Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

Director:

Harold P. Warren

Writer:

Harold P. Warren (screenplay)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

It's Shocking! It's Beyond Your Imagination!

Plot:

Classic low budget horror about a family getting lost and stumbling upon a hidden, underground, devil-worshiping cult led by the fearsome Master and his servant Torgo.

Plot Keywords:

Master | Torgo | Lost | Cult | Driving

Cast

Tom Neyman	...	The Master
John Reynolds	...	Torgo
Diane Mahree	...	Margaret
Harold P. Warren	...	Michael (as Hal Warren)
Stephanie Nielson	...	Master's Wife
Sherry Proctor	...	Master's Wife
Robin Redd	...	Master's Wife
Jackey Neyman	...	Debbie
Bernie Rosenblum	...	Teenager in Car
Joyce Molleur	...	Teenager in Car
William Bryan Jennings	...	Cop
Jay Hall	...	Master's Wife
Bettie Burns	...	Master's Wife
Lelanie Hansard	...	Master's Wife
Pat Coburn	...	Girl in Convertible

Also Known As:

The Lodge of Sins (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

El Paso, Texas, USA

Company:

Norm-Iris

Trivia:

Harold P. Warren once stated that he left Torgo's fate vague on purpose. If the film was a hit, the sequel was to involve Torgo's return. The sequel was never written.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Throughout the movie, the zipper on the master's back is clearly visible.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Debbie: Mom, I'm cold.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

Keep Manos at #1 (of the bottom heap, of course)!!!

Frankly, I am outraged to see so many 10s for this movie, being that no sane person would ever give such a grade to this unrelentinly boring piece of ... (man, it's quite hard not to use profanity with a movie like this). If people were giving Manos 10s just so that some rival could snatch the #1 worst movie title then that is truly sad. Manos is morally the true winner here in that respect.

Not much can be said that has not been said already about this movie. I would know, since reading the IMDb comments, getting a load of laughs from them and feeling a complete sense of empathy with other poor souls who dared to watch this movie, knowing exactly where they are coming from, is just about the only good thing I have gotten out of MTHOF.

Yes, the movie was an eyeopener. I had no idea how bad movies could be before Manos. Ed Wood movies at least provide laughs and something coherent to look at, even though the realization is shoddy to a humorous magnitude. A so-bad-it's-traumatizing movie is an entirely different league from a so-bad-it's-good movie.

In Manos we basically have: driving; boredom; more driving; more boredom; a feeling of being mentally raped within the first 15 minutes (not many movies can do that, you know!); more driving; some rather purposeless necking; (did I mention the driving?); Torgo, our favorite strange person with deformed knees; a family, in whose creation Darwin's laws of natural selection seem to have been completely ignored, gladly deciding to spend the night in "the master's" house; a touching display of affection through holding hands (or is it?); a bored kid; a dead dog, i think; some melodramatic "hand-waving"; a puzzlingly out-of-the-blue all-out wrestling match amongst the ladies, thoroughly making me question my previous enjoyment in watching such activities; how massaging someone to death would look like and last, but quite least, the absolutely tasteless ending, complete with a subsequent cast introduction to give it a "campy" feel. Oh, humanity.

It is a sheer hilarity people bought into the hype and actually came in doves to see the premiere. The movie poster that advertized MTHOF is just precious.

This stinker is the kind of movie you just can't help but love to hate.

Rating 1/10 (so far only 5 movies have ever received this dubious grade in my book)

Scale:

Positive opinion of a movie: 10 MASTERPIECE, 9 Excellent, 8 Good, 7 OK

Neutral opinion of a movie: 6 Adequate, 5 Average, 4 Mediocre

Negative opinion of a movie: 3 Poor, 2 Bad, 1 HORRIBLE