Hand of Death (1962) User Reviews

To Film Snobs: Lighten Up!!

[ashew · 6/10 · 10 December 2006]

Reading through some of the IMDb reviews, I was truly bewildered by the responses. It was like bullies beating up on the weakling in school...not because he necessarily needed to be beat up, but just because the bullies could. Well, I'm the principal here to tell those folks to lighten up and leave the poor kid alone! My goodness, this movie had a budget of $1.95, yet everyone is expecting "Lawrence of Arabia"? Come on.

John Agar is a government scientist out in the California desert who thinks he is a few steps away from creating a revolutionary nerve gas agent that will eliminate all wars. His mentor, the mentor's secretary, his scientist buddy, and even his own college intern think it's too dangerous and want him to stop, but John has noble and lofty goals and pushes on. Well, John has an accident, spills one of the liquefied variations on his hands, and slowly turns into a hideous, mutated creature whose touch can kill...and kill he does.

Maybe I was just in the mood for a fun little film like this, but I must say the acting didn't bother me, nor did the production values, the music, the directing, or the monster make-up. Yes, the screenplay is dopey, has holes in the logic, and a rather abrupt and unsatisfying ending, but this is a Z-grade film aimed at kids at a drive-in theater looking for a fun time, not stuffy film critics or pretentious film snobs.

Set your expectations at a reasonable level, have fun, and enjoy a great little throw-back to a bygone age of sci-fi/horror.

Spilling acid in science class was safer.

[copper1963 · 6/10 · 10 December 2006]

Clocking in at a paltry 58 minutes, Hand of Death will leave you reaching for the sunscreen. And in a hurry. For if John Agar gets a grip on you--you're a roasted duck. I could not believe this was filmed in Cinemascope! And on-location in Malibu and Santa Monica, California, too. Mister Agar becomes exposed to some type of experimental nerve gas he's concocting out in the desert for the military. He quickly dispatches his lab mate to the fire pit in the sky. Only then does he realize something is amiss. So he gives his mentor a ring and hightails it over to the gentleman's (he's confined to a wheelchair, never a good sign) suburban abode. He resides there with his daughter, the picture's love interest. The rest of the film breaks down as some kind of shopping stroll toward insanity. He becomes increasingly agitated, disfigured and insane. He slaughters his mentor and goes looking for the girl. On the way to the beach, and his certain downfall, he sends some more people to the above mentioned fire pit in the sky. The poor victims--taxi driver and gas jockey--are working stiffs. He also encounters a small boy romping along some jagged rocks and a seawall. He survives. The ending recalls an earlier film about a fellow with a flat head and protruding iron bolts. I enjoyed this loopy movie. I must be losing my bolts, too. I saw this on AMC when the sun was rising and my mind was clear. Honest.

Rehash of the typical 60's horror movies

[mattress01 · 6/10 · 27 August 2002]

*** WARNINING: SPOILER ***

I hadn't seen this movie before, much less heard of it, until Fox Movies channel started showing it. I'm a big fan of the 60's B-movie scene and this movie didn't surprise me nor show me anything new. But it was, nonetheless, enjoyable despite the very dark print and crazy music.

It's taken the typical storyline from that era - man messes with nature and creates a monster. In this case, government scientist Alex Marsh (John Agar), is creating a nerve gas and is exposed to it which converts him into a black, bloated mass of burned flesh with the touch that kills. In his insanity, he looks for a cure from other scientist friends but leaves a trail of accidental deaths behind him (he does intentionally kill one cab driver, though!)

Since I hadn't seen this movie before, I found myself thinking that maybe he would be cured and no charges would be filed - hey, it's a sci-fi/horror flick from the 60's! At one point, I was even thinking the ocean water would cure him but alas, there is no cure but a single shot from a police gun as he was lunging to attack.

Running less than an hour, I do have to say, it did keep me watching and was a nice appetizer. You have to remember that these kinds of movies from the 60's didn't usually last more than an hour. The acting was wooden and Agar, the little of it he had to do, was not as impressive as he was in "Revenge of the Creature" and "Tarantula". I thought that the guest appearance of Joe Besser (Three Stooges fame) as the gas station attendant was the most memorable with his comical one liners like "It doesn't pay to get out of bed sometimes". Another good, but expected scene, was the little boy on the beach (who happens to be Butch Patrick of the Munsters fame) encountering the "blob".

