IDLE HANDS (1999)

While the 1980s was an exuberant period for horror cinema, the genre began to collapse under the weight of its excess during the 1990s. Slasher juggernauts that propelled the previous decade became increasingly beleaguered by uninspired and formulaic continuations. A seemingly endless parade of dubious franchise instalments including Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993), and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) grasped feebly for relevance but yielded only diminishing returns. As audiences grew weary of Hollywood’s uninspired and repetitive output, select film circles with a discerning eye turned their gaze elsewhere. Horror fans found thrills across the Atlantic in Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos (1993), Michele Soavi’s Cemetery Man (1994), and Alejandro Amenábar’s Thesis (1996).   

Wes Craven shattered the mould and breathed new life into the genre with his contemporary masterpiece Scream (1996). The ‘Master of Horror’ not only reinvigorated horror with an intertextual and satirical edge but, through his nostalgic lens, helped a new generation appreciate classics that helped shape the genre. As the millennium approached and horror emerged reawakened, countless imitators such as I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Urban Legend (1998), and Cherry Falls (1999) attempted to capture Craven’s alchemy. Beneath the slasher’s bloody revival was another tier of horror that eschewed the serial killer format for something far more insidious and supernatural. The Craft (1996) and The Faculty (1998) were fantastic supernatural horrors expanding the genre template without descending into cliché. Idle Hands should have been a part of the renaissance but was overshadowed by the aforementioned landmarks. Riddled with irreverent humour and grotesque ingenuity, Rodman Flender’s somewhat obscure demented horror-comedy was an unfortunate casualty of a market oversaturated with nightmares.

17-year-old Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa) is a perpetual underachiever with no ambition who spends most of his time smoking cannabis and generally doing as little as possible. He is completely detached from reality and doesn’t even realise a mysterious killer has been terrorising his hometown. After obliviously wandering past the many bloodstains around his house, Anton finally notices that his parents are dead. When his equally irresponsible friends Mick (Seth Green) and Pnub (Elden Henson) investigate the clues, they discover Anton is the murderer. Unbeknownst to the teenager, his right hand has become possessed by a demonic force. It acts with murderous intentions for everyone, especially his beautiful neighbour and love interest, Molly (Jessica Alba). To prevent further carnage, Anton decides the best course of action is to sever the murderous appendage. However, the killer hand embarks on a homicidal rampage, continuing to dispatch more victims. After discovering the hand is heading to the annual high school Halloween dance with the intent of dragging Molly’s soul to Hell, Anton and his friends shrug off their sedentary lifestyle and fight the forces of Evil.

When Devon Sawa took Christina Ricci’s hand and waltzed with her above the ballroom dancefloor, he floated out of Casper (1995) and into the hearts of countless young girls. Shortly after, he began his burgeoning horror career with his portrayal of Anton Tobias. Basing his performance on Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead II (1987), the young actor fully commits to the physical comedy inherent in portraying someone with a demonically possessed limb operating independently of his body. Imbuing his every movement with frenetic desperation, he contorts and lunges himself through a series of gags and pratfalls like he’s wrestling with his murderous hand. Oscillating between juvenile humour and mindless gore could have been fatal in the hands of a less capable actor. However, Sawa brings a level of earnestness that is briefly sympathetic and occasionally endearing despite the absurd premise.

The supporting cast cannot disguise how much fun they are all having, which adds to its already considerable charm. Vivica A. Fox (Independence Day) enthusiastically delivers some deliberately exaggerated acting as a Druid priestess in pursuit of the malevolent force that possesses the severed hand. In contrast, Jessica Alba (Sin City) imbues her character with a disarming benevolence and grace as Anton’s romantic interest. Although her role as Molly is limited, the actress offers a pleasant counterbalance to the sardonic figures that surround her. However, stealing every scene like a pair of kleptomaniacs are Seth Green (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) and Elden Henson (Daredevil). The pair add an air of gleeful irreverence as Anton’s undead and equally indolent companions, Mick and Pnub. Like a twisted inversion of An American Werewolf London (1981), Green and Henson have fantastic chemistry and complement each other’s comedic strengths. Their contemptuous and scathing exchanges are infectious and bring a fine touch of cynical comedy to the horror.

It would be easy to castigate Idle Hands as a frivolous and adolescent pastiche of a gimmick that dates back to Robert Wiene’s The Hands of Orlac (1924). A motif elegantly resurrected and refined with malevolent sophistication in Robert Florey’s The Beast with Five Fingers (1946). However, what it lacks in historical influence or thematic profundity, it compensates with a kinetic irreverence and shameless anarchic energy. Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) was originally selected to helm the project, initially envisioning an Evil Dead II and Beetlejuice (1988) hybrid. Unfortunately, this changed when Columbia Pictures decided to capitalise on the teen horror market, eventually replacing him with Rodman Flender. As demonstrated with the rambunctious Leprechaun II (1994), the protégé of legendary filmmaker Roger Corman (The Masque of the Red Death) astutely refrains from curtailing the absurdity and plunges headfirst into orchestrating chaos. He gleefully embraces the ludicrous premise of a slacker teenager beset by a demonic hand, and his command over this material is one of his most underrated accomplishments.

Precariously oscillating between grotesque and farcical without delving into incoherence or distastefulness is something very few horror comedies achieve. However, Terri Hughes Burton (Tucker) and Ron Milbauer (The Handmaid’s Tale) screenplay offers a refreshing counterweight to the nonsensical spoofs that plagued the box office during the decade. In comparison to the ludicrously obscene slapstick employed in the Wayans Brothers’ Scary Movie (2000), Idle Hands treats the subject and the characters somewhat seriously. It strikes a perfect balance between ghastly absurdity and biting cynicism, as though its decomposing cheek is going to burst from its own tongue. Admittedly, the humour never reaches the sophisticated and disaffected heights of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused (1993) or Kevin Smith’s Clerks (1994), but some moments elicit genuine laughter. A particular moment when Mick discovers a shred of incriminating fabric torn from Anton’s clothing before promptly deadpanning “The killer was wearing your shirt” exudes a devilish charm. It’s not exactly highbrow but it’s simultaneously clever and endearingly macabre.

Although ostensibly a comedy, Idle Hands unabashedly revels in its genre trappings without an ounce of trepidation