Demonoid

Demonoid: Messenger of Death (1981)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Ultra bizarre horror film has Jennifer Baines (Samantha Eggar) traveling to Mexico with her husband. The local workers refuse to go down in a mine due to their superstition so of course our two people do. Before long the curse of a severed hand has struck them and before long more and more people are coming under the curse, which requires them to cut their hand off.

In 1981 who didn't want what is basically a remake of THE CRAWLING HAND? In all seriousness, there have been countless horror films going back to the silent era that have dealt with a possessed hand coming back for some sort of revenge. This film pretty much takes elements of THE EXORCIST and mixes it with one of these movies and the end result is pretty bad but mildly entertaining.

The best thing going for this film is the fact that it offers up quite a bit of violence and some silly death scenes. As one person gets "possessed" with the hand, it eventually requires them to cut the hand off so we get several scenes where people have to be creative to try and get the hand off. There are also a few scenes where skulls get crushed by one of the hands, which adds some red stuff.

Eggar turns in a good performance but you can't help but feel she's wasting it on a picture like this. At least she showed up and did the job unlike so many who usually just cash their paychecks with movies like this. I also thought Stuart Whitman was good in his role of the Father trying to help the woman destroy the hand.

The biggest problem with this movie is that it just doesn't contain too much plot or characters that we actually like. We basically just get a bunch of short scenes where people get possessed, kill and then cut the hand. There's certainly no tension to be found anywhere, although the ending itself is quite nice.

A couple (Samantha Eggar and Roy Cameron) while working in a Mexican mine discover a severed hand. The hand becomes one with Cameron and possesses him, causing him to commit all kinds of nasty murders.

Not as bad as other people make it out to be, but nowhere near good. And poor Eggar gives it her all even though she is in such an unispired production. Some of the effects are incredibly grotsque though. My rating: 5 out of 10.

Rated R; contains Graphic Violence, Nudity, and Language.

...there's not much point in watching "Demonoid: Messenger of Death". Had they gone deeper into the history of how the first hand became a killer hand, maybe the movie would have been better. But just showing one scene of a cult, and then showing a husband and wife going into a Mexican mine and finding the remains of a temple, thereby releasing an evil hand? Not good enough.

Anyway, this isn't the worst movie (it's easily more interesting than "Baryshnya-Krestyanka" or "Everyone Says I Love You"). But they could have easily developed it further. I suspect that Samantha Eggar and Stuart Whitman don't try to stress this on their resumes. Pretty lame.

Okay, explain me this: the film has got an original premise, a uniquely sinister setting and immensely atmospheric scenery. So, then why on earth is it still such a boring and mildly frustrating film? "Macabra" contains all the basic ingredients of a unique horror effort, but the elaboration is so weak and amateurish all the potential and good intentions go nearly wasted. Jennifer and Mark Baines, a married couple, invest their money in a Mexican mine and hope to get rich real fast exploiting silver. The local workers still attempt to warn them about the place being haunted with an ancient demonic evil, but it's useless. Instead of winning silver, Jennifer and Mark unleash pure evil in the shape of a mummified hand that takes control over the people it possesses. When Mark falls victim to the evil first, Jennifer teams up with a reluctant Vietnam veteran turned priest in order to defeat the hand. As said, the basic idea had potential, but a bit more background regarding the nature and origin of the evil would have been welcome. What exactly is it? Why a hand? How did it end up in a Mexican mine, etc? There are some moments of sheer suspense, fast pacing and creepiness, but even more boredom and absolute pointlessness. There's a reasonable amount of gore and typically 80's cheese-effects, including self-crawling hands and explicit amputations. The cinematography is too dark, but the set-pieces are admirably macabre and especially the soundtrack is far superior to any other aspect this overall mediocre effort. The theme music is creepy, and throughout the film uncanny tunes can be heard repeatedly. Bad film, but curiously compelling and still recommended to remotely tolerant genre fans.

Samantha Eggar has to fight off a killer severed hand after her husband and his team accidentally stumble upon a cursed cave. The hand jumps from body to body, turning them into killers. The premise is silly and the film doesn't do a lot to bring any seriousness to it, but it's fun enough.