Overall, this movie is okay if you don't mind the short, typical, 60's B-movie. Would I buy it on DVD if released? Probably, but I wouldn't spend over $10 for it.

As a side note, if anyone with cable or satellite that gets the Fox Movies channel should Favorite it as they have been showing some really great movies.

surprisingly fun

[fresh-4 · 1 November 2002]

i caught this kooky little horror film on cable the other night. it held up pretty well. the notion of scientist turned monster is obviously familiar, but it actually managed to be creepy and suspenseful..wished the guy had found a pair of gloves before touching all those poor people. i also loved the 'nightmare' sequence when he's exposed to the deadly gas, and dreams of beakers and flying white mice. kewl! how odd that it was directed by a musical comedy song and dance man. this is a fun 50's -ish horror tale, with delightful over the top acting. and it's really short. which is something.

Bad judgment theatre!

[AlsExGal · 3/10 · 26 February 2021]

If you take out all of the padding in this film, it would run about 25 minutes. Probably long enough to be an episode of Twilight Zone, but Rod Serling would have had none of it.

Alex Marsh (John Agar) is a scientist working on an experiment where he is perfecting an aerosol paralysis drug for medical purposes. Robin William's dad - complete with suspenders - accidentally walks into the desert location where the experiment is taking place and collapses. Alex and his assistant revive him, and Alex goes immediately to his boss, Dr. Ramsey, and tells him they have a successful human trial. But wait! There's more! Alex wants to combine the anesthetic with a hypnotic drug to be used as a military weapon that will paralyze entire armies and populations so that they will not resist. He figures this will render nuclear weapons obsolete. His boss is interested. His girlfriend is horrified.

Well, things don't go well for Alex. In his haste and tireless efforts to find the right combination of the compound he seeks, he absorbs too much of the drug over time and then a lab accident causes him to inhale a great deal at once. The drug first causes him to hallucinate, then start to turn more and more tanned, and then - due to the limited budget I guess - he abruptly turns into a walking lump of charcoal. His face looks like a cross between a lizard person and a lump of charcoal. So what does he do? He decides to leave his boss' house, where several antidotes have been unsuccessful, and disguises himself with - a raincoat and a hat??? He still has a clearly visible face that looks like a overcooked lizard! He almost immediately wrecks the car he is driving and then just spends 20 minutes wandering the streets and then the beach with no discernable aim. Did I mention that one touch of his hand burns people to a crisp so that they look like charcoal lizard people too? Except they are dead.

So many bad decisions here. First of all Alex' lack of lab safety when dealing with deadly chemicals. Then when Alex realizes his touch kills - he accidentally kills his lab assistant - he decides to burn his lab to the ground, and escape to his boss' house. There his boss and Alex' girlfriend lie to the police when they call about the burned down lab building with the body inside and say they have no idea where Alex is.

So the padding consists of the first 15 minutes which is largely meaningless banter between Alex' girlfriend, Alex' boss, and Tom, who wants to replace Alex. By the end of the film I feel Tom's chances are looking up. Then there are the last 20 minutes with Alex wandering the streets. The humanist encounters between the Frankenstein monster and the German villagers this portion of the film is not. Since when did bongo music imply horror? Even in the 60s?

Very cheaply made, very short and yet too long, pedestrian dialogue, and ultimately boring. Heck, I don't know if they are even employing John Agar as Alex by the end of the film since the monster is rendered mute and unrecognizable. The rights for this were retained by 20th Century Fox, which is now owned by Disney. Somehow I don't see this showing up on Disney+.

60 minutes of No Thank You

[13Funbags · 2/10 · 30 August 2018]

How can a movie be so short and yet be super boring and have almost no meaningful dialogue? It's mind blowing. If you took all the good things about this movie and put them in a trailer, you would have a very short trailer. Sadly, I have seen worse so I gave 2 stars. That doesn't mean anyone should watch it.

The Attack of the Killer Avocado Man

[sol1218 · 4/10 · 14 July 2006]

Not all that bad horror, if you take it for an unintentionally comedy, film with it having a former member of the three stooges as well as the hilarious Stinky Davis of the Abbot & Costello TV show Joe Besser as a gas station attendant as well as one of the "Hands of Death's" victims. "Hand of Death" with it's star John Agar as the obsessed and crazed scientist Alax Marsh who ends up turning into what looks like a overripe avocado. Marsh runs and drives around L.A doing his best to terrorize everyone he comes in contact with but mostly leaving them in a state of total bewilderment trying to figure out just what the hell he, or it, is.

