TheCrawlingHand

The Crawling Hand (1963)

So if you were with your girl on the beach and found a severed arm what would you do? Would you A) call the police? Would you B) run away in terror screaming like a little girl? Or would you C) put it in the trunk and take it home for no apparent reason? Well if you chose C then this is the movie for you. See this is what our “hero” Steve decides to do when he finds the arm on the beach. What he doesn’t know is that the arm belongs to an astronaut that died in orbit and that the arm is possessed. Soon it strangles Steve’s landlady and starts to control Steve’s mind. Lucky for him Alan Hale is the sheriff and with the help of some NASA guys are able to save the day. But I’ll be damned if the stupid deliverymen are given the key to the box containing the arm and don’t go do let it out at the end of the movie.

This is a terrible movie that had the potential to be a cheesy good time. Unfortunately the movie is so damn slow that it bogs down repeatedly and is difficult to get through. The story is full of plot holes and lapses in logic (like taking the arm home). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here. If the movie is keeping the action moving and I’m having fun I can overlook these sorts of things. But when the movie is as slow as this one is it gives me time to think and I get picky. The cast actually has a couple of familiar faces. The before mentioned Alan Hale is playing another sheriff like he did in Giant Spider Invasion (Bill Rebane rules!). But there is another actor, Kent Taylor (Satan’s Sadists, The Mighty Gorga, Brides of Blood) that is very familiar to genre fans as well. They are all wasted with a script that is filled with terrible confusing dialogue that is awkward and impossible to get thru.

Lets talk technical shall we? What can you say about a movie where the corpses routinely breathe and blink? How about a film that is light so badly that the actor portraying the arm is throwing a shadow on the wall behind the actor he is menacing? Good job keeping him out of frame, but how about some decent lighting? Again all of these defects could have a certain charm to them if the movie wasn’t so mind numbingly boring. But since it is I was just annoyed.

I can’t recommend The Crawling Hand. It is slow, boring, and poorly made. Unless you want to punish yourself or are just a fan of bad 60s sci-fi avoid this turkey at all costs. Though I hear there is a funny MST3K episode with this movie, so maybe that is the way to go.

1 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer