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Usually, when you watch a movie that sends up the horror genre, the movie sacrifices the scares in favor of the laughs. But, in Idle Hands, the movie makers remembered to keep all the creepy touches and startling frights that make a horror movie when they mixed in all the humor.

Not nearly as heavy handed as, say, the Scary Movie franchise, Idle Hands has all the normal trappings of a good teen horror flick: The unstoppable killing evil that has come back, the buddies of the main character who don't understand the danger until it's too late, the horny girl who main character must protect and a brave hero who is a bastion of all that is good in the world to defend us...

OK, so I was lying about that last one. And that is one of the best twists of the film, the main character is a screw-up and doesn't act very heroically until very, very late in the film. In addition to really revving up the laughs, this feature is also what kind of makes this movie stand out from the usual horror fare.

Now, here's the key: While Anton struggles with the evil in his bumbling way, egged on by the wise-cracks of Mick and Pnub, the film delivers actual horror. We get shocks, we get creeps, we get gore and we don't get the "ha-ha got ya!" joke right afterward that you get in most parodies. The scares are real, the deaths are real, the danger are real. And, surprisingly, so are the laughs.

"Idle Hands" is a classic 90's comedy/horror flick which although swooped a little under the radar - it is still a must-see film for fans of horrors such as the "Evil Dead" series (especially army of darkness) and/or teen comedies like "American Pie".

"Idle Hands" works well by striking the perfect balance between comedy and horror and this works extremely well. The cast are brilliant especially Seth Green who is always great to watch in comedic roles. Reletavely unknown actor Devon Sawa plays the lead character 'Anton', who's hand gets possessed by an evil entity and goes on a murderous rampage! Though I have never seen Devon Sawa in any films prior or since "Idle Hands" - he is excellent in his role and the way he makes his hand move wildly and mis-behave really makes it look like it is not controlled by himself! In fact, one of the funniest scenes is a make-out scene between 'Anton' and 'Molly' (Alba) in when his hand keeps trying to strangle her! It's hilarious!!!

American skate-punk band, 'The Offspring' also make an amusing cameo in the film and also play a tune "off with her head" from their debut self-titled album which was a bonus! I won't give away what happens to singer Dexter Holland but it is pretty amusing!

In conclusion, "Idle hands" is a great late 90's comedy/horror flick which should have been bigger than it was.

Most definitely worth a watch!

What more can I say about this movie?

All I knew about it was that it had quite a few elements of teen comedy and that I've only seen the tail end of it a few times.

Now that I finally saw the whole thing, it's now one of my favorites!

It's a welcome change from most of the horror movies I've seen.

Great music, great acting, and gorgeous women (Specifically speaking, Jessica Alba)... what more do you want?

This is one of those movies that you can watch and understand it perfectly... whether or not you're stoned.

10 out of 10

As mentioned in the other comments, this movie is a awful lot better than it would first seem. Its still a rather brainless teen slasher flick, with the usual array of 2D characters ( the goofy friends, gorgeous love interest, aggressive hunk etc) and situations (school Halloween dance), but the great dialogue and great visual effects elevate it above the majority of other movies in the teen slasher style and doesn't do too much talking down to the audience. Where most other movies of this type give the audience 2 answers before a single question is answered Idle Hands has no fears about leaving things unanswered, where the viewer can make their own mind up (for once). Devon Sawa makes for a convincing and cute Anton, while Jessica Alba is all thats needed to keep the target audience of under 20's males glued to their seats. Don't get me wrong, this isn't up there with the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, but it never sets out to be; it's hilariously funny, satisfyingly gory and one hell of a lot better than you'd ever think. Go rent it, you'l be pleasantly surprised. Also, the soundtrack is great.

The teenager wakes up on Halloween and discovers that his right hand is possessed and murderous. After unsuccessful efforts to control it, he decides to cut it off, but the hand continues its killing spree on its own. A premise that is irresistibly reminiscent of "The Evil Dead" and the hand is the same one used for "The Addams Family". The film was shot in the area we remember from "Halloween", and the gym where the school dance is held is the one from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Everything in this film is obviously "secondhand", but it works great. It is classified as a horror-comedy, but I would rather call it a silly horror that is both a homage and a parody of B horrors and teenage comedies from the end of the last century. Plenty of violence, gore, and disgusting scenes, dull stoned teenagers, a few zombies, a bit of nudity, good music and, like icing on the cake, seventeen-year-old Jessica Alba. The film is somewhat in the style of the series "Ash vs. Evil Dead", but it mostly reminded me of "Todd and the Book of Pure Evil". I really enjoyed it.

7/10