Trying to perfect this nerve/hypnotic gas for the US military that would not only knock out anyone who's affected by it but turn them into obedient zombies Marsh working day and night in his out of the way desert laboratory. One day Marsh falls asleep and knocks down a bottle of the nerve agent and gets infected by it. The gas gives him the power to kill by just touching anyone. Later Marsh develops a leprosy-like appearance that even his own mother would run from.

Killing everyone he as much as touches Marsh trying to hide his identity, as the killer Avocado Man,just puts on a Humphrey Bogart like trench-coat and fedora hat thinking that would be enough to fool anyone! One of the craziest scenes in the movie is when Marsh pops into a taxi cab trying to communicate to the cabbie ,Fred Korne, where he want's to go, to the beach in order to get a suntan? The taxi driver turning around and seeing this weird and grossed-out guy isn't at all surprised or even scared at how he looks! Is he used to picking up customers like him,looking like vine-ripe avocados,in the city's many farmers markets and fruit and vegetable stores?

Trying to contact his girlfriend Carol ,Paula Raymond, so he can take her, I could only guess, to the local drive-in to see someone who looks a lot like him his screen hero "Ceature from the Balck Lagoon". Marsh later gets to where she's hiding from him at her friends Tom Holland's, Stephen Dunne, beach-front home. As he breaks in Carol calls Tom gets the police who both come to her rescue. Marsh running along the beach and trying to take a dip into the ocean, with his heavy and bulky street cloths on, is shot dead and left floating on the waves as the movie finally comes to an end.

Hard to believe that anyone would have been insane enough to take, much less pay for a movie ticket, "Hand of Death" seriously back in 1962 when it was released. "Hand of Death" looks like it must have been the final movie that was part of a quadruple feature following even the cartoons and coming attractions where by the time it came on the screen there was almost nobody left in the movie-house to watch it. Which may well have been the best thing that could have happened to the professional careers of everyone unfortunate enough to be in it.

Hands (and eyes) off this thing

[scsu1975 · 2/10 · 14 November 2022]

This may well be John Agar's worst movie (which is saying quite a bit), but, in fairness, I still haven't seen "Zontar, The Thing from Venus," so I must reserve judgment. But no matter how you look at this film (and I don't recommend you look at it), it stinks.

Agar plays a scientist who comes up with a half-baked idea to mix a hypnotic drug with a paralyzing nerve gas. What could possibly go wrong here? He informs another scientist, played by Roy Gordon. Gordon is in a wheelchair, because he performed an experiment using a live polio virus. Guess how that turned out? Gordon, coincidentally, played Allison Hayes' doctor in "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman", which was another medical disaster. You know, it's idiots like these guys that drive up our healthcare costs. If stupidity were a pre-condition, these guys would be covered for life.

Agar manages to knock over a flask containing his concoction, and then compounds the problem by trying to wipe up the stuff with his bare hands. Apparently his degree program never included a course in lab safety. He then falls asleep, and we are treated to a montage of flying flasks, floating lab mice, and images of Shirley Temple. The next day, his lab assistant notices that Agar has a tan. This is the last thing the lab assistant notices, because Agar touches him and the assistant is fried on contact. Agar quickly realizes that anything he touches he destroys; therefore, he briefly considers running for U. S. Congress. Instead, Agar burns down his lab and sets off in his car to tell Gordon what is going on.

Gordon notices that Agar is now somewhere beyond John Boehner on the George Hamilton tan-o-meter. Gordon unsuccessfully tries to restore Agar to his normal look; the end result is that Gordon gets flame-broiled as well by Agar's lethal fingers. When Agar's girlfriend (played by Paula Raymond) shows up, he has now completed his transformation into what can only be described as a Tootsie Roll with appendages. At this point, I couldn't tell if that was Agar under the makeup, or someone else who just needed a paycheck.

The creature wanders around L. A., creating some minor mayhem like scaring a woman carrying grocery bags. It then sizzles a cab driver. In all honesty, here I was rooting for the creature, because the cab driver had to be the dumbest character of all time. He sees this mumbling monster in his back seat, refuses to take it anywhere, and orders it out of his cab. This does not end well for the cabbie.

