The Right Hand of the Devil

I'm sure I saw some of this movie at a Fanex convention in the late 80s. Some of the camera work was interesting and creative. Cinematographer Fouad Said was the DP on the Cosby-Culp series ISpy after this movie and he is still with us at 92, as of this writing. The movie is super-amateurish in every way and poorly edited but for 20 grand, even for dollars in the early 1960s, Katcher could only do so much. The footage of stripper and the film's poster girl Georgia Holden is barely a measly 5 seconds. I'd have given her 20 minutes.

Aram Katcher, wrote, starred and directed himself (sort of) in this b movie that benefits from Los Angeles location shooting in its first half. It's always fun to see what a major city looked like so long ago. The movie itself is fun too, but not always for intended reasons. Katcher seems to be reading cue cards in an early scene where he recruits a cohort for a heist. He's never really convincing as an actor, but fortunately the movie is more interested in action. After romancing and taking an older woman for a hilarious beach romp,Katcher assembles his gang of three. They pull off the robbery, but Katcher has a nasty way to pay them off. He also has to deal with the older woman, who was a witness (very nasty!). Fleeing to Rio (all shown in stock footage), Katcher lives the high life, until an unexpected associate shows up one day for a wowzer of a finale.

Somewhat famous for a graphic acid-bath death scene,the violence is crudely done and not a single actor shows any real chops. But the movie was nearly impossible to see for long time and now that it's available it's worth a look for those drawn to it. (The Youtube print has severe cuts).

In the 60's appeared weird schockers, most of the time badly written, shot and edited, but with few fun trash scenes. Remember Timothy Carey when he directed (and played) "the World's Greatest Sinner" or when he played in "Bayou", kind of movies George Cukor would never have directed. Well this "Right Hand of the Devil" is directed by Aram Katcher (sort of "Mad Love" Peter Lorre) who also plays the lead, and wrote and edited the movie, with no budget and no rhythm, the heist is quite ridiculous, one of the worst I've ever seen, but the interesting scenes are the murder scenes, not far from Herschell Gordon Lewis's "2000 Maniacs", but the year before. Should be cult for Z fans, ask Lux and Ivy.

I saw part of this B&W movie on TV back when I was a little kid in the early 1970's. It terrified me! I vividly remembered the bad guy throwing a guy in a vat of acid and burning him alive. Then a disguised woman shows up and says, "You always liked my legs. Here have one!" and then she kicked a prosthetic leg at him and shot him dead. Only recently was I able to find the name of the movie. Now I need to find a copy to watch. Anyone know where I can find it?

This is a bizarre but highly effective vanity project from a balding, thick-accented character actor named Aram Katcher. It's really a window on the sleazy late-50s/early-60s world of Mickey-Spillane-influenced misanthropy and a reflection of the disjointed, overblown independent filmmaking techniques characteristic of the period. Katcher's in-your-face non-style shows strong echoes of Blast of Silence, I the Jury and The Naked Kiss, and foreshadowings of Reservoir Dogs and The Usual Suspects. No masterpiece, but deserves a resurrection.