Review by Gary Tooze

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DVD of the film

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Description: Mike (Harold P. Warren) and Maggie (Diane Mahree), on a road trip with their daughter and family dog, take a wrong turn in Texas and become trapped at a weird lodge inhabited by a polygamous pagan cult. They soon find themselves in the middle of a power struggle between caretaker Torgo (John Reynolds), cult leader The Master (Tom Neyman), and two warring factions of the Master's wives. As the family tries to escape, the worshipers of Manos decide their fate...

MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE, the sole directorial effort of Texas fertilizer salesman Harold P. Warren, perplexed even the most jaded Drive-In audiences and was deemed by many "the worst movie ever made". Nearly lost, the original 16mm Ektachrome film elements have been finally unearthed and lovingly restored by Ben Solovey to create the definitive version of this accidental masterpiece. There's no other movie like MANOS... now in HD with picture and sound unseen since 1966.

 

 

I have mixed feelings about Manos. Yes, it is truly bad and one of the worst films of all time. It’s a lot of fun and the stories behind it are the best of any movie but in recent years it has come to be accepted as THE worst movie of all time in some circles. Removing the long standing “Plan 9 From Outer Space” from this illustrious position. I find this disturbing because I feel that it is mainly the result of the stories behind the movie rather than the content of the film itself. The movie got its start when writer/director Harold P. Warren, a fertilizer salesman, made a bet he could produce a hit movie with an extremely modest budget. The man had a bit of an ego and clearly was not a gifted filmmaker. The entire movie was shot using a handheld camera that could only record thirty-two seconds of footage at a time. John Reynolds, who plays the satyr Torgo in the film, killed himself the same year the film came out while addicted to pain killers he got hooked on because of the prosthetics he wore for the film permanently damaged his knees. The saddest thing about that is the fact that nowhere in the movie is it demonstrated that Torgo is a satyr.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

One again Synapse are prepared to support their release with some keen supplements. We get an audio commentary with Jackey Raye Neyman-Jones (Debbie in the film) and Tom Neyman ('Master') reminiscing about the production - very informative and garners some appreciation. There are three features - Hands: The Fate of MANOS runs 1/2 an hour and delves deeper into the film than you might have presumed possible (its very good!), Restoring the Hands of Fate is a scant 6.5 minutes on the process used to restore the 16mm film for the Blu-ray release and FELT: The Puppet Hands of Fate is only 4-minutes long. The notable extra is the unrestored, 1 hour 10-minute, 'Grindhouse Edition' of the film that was a great idea to include so you can see how much improved the restored version actually is. You can see it's in pretty rough shape comparatively but is given a similarly robust technical transfer as the 'restored'. The package also contains a DVD of the film (no Grindhouse version though).

BOTTOM LINE:
This was more fun than I was anticipating. Having heard about this film for years (and its horrific reputation) I was curious and ready for almost everything. I had never seen the Mystery Theatre version. I actually wish it was longer. Yes, it is bad in a production sense (Ed Wood way) but if seen in the right light - there is some artistry floating around the excessive sloppiness. There is no real gore or exploitation leanings of the extravagant kind. I was glad to have been able to see this 'iconic' pimple-on-the-buttock-of-cinema and the Synapse Blu-ray package does about as good a job with this title as possible. This reviewer appreciated that effort. For those 'curious' and open-minded - we absolutely recommend! 

Gary Tooze

October 5th, 2015