Eventually, the Agar-thing is shot on the beach by the police and irate candy makers. It washes away, like Agar's career.

For anyone still interested, Butch "Eddie Munster" Patrick has a part as a kid who sees Agar napping on the beach and keeps trying to touch him. Former Three Stooges' Joe Besser shows up as a gas station attendant, and is eventually barbecued by Agar's hands. If the screenwriter had any brains, he would have had Besser blurt out his trademark "Oww ... not so hard."

Not enough plot and too many scenes with Agar running about town.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 21 February 2017]

John Agar stars as Alex Marsh, a researcher working on a combination nerve gas and hypnotic drug. However, there's an accident in the lab and instead of killing Marsh, the poisonous gas turns him into a giant toxic monster. Just touching him kills folks...yet he somehow is immune to it. Can they stop him or turn him back into the handsome researcher?

There are many problems with this film. First and foremost, there's enough material for about 30 minutes worth of film. As a result, the film is heavily padded and you see many, many scenes of Marsh running about town evading the authorities. Second, the weird costume they put on Agar didn't allow him to talk or act. In fact, it could have been ANYONE inside the ridiculous looking getup. Third, it just wasn't interesting...in fact, it was pretty boring...which means it's a pretty typical John Agar film.

By the way, when the monster came upon a gas station attendant played by Joe Besser, I sure was hoping to see him touch him! I never could stand Besser and his naughty little boy shtick back in the 50s and he was probably the worse guy to try playing Curly's part in the Three Stooges...even worse than Joe DeRita!!

An interesting little film, a cheapie, but in CinemaScope. Eh?

[Jonny_B_Lately · 7/10 · 20 January 2021]

First, Alex Marsh has not combined a nerve gas & a hypnotic, that's what he is ATTEMPTING TO DO, when things go horribly wrong. He does not experiment on himself either. Being overtired, he spills some and inhales the gas and gets some of the liquid on his hands.

You get an idea how terribly wrong when his lab assistant asks where their mice are and Marsh says one of his formulations killed them all.

But to the film. It's very low budget. The only real money spent is on the makeup and the CinemaScope. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The score is also pretty good. Bongo drums, an organ, a tom-tom, an occasional piano (or harp) and an ominous droning noise thrown in. The score really sets the mood.

If you want to know what Malibu and the Pacific Coast Highway looked like in the early sixties, this film will show you.

It's a very short film, moving along at a rapid clip of about an hour. It's not enough time for the viewer to establish empathy with the characters, or even to know much about them. But, this also means that the horror that befalls Marsh (and his lab assistant, a gas station attendant, and his boss) is very brutal. Quite a few characters die horrible deaths in quick succession.

Marsh is desperate, thinking he can be saved with a serum or chemical magic. Frankly, he seems insane toward the end of the film, but you know he's doomed.

Not a bad film to spend just an hour on.

Note: The makeup on Marsh reminds me a bit of "The Thing" from the Fantastic Four. The makeup is quite good though. And yes, that's Agar under all that!

Lost and Found

[richardchatten · 1/10 · 8 December 2020]

Floyd Crosby, the Oscar-winning cameraman on this tawdry little quickie, had worked over thirty years earlier with F.W.Murnau, who in 1920 directed a long-lost version of 'Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde', for which any self-respecting film buff would unhesitatingly trade this trifle, which has certain similarities to it.

Bill Everson used to say that if 'London After Midnight' ever resurfaced it would prove a terrible disappointment. That caveat certainly applies to 'Hand of Death', since if we only had the stills to go on it would seem fascinating. Unfortunately after being a 'lost' film for several years it quietly reappeared on the Fox Movie Channel during the early nineties; when despite it's brevity managed to prove both simultaneously ludicrous and dull.

However it it was shot largely on location in some of the classier suburbs of Los Angeles (where they're obviously used to strange sights, since John Agar's monster rates scarcely a glance from people in the background) at a time when even a hideously deformed mutant who resembles 'The Thing' from The Fantastic Four possessed sufficient presence of mind to put on a hat (one that fits just happens to be hanging in his closet) before going on the rampage; his victims including Joe Besser of the Three Stooges.

