want to see Torgo in anything sheer" lives rent-free in my brain. So I didn't enjoy the movie itself, per se, but I have positive associations with watching it, if that makes sense. I also have kind of a soft spot for no-budget productions.
Good job, absolutely terrible!
Infamy:
1/2