FILM GUTTER REVIEWS: MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE (1966)

BY ALEX DAVIS 

Dir. Harold P Warren, USA, 70 minS

It’s nice to take a little look back every now and then, and it’s not something we do often on Film Gutter. Extreme horror certainly became more popular in the 80s and beyond, although there would certainly be a number of titles that predate that which could safely be considered Film Gutter territory. However the reviews we do here always tend to skew modern, so a trip back to 1966 was certainly something different.

Although it’s fair to say that Manos: The Hands of Fate was different enough anyway.

Manos is truly a legend in horror history – made for a paltry budget of $19,000 by director Harold P Warren, it’s the result of a bet between Warren and a friend after he claimed that ‘making a horror film was easy.’ Forget the fact that HPW had no formal filmmaking experience, mostly used theatre actors rather than screen actors, had most of the crew working for free initially on a profit-share deal and the whole thing had to be shot 32 seconds at a time because of the limitations on the rented cameras. It sounds as though the shoot was anything but easy, and ultimately Manos absolutely disproves Warren’s point rather than proving it. Sure, he made a horror film, but unfortunately it’s one of most laughable, lamentable horror films ever made – in fact this one would probably not have anywhere near the infamy it does but for the popular Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episode that brought it back into the public eye.

The story – such as it is – follows Michael, Margaret and their daughter Debbie as they search for a hotel evidently located in the middle of nowhere. Completely lost, with dark closing in, they reluctantly accept shelter at a creepy shack in the middle of nowhere with a guy called Torgo. I say guy – he’s apparently supposed to be a satyr, although apparently the prop legs he was supposed to wear were on backwards throughout the whole shoot and nobody ever corrected it. You really couldn’t write this stuff.

Anyway, Torgo keep referring to ‘The Master’, who has a marvellously creepy portrait in the house and a veritable bevy of wives that sleep in a very weird ceremonial circle, with Michael and Margaret seem nowhere near as perturbed by as one would expect when they discover it. The rest of the tale is a borderline nonsensical escape story, with Michael, Margaret and Debbie pursued by Torgo, The Master and his now-woken wives, They attempt all sorts of tricks to get away, most of which don’t make very much sense. In fact I found it so hard to follow in places I think I must have started zoning out, even though it sounds ridiculously simple in its conception.

Manos well deserves its reputation as one of the worst films ever made – the editing is atrocious, the acting is poor at best, there are all sorts of scenes that simply don’t relate to anything, the music is overbearing and horribly grating, the story – which should be impossible to make a hash of really – winds up feeling like it’s all over the place and worst of all, it’s just boring. That makes it unique among the ‘best worst’ movies that I’ve seen so far – even things like Black Devil Doll From Hell and Troll 2 you could laugh at the pure ludicrousness of and wring some enjoyment from. Unfortunately that’s simply not the case here – in fact I think Manos may be even worse made than those two.

I ummed and ahhed about whether to review this movie – after all, it’s only a 12A, and is anything from the most extreme thing you’ll see (and nowhere near the most extreme thing I’ve seen, rest assured). But I felt as though this one deserved the Film Gutter treatment because of its unique place in horror history and the cult reputation it has gained. Trust me, it’s not an experience that I took on for the fun of it…

RATING: 0/10. I’m not in the habit of dishing out bottom marks very often, so Manos: The Hands of Fate joins the elite club with Chaos and Unrated: The Movie in achieving nil points. Everything here is so horribly inept that you could only even set out to watch it out of morbid curiosity, just to see what all the fuss is about. With that said, it’s not anywhere near as much fun as some of its neighbours in the ‘worst movies ever’ club. Let this be a lesson – horror films are not easy to make, and it’s ever harder to actually make a good one, something Manos fails in spectacularly.
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As well as curating the Film Gutter series of reviews Alex Davis is also the organiser of some of the best writing based events in the UK such as Edge-Lit, Sledge-Lit and Other Worlds.  We have teamed up with Alex for a chance to win a pair of tickets to this years Other Worlds to be held on 

Saturday, October 6 at 9:30 AM – 6 PM at ​Nottingham Writers' Studio, 25 Hockley Lane, NG1 1FH Nottingham, United Kingdom

Click here to enter the competition