Hand of Death is a Classic B Movie with an A Grade

[srkoho · 8/10 · 17 September 2020]

I can imagine being a kid in the early 60's and sitting in the local theater watching this movie. A classic low budget B movie from the era, this one has a decent story line with plenty of scenes of the effects of a experiment that went very wrong. I you enjoy low budget B movies, don't miss this one. A good story, a few laughs and a gruesome monster.

Decent Drive-In fare

[slayrrr666 · 7/10 · 30 October 2008]

"Hand of Death" isn't that bad of a wannabe 50s Drive-In Creature Feature.

**SPOILERS**

While doing some government work on a mysterious gas, scientist Alex Marsh, (John Agar) finally is able to experience a breakthrough, but a freak accident envelops him in a cloud of smoke. Not sure what it will do to him, as he lives through the night, he goes to a friends house for help but kills him only by touch. Everyone he comes into contact with ends up that way. Becoming more and more paranoid about what's happening to him, Alex tries to solve the problem while keeping away from his friends.

The Good News: This really should've been made in the 50s, as there's an inherent feel to it that just screams "50s Drive-In fare" all over this. From the plot-line to the action to the abrupt ending, this is a 50s film through and through. The monster design and his mode of killing are perfect examples, the look is right there with the best of the scene at the time, and the scenes with the creature wandering around are prime cheese. The ending assault on the house is pretty tense and features some nice stalking moments. It's just a typical mad scientist movie from the time.

The Bad News: The film does have some fundamental problems with it. The biggest is that it's really, really short and is over before you know it. That's really a same as it looks like it could keep going on for a while more, and it could've kept on going a little more. There are some scenes that could've been stretched out a little more to expand the time, but then it just stops as the movie's over. The make-up effects for the monster, though, are just humorous and are nowhere near threatening. It could've worked back then, but now it just inspires laughs when it's on-screen.

The Final Verdict: Had this been stretched out a little more, it wouldn't have been as bad as it was, but it's still a pretty decent film anyway. It's still enormously cheesy, so take it from there. If you enjoy this kind of movie, give it a chance, but if not, then take caution with it.

Today's Rating-PG: Violence

Film students should watch this to see how NOT to make a movie

[padawandoug · 1/10 · 6 September 2006]

First of all the only reason I watched this movie all the way through was because it was short (about 90 min with commercials, on AMC). If it had been any longer, I wouldn't have bothered.

This movie is bad in so many ways, it's hard to know where to begin. The script is awful. The acting is bad, even for a B movie. The pacing is REALLY slow, especially in the first twenty minutes or so. The stupid banter of the girlfriend complaining that she doesn't get enough attention from her scientist boyfriend seems to be padding out this non-existent story.

That's really my biggest complaint: NO STORY! A story requires a beginning, middle and an end. But once the "scientist" (Agar) turns into the blackened Thing (from Fantastic Four), there are no further developments; he simply runs around like an idiot. This movie has an ending about as bad as "Jurassic Park," where everyone just runs away. Here, the Agar character is just killed.

This movie is not even enjoyable on a "guilty pleasure" Ed Wood type of level. I don't understand how this ever got released by a studio. Don't they usually demand re-shoots on something this bad? Film students ought to be required to see Hand of Death, as a lesson in how not to make a movie: Don't start filming without a finished script, and make sure to tell a whole story! And don't pad out the first act with stupid banter -- just get on with the story!

If you're not a film student, don't waste your time with this one. If you want really good B movies, look at the works of Val Lewton. The original "Cat People" is atmospheric and excellently noir-ish, and "The Curse of the Cat People" is a fantasy disguised as a horror film, and is magical and poetic. And "Bedlam" is a downright classic about the famous insane asylum in England. Check those out if you want to be entertained and touched, not this piece of drek, which left me wondering why I bothered. The best thing to say about Hand of Death is that it's short.

Not good, but sort of fun

[bymarkclark.com · 2 July 2002]

Last night, Fox Movie Channel ran the long-feared-lost sci fi thriller HAND OF DEATH, starring John Agar. I believe this may have been the first-ever TV showing of this film. Here's my verdict....

First off, anyone hoping that Fox was clinging to a pristine print of this film, which had been simply filed away in the vaults, was in for a disappointment. What FMC ran was a clumsily panned and scanned transfer of a dupey, 16 mm print. The sound quality was fuzzy and the picture quality so contrasty that for stretches the monster-Agar was reduced to a silhouette.

