Genre: Science Fiction, Horror
Director: Herbert L. Strock
Starring: Alan Hale Jr., Peter Breck, Kent Taylor, Rod Lauren, Allison Hayes, Sirry Steffen, Arline Judge
MST Season: 1
The Movie
*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*
As if a Crawling Eye wasn’t enough, we had to have a Hand too? Apparently so, as a diseased astronaut returns to Earth in a fiery explosion in which his arm “survives” and comes back to life. The living hand begins to murder people and possesses a boy named Paul into killing as well.
Star power is regulated to a pre-Gilligan’s Island Alan Hale Jr, and The Crawling Hand is arguably his least embarrassing feature on MST (which includes Angel’s Revenge and The Giant Spider Invasion). The Crawling Hand is mostly a par outing for a B-monster movie. It has an under-explained storyline that makes little sense but is selling itself based solely on the concept of a killer hand from outer space. Even still, the movie might be somewhat aware that its antagonist is a little weak with its sluggish pace and changes things up by possessing the protagonist of the movie as well.
The movie is never dull, though it’s never engaging. You may question its sanity (Paul sees a severed arm on the beach and wants to keep it?), though let’s not short change it simplicity. It’s a B-movie that exists, and if you watch B-movies you’ll want to watch it at least once.
The Episode
No Commando Cody this week? Thank god. But make a mental note that you’re going to stare at those ugly as hell green theater seats another week and you should be good. Probably like a lot of people who were mostly familiar with the Sci-Fi run of the series, my first subjection to the Comedy Central episodes were the Rhino VHS tapes. That also meant that the first episode from the Josh seasons I ever watched was The Crawling Hand, because it was the only first season episode released until the Volume 8 DVDs gave us Women of the Prehistoric Planet. It was a lot to take in. The vibe was far less energetic and the one constant of the series, Kevin Murphy, wasn’t present. Add that in to the eyesore green theater seats, which I couldn’t fathom at the time, this was a pretty rough episode for me. Later I found myself warming up to it a bit, and season one in general, but these green seats really should not be your first impression of the early years.
By first season standards, The Crawling Hand is fairly above average. Riffs grow a bit monotonous, with Gilligan’s Island references whenever Alan Hale walks onscreen while hand puns are neverending. The episode is good at getting the viewer to bark a laugh at random corners, though it mostly is slow going.
Host segments run weak. A lot of them are variations on hand themes, obviously due to the movie selection. There’s a strange William Shatner imitation segment where the crew are strangled by fake hands and a later one where Crow complains the hand isn’t scary enough. There’s also segments that aren’t movie related that feature emphasis on hands, with Joel trying to play games but Crow and Servo unable to because of their lackluster appendages. Even the Invention Exchange is hand related, with the Safety Saw (which is more of a practical joke than an invention) and a Limb Lengthener.
The Crawling Hand works well enough as a first season episode, but doesn’t really stand out from the crowd. It’s worth a watch if you have a soft spot for the season, but otherwise it blends in with it.
Average
The DVD
One of the few first season episodes Rhino had released, the Crawling Hand was released by itself as a single disc. Picture is pretty solid, as well as the sound, with every word of “Bird’s the Word” coming in loud and clear.
The primary special feature of the release is a full uncut version of the movie, which seems to be a slightly better print than the one used in the episode. The Crawling Hand, while not necessarily good, isn’t painful to watch, making it an amusing watch, particularly if you want to reriff the film yourself. The film is in full screen (the trailer shows it off in widescreen, so I’m doubtful that it’s the original aspect ratio) and the picture is full of artifacts, but otherwise is fine. Sound is pretty solid, though.
The second feature is a trailer for the film, which is surprisingly better shape than the movie. Is there someone out there that performs restoration work on trailers? If so, good job.
Many years later, Shout compiled what Rhino released single disc episodes they hadn't released yet into a collection called The Singles Collection, which The Crawling Hand was featured. Audio and video were just as good as the Rhino release, though the disc drops the uncut version of the film. Instead they have a bonus feature called Don't Knock the Strock, which tells of the making of The Crawling Hand mostly through the eyes of director Herbert L. Strock. There is brief discussion of Strock's early career, but the subject switches to filming The Crawling Eye fast, which lasts the rest of the duration. The disc is rounded out by a trailer to the film, which is in rougher shape than the Rhino disc.
Many years later, Shout compiled what Rhino released single disc episodes they hadn't released yet into a collection called The Singles Collection, which The Crawling Hand was featured. Audio and video were just as good as the Rhino release, though the disc drops the uncut version of the film. Instead they have a bonus feature called Don't Knock the Strock, which tells of the making of The Crawling Hand mostly through the eyes of director Herbert L. Strock. There is brief discussion of Strock's early career, but the subject switches to filming The Crawling Eye fast, which lasts the rest of the duration. The disc is rounded out by a trailer to the film, which is in rougher shape than the Rhino disc.
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