CRUD Challenge: Hand of Death
Sep. 27th, 2025 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skjamHand of Death (1962) dir. Gene Nelson
Alex Marsh (John Agar) is a biochemist who was supposed to be working on an aerosol anesthesia that patients could absorb through the skin. This research got derailed when Alex stumbled across a formula that instead caused temporary paralysis of the entire body, effectively a nerve gas. It's also apparently very compatible for mixture with other chemical compounds. So his current project is combining the nerve gas with a will-deadening hypnotic so that even when the paralysis wears off, the victims will be suggestible and easily controlled. The military will certainly want this!
The people he's explaining this to aren't so sure. His wheelchair-bound mentor Dr. Frederick Ramsey (Roy Gordon), girlfriend Carol Wilson (Paula Raymond) and friendly rival Tom Holland (Stephen Dunne) are all concerned about the safety and possibly the morality of such research. Alex dismisses their concerns and returns to his desert laboratory. Carlos (John A. Alonzo), his laboratory assistant, is also concerned with the possible dangers, but his paycheck depends on Alex, so agrees to help.
A combination of overwork and being exposed to trace amounts of the nerve gas causes Alex to become less rational and more careless. One night, he accidentally knocks over his latest combination serum and tries to wipe up the mess with his bare hand. This causes great pain and he rips his shirt open, falling into his bed with severe hallucinations.
When he wakes up, Alex is feeling somewhat better, but his skin has darkened. And when Carlos tries to get him medical attention, Alex grabs his arm to stop him...which causes Carlos to drop dead with the affected skin turning black. To cover up the accidental death, Alex sets the lab on fire and flees to seek a cure. Things only go downhill for him from there.
This low budget horror flick seems more Fifties than Sixties, and may have been written much earlier. It's less than an hour long, suitable for a quick drive-in feature before the main movie of the night. The love triangle subplot feels stuffed in to bring the story up to even that length.
The makeup for Alex's monster form is admittedly crude, but in black and white it works decently well. The acting is adequate.
One scene reminded me this takes place before the Americans with Disability Act. Dr. Ramsey has been in a wheelchair for decades due to an accident with live polio virus. The entrance to the institute where he works has a staircase. And in all the years he's worked there, no one has thought to put in a ramp or handicapped entrance. This isn't said out loud, but simply shown.
There's a couple of interesting cameos. Joe Besser, one of the substitute Stooges, plays an over-eager gas station attendant. And The Munsters' Butch Patrick is a little boy who finds Alex lying on the beach and almost touches him. Oh, and then there's the taxi driver (Fred Korne) who sees a man with a blackened, crackled face in his cab and doesn't get scared or concerned, just angry. Perhaps bigotry is overcoming his ability to perceive beyond skin color?
Content note: Several deaths, including two mice. Deformity. Alex is a little too into the idea of turning enemy soldiers into medical zombies.
This movie was apparently lost media for a few decades, so those of you interested in the history of horror films might want to check it out to fill in your knowledge. Viewers with little patience may want to fast forward to when Alex is contaminated and the scary parts begin.
Alex Marsh (John Agar) is a biochemist who was supposed to be working on an aerosol anesthesia that patients could absorb through the skin. This research got derailed when Alex stumbled across a formula that instead caused temporary paralysis of the entire body, effectively a nerve gas. It's also apparently very compatible for mixture with other chemical compounds. So his current project is combining the nerve gas with a will-deadening hypnotic so that even when the paralysis wears off, the victims will be suggestible and easily controlled. The military will certainly want this!
The people he's explaining this to aren't so sure. His wheelchair-bound mentor Dr. Frederick Ramsey (Roy Gordon), girlfriend Carol Wilson (Paula Raymond) and friendly rival Tom Holland (Stephen Dunne) are all concerned about the safety and possibly the morality of such research. Alex dismisses their concerns and returns to his desert laboratory. Carlos (John A. Alonzo), his laboratory assistant, is also concerned with the possible dangers, but his paycheck depends on Alex, so agrees to help.
A combination of overwork and being exposed to trace amounts of the nerve gas causes Alex to become less rational and more careless. One night, he accidentally knocks over his latest combination serum and tries to wipe up the mess with his bare hand. This causes great pain and he rips his shirt open, falling into his bed with severe hallucinations.
When he wakes up, Alex is feeling somewhat better, but his skin has darkened. And when Carlos tries to get him medical attention, Alex grabs his arm to stop him...which causes Carlos to drop dead with the affected skin turning black. To cover up the accidental death, Alex sets the lab on fire and flees to seek a cure. Things only go downhill for him from there.
This low budget horror flick seems more Fifties than Sixties, and may have been written much earlier. It's less than an hour long, suitable for a quick drive-in feature before the main movie of the night. The love triangle subplot feels stuffed in to bring the story up to even that length.
The makeup for Alex's monster form is admittedly crude, but in black and white it works decently well. The acting is adequate.
One scene reminded me this takes place before the Americans with Disability Act. Dr. Ramsey has been in a wheelchair for decades due to an accident with live polio virus. The entrance to the institute where he works has a staircase. And in all the years he's worked there, no one has thought to put in a ramp or handicapped entrance. This isn't said out loud, but simply shown.
There's a couple of interesting cameos. Joe Besser, one of the substitute Stooges, plays an over-eager gas station attendant. And The Munsters' Butch Patrick is a little boy who finds Alex lying on the beach and almost touches him. Oh, and then there's the taxi driver (Fred Korne) who sees a man with a blackened, crackled face in his cab and doesn't get scared or concerned, just angry. Perhaps bigotry is overcoming his ability to perceive beyond skin color?
Content note: Several deaths, including two mice. Deformity. Alex is a little too into the idea of turning enemy soldiers into medical zombies.
This movie was apparently lost media for a few decades, so those of you interested in the history of horror films might want to check it out to fill in your knowledge. Viewers with little patience may want to fast forward to when Alex is contaminated and the scary parts begin.