Director Gene Nelson and screenwriter Eugene Ling make very little of a fertile idea, unused since The Invisible Ray in 1936. A scientific experiment goes haywire, and scientist Alex Marsh's (John Agar) metabolism is altered so that his mere touch suddenly kills any living creature. The film's first 20 minutes are devoted to bland domestic melodrama and strained comic relief. But the the real problems begin once Agar gains his `hand of death.'

When he gains the death-touch, Alex goes insane. Unfortunately, so does the movie. From that point forward, none of his actions have any coherent motivation, and the picture simply lurches from one ludicrious scene to the next without any apparent logic. When there's no logic, there's also no tension. Puzzled viewers are left to simply watch Agar run amok.

As a result of the accident, Alex also turns black, and eventually morphs into a grotesque, bloated monster that looks like a cross between Uncle Remus and Ben Grimm (The Thing, from the Fantastic Four comic books). Making the scientist turn black gives the film unintented but hilarious additional layers of meaning.

The acting is wooden, but the characters are so poorly sketched that it matters little. Agar has very little to do here except run around in an oversized foam rubber mask and grunt. The film is further weakened by a juvenile score (which, at one point, breaks into `Chopsticks!').

Nelson worked mostly in television, where he shot an episode of the original Star Trek series (`The Gamesters of Triskelion'), among other TV episodes. At just 58 minutes, Hand of Death isn't much longer than `Gamesters of Triskelion.' This appears to have been Ling's final screenwriting credit. Perhaps after this, he was too embarrassed to continue.

The most distinguished member of the Hand of Death crew was cinematoprapher Floyd Crosby. Crosby (father of singer David Crosby) had lensed major Hollywood features including the stunning High Noon (1952), but was blacklisted by the major studios and reduced to shooting B pictures (including Attack of the Crab Monsters and Teenage Cave Man). After Hand of Death, Crosby would shoot most of the Roger Corman Poe adaptations, as well as X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes and The Black Zoo, among other genre favorites. It's impossible to judge his work here, due to the poor quality of the FMC print.

Hand of Death is not a good film, but manages to hold audiences' attention in the same `I-can't-believe-I'm-seeing-this' sort of way that films like The Hideous Sun Demon amuse audiences. It was not a major rediscovery by any means, but it was nice to finally see this little curio.

How has the MST3K crew not riffed this.

[metalrox_2000 · 2/10 · 26 September 2020]

Director Gene Nelson matches Ed Wood when it comes to utter ineptness, but with none of the Ed Wood charm. Clumsily filmed scenes, passersby watching the action without as much reaction. Hand of Death is about a scientist named Alex Marsh (John Alger) who does what any rational scientist does when he can't find a test subject, he uses himself as a guinea pig. What happens next is pretty predictable, Alger becomes a strange beast because of his experiment, leading his girlfriend Carol Wilson (played by Paula Raymond to a wooden perfection) left alone to cry and plead for Marsh to come to his senses and seek help. Hot on his trail is Tom Holland (played by Steve Dunne, who comes off more as a poorman's Dick Sargent than he does anything else). In Marsh's wake are several unsuspecting victims, including the kindly Dr. Ramsey, who makes the mistake of trying to help Dr. Marsh, and a cap driver who by his very dialogue seems more fitted for a 1930's gangster movie. And the less said about the dialogue the better. It's cheesy, even for a b movie like this and makes anything sound intelligent by comparison. You'll find yourself chuckling at parts that are supposed to be dramatic.

When the grand finale comes, Dr. Marsh as the killer creature is dispatched rather easily and his girlfriend Carol reacts with a rather emotionless generic scream. And we're left wit Dr. Marsh's body floating in the water as Carol, Tom, and the policemen for what ever reason, just walk away, leaving Dr. Marsh's body to possibly be washed out to sea.

Overall this is a cheesy move that could have been better served with a slightly longer running time and an entirely different cast. The best way to enjoy this film is to just have your own little riff session because there is plenty to make fun of in this little turkey. Enjoy!

The Domestic Troubles of Pufferfish-Man!

