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Oliver Stone and Michael Caine may well feel a little embarrassed by this tale of a cartoonist haunted by his own severed drawing hand, but despite it's ludicrous premise and rather rubbery effects from Stan Winston, the film isn't all THAT bad.

Michael Caine brings an amiable nonchalance to the E. C. horror comic style proceedings while portraying his character's ever growing bitterness perfectly. While the story provides little in surprises the film does work on more than one level, leaving the viewer wondering if what's going on, is all in the mind of Caine's character or that it is indeed actually happening. And for a film like this that makes you think, or more fittingly, makes you stop thinking how all very silly it all is, is no mean feat.

This is an exciting psychological thriller based on the novel by Mark Brandel "The tail of the lizard" , though was consistently underrated by most reviewers . It's a surprising flick and very intriguing whose value more remarkable is the ambiguity that its filmmaker Oliver Stone poses in this . A surreal psycho-horror pastiche in which a famous cartoonist of comics named "Jonathan Lansdale" (Michael Caine) who lives unhappily with his wife (Andrea Marcovicci) loses a hand , being severed in an unfortunate car accident that ends with his career and creates a strong tension in their marriage . Soon after , the hand is on the loose with a mind of its own . As a harrowing nightmare, the lost hand appears seeking out victims , committing atrocious murders with an obsessive revenge.

This first important Oliver Stone film contains chills , thrills , suspenseful and is quite entertaining . It's the first commercial outing in medium budget from Oliver Stone, which was not well received by the criticism at the time. . Stone's sophomore directorial shows us a dense , unique , atmospheric and surreal ambient , where the subjectivity seizes the story . There are times when the film that we question whether what we recount and we see is really the case or any other remedy used to deceive and confuse the spectator . Through the film and gradual manner the story is complicating and becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish reality from fantasy . This theme about a hand on the loose with a a mind on its own is already been seen in former films such as The Hands of Orlac (1924 by Rober Wiene , Mad Love (1934) by Karl Freund with Peter Lorre and Hands of Orlac (1960) by Edmond T Greville with Christopher Lee and Mel Ferrer . First rate acting by Michael Caine as Jon Lansdale , a comic book artist who loses his right hand in a car accident , though Michael said in a TV interview that the only reason he did this film was to earn enough to put a down payment on a new garage he was having built .Oliver Stone initially wanted Jon Voight to play the lead role, but was turned down by him ; Christopher Walken and Dustin Hoffman also declined the role . Very good support cast formed by expert secondary actors such as Bruce McGill , Viveca Lindfords , Rosemary Murphy , among others . Furthermore , a cameo by Oliver Stone as Bum . Colorful cinematography with a right management of the camera by Baggot , as the picture packs a turbid, dark, surreal, disturbing atmosphere . Thrilling and tense musical score by the great James Horner .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Oliver Stone , though usually panned by mostly critics , nowadays is best considered .Stone returning from the Vietnam war did his first film , it was a student film entitled Last Year in Viet Nam (1971), followed by the gritty horror film Seizure (1974) for which he also wrote the screenplay. The next seven years saw him direct two films: Mad Man of Martinique (1979) and this The Hand (1981) . He also wrote many screenplays for films such as Midnight express (1978), Conan (1982), and Scarface (1983). Stone won his first Oscar for Midnight express (1978), but his fame was just beginning to show.

This film starring Michael Caine seems like it might be ridiculously dumb due to its name and cover art. However it's actually quite thought provoking, and very entertaining. This film has a sort of funny brilliance to it. I think most people go into it just so unready for it or something; Hence the low rating. Also, if you don't watch it from the beginning, it will most likely just seem stupid. This film still has less than 6,000 votes on here at this point. It's definitely underseen and it's somewhat of a hidden gem in my view. 7.5/10.

OK, the murders weren't gory (Just strangling), it was slow at sometimes, but still an enjoyable movie. I mean, Idle Hands was gory, funnier, fast-moving, has a great soundtrack, and better, but it's still a great flick.

The story is about a cartoonist played by Michael Caine who shows his girl a lizard's tail (The name of the story the movie is based on) which is still moving which fore-shadows what happens later in the movie. Then in an automobile accident, he loses his hand. They can't find it, so they give him a robot hand for a replacement. And the hand he lost was the hand he draws and writes with, so they have to have a replacement. He complains the artist is not as good as him and they find a recent cartoon scribbled on. And then there's the murders. A bum (played by director Oliver Stone) is killed by the hand (In a brilliant black and white sequence). Then Caine moves to some place to teach and cheats on another girl. Then other murders happen.

I won't give away what else happens. If you want a psychological thriller about a killing hand, rent this (Or And Now the Screaming Starts). But if you want a killer hand and a comedy, see Idle Hands (Don't listen to critics).

The Hand: B+ Idle Hands: A-

Not a lot of people feel this, but the way films are made have changed since the beginning of the millennium. From blocking, cinematography, film stock, writing, pacing, everything is different. So it's really refreshing to watch michael caine do his thing in this oliver stone horrorfest. What might have been over the top campy shtick in the 80s becomes infinitely watchable.

I agree about the similarities to the shining but doesn't quite match up. The comments about the burning car i don't agree with. It's inserted to show michael caine getting unhinged the more he suspects he's got a pet killer hand out there.

A great movie to check out. Really fun.