[grokenstein · 2/10 · 28 April 2015]

John Agar and his assistant are conducting independent secret nerve gas experiments in the California desert with the goal of creating a hypnotic-paralytic agent which will allow America to "peacefully occupy" any country it likes, rendering nuclear weapons unnecessary. If that alone isn't making your head swim, Agar's safety procedures will; in the opening moments, a mailman investigating the apparently-dead sheep littering Agar's front lawn stumbles through his front gate and almost succumbs to lingering chemicals, five whole feet from the roadway.

So it should come as no surprise that overworking, careless Agar winds up splashing a fresh and faulty batch of formula on himself, giving him a literal nerve-gas touch-of-death. Said touch is both horrifying--as a casual arm-clutch causes a hapless dopey gas station attendant (Joe Besser) to die screaming in seconds--and silly, as Besser spins to the camera to display what appears to be a rubber glove pasted to his face to represent bruising, swollen flesh.

Other victims get modeling clay and greasepaint pasted on their kissers, but Agar's character gets the worst of it: while the formula doesn't immediately kill him, it does cause him to abruptly transform into Marvel's The Thing with a bad case of toad-throat halfway through the movie, forcing Agar to shove his typically hammy performance out the holes in the puffy mask for the remainder.

And that's not even the worst of it. This movie is only sixty minutes long, and the front end is packed with a ridiculous romantic triangle sporting dialog that would make Jerry Lewis' writers flinch, while the last half is a broth-thin manhunt for the swollen death-toucher as he stumbles and flails his way across town from one random encounter to the next. These time-wasters include a particularly pathetic scene on a hideous rock-and-concrete-strewn beach in which the collapsed monster gets stalked and investigated by a small boy (Butch Patrick of The Munsters). And all the while, the worst score you could imagine before the invention of the synthesizer plays incessantly. INCESSANTLY.

If Rifftrax doesn't tear this one up, it will be a crime.

Hokey nuclear horror: been there, done that.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 18 October 2018]

It's silliness personified in this early 60's cheapy that isn't as much unintentionally funny rather than just plain cheeky. Probably about five years too late, this shows nuclear scientist John Agar becoming something like the hideous sun demon when he has a bad reaction to the nuclear power experiments he has been working on. All of a sudden, he has the power to kill just by touching which puts a cramp in his plans with girlfriend Paula Raymond. Then without warning, his whole body turns charcoal black and his desire to kill seems to increase. A poor cab driver finds this out in the most shocking, if even slightest humorous of ways, and when Agar touches and kills him (turning the corpse black instantly), it's as if he's getting revenge on the cab driver for simply talking too much. I give this an only slightly below average score for not being boring, but to rank it any higher would be an insult to filmmakers of the same genre who really took their time to create something unique as opposed to repeating the same old tired theme that had been done for years, and much better.

Toast-creature goes berserk

[MartianOctocretr5 · 4/10 · 3 July 2007]

A scientist (John Agar) fools around with some chemicals, looking for a formula that could be used by the military to paralyze their enemy. Like any scientist working with dangerous chemical reactions, the good doctor falls asleep on the job, and spills the toxic substance. Soon he is dreaming about flying beakers, while the poison turns him into a screaming brute with a serious complexion disorder. He looks like a very tan version of the Hulk, and his touch is lethal to anybody except some guy with bongo drums who seems to be just off-camera in every scene.

This drive-in second feature had a premise that held some possibilities, but a budget of about five bucks didn't allow for much except a lot of dialog between characters. The actors all try, but there isn't much substance for anybody to work with. Just chase scenes, and a few chance encounters with the creature. After menacing Hollywood, he beach combs Malibu.

Not enough is done to make the character sympathetic, and the movie just ends abruptly as the budget ran out. A nostalgic curiosity only.

This is a very average addition to the genre that's an absolutely must see

[kevin_robbins · 6/10 · 19 April 2022]

Hand of Death (1962) is a movie I recently watched off my DVR after recording it on FXM. The storyline follows a scientist who steps a little out of his realm and begins testing a new, state of the art nerve gas. Unfortunately for him things don't go as planned leading to a catastrophe.

This movie is directed by Gene Nelson (The Bad News Bears and Fantasy Island television series) and stars John Agar (The Mole People), Paula Raymond (Devil's Door), Stephen Dunne (The Woman from Tangier), Roy Gordon (Attack of the 50ft Woman) and John A. Alonzo (Chinatown).

This is one of the all time greatest background music you will find in any film. This soundtrack is cool from beginning to end. The characters are well established and it's easy to root for and against the main character. His transformation scene is crazy and seeing him run around as a monster in a trench coat was hilarious. The taxi scene in this had me cracking up.

Overall this is a very average addition to the genre that's an absolutely must see. I would score this a 5-5.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

My first fright fest

[mopmonkey-1 · 8/10 · 23 July 2008]

I saw this movie at a theater as an 8 year old,and was literally scared under the seat. I haven't seen it since 1962, but vividly remember the monster he became. As young as I was, I remember finding it odd that he wandered the streets without garnering more attention. It IS a shame that it hasn't been made available on DVD; I'd grab it up in a minute. It would probably seem hokey now,but, on the other hand,maybe it would still impress, like " The Day the Earth Stood Still" (no insult intended to THAT classic). We don't have AMC available in Canada, so it appears that I'll have a long wait before refreshing my memory of my first REALLY scary horror movie.

Don't touch me!

[StarGazer77 · 7/10 · 28 August 2023]

John Agar really shines in this 62 SCI-FI/,Horror film a rare one indeed! Also stars beautiful Paula Raymond & Steven Dunn. John Agar stars as a scientist working on a special nerve gas and by accident turns him and his touch into a deadly monster! Creepy background music helps enhance this rarely seen film. Too bad he doesn't have the help & lab from his film TARANTULA ..maybe Dr. Deemer could of found a cure!! Fun n well paced movie some good scares too! John Agar was a solid actor especially in his SCI-FI films , one of my favorites next to Richard Carlson & Kenneth Tobey

Highly recommended!!

This is definitely worth the wait!

[exoticafan · 14 March 2003]

I've heard so many "critics" carp about this movie that it astounds me...Let's remember that this was a LOST movie for many years. Thousands of us grew up with tantalizing pictures of the movie in Famous Monsters and Castle of Frankenstein. Along with Horrors of Spider Island and The Awful Dr. Orloff, it was the Holy Grail of Silver Age Horrors. Don't listen to detractors...this is EVERYTHING you want in a low-budget monster film; the compact running time actually adds to its appeal. I want to join with the fans in getting FOX to release this on DVD, or have them release the rights to some company who would embrace the project.

Hand of Death (1962)

[trimbolicelia · 8/10 · 24 February 2019]

Fair early B-grade 60's sci-fi / horror film. John Agar is a dedicated scientist working non-stop to invent some super weapon that will end war. Good luck. He's so busy he has no time for his devoted secretary girlfriend (who sounds like she has zero leisure time and bemoans her boyfriends absorption with his work). Anyway said scientist is working so hard he get over-exposed to what he's working on and ends up irradiated, poisoned, or polluted by it. It eventually turns him into a blackened, crusty-skinned, unintelligible monstrosity whose touch burns and kills. It ends with him terrorizing a beach town (Malibu?) and being shot dead by the cops. The whole film is only about an hour long so it doesn't wear out its welcome. The film's black-and-white photography is very nice and clear. Recommended for fans of this genre.

Hard to find title resurfaces

[gortx · 14 July 2000]

One of the most inexplicably hard-to-see Horror titles of the 60's has resurfaced -- well, sort of. Because of a combination of vague legal rights issues, big studio neglect and the dissolution of its original production company, HAND OF DEATH has all but disappeared from sight. Recently, its star, John Agar and a group of his devoted fans got a rare opportunity to watch a videotape of the film. Hopefully, 20th Century Fox (now that they have found a print) will resolve all those pesky legal details and reissue the film on DVD, tape and TV. The film itself has some definite merit. The acting, , writing, direction and basic storyline are totally pro all the way. Technically, HAND benefits from fine cinematography by Crosby (TABU, several Roger Corman features) -- although the Cinemascope film is hampered by a pan-and-scan transfer on tape. The real standout is a jazz cum horror genre score by Sonny Burke (ooh, a CD would be nice, hint hint). On one level, HAND is a typical: Mad scientist INVENTS serum, mad scientist TAKES serum, Mad Scientist BECOMES Monster kind of movie. But, a subplot (underdeveloped mainly because the film runs a too trim 60 whole minutes) about the military creating the serum for nerve gas war is intriguing and the above mentioned tech credits are handled by seasoned vets. I hope all IMDB fans will get the rare chance I did of seeing HAND OF DEATH soon. And, thank you, John Agar for letting me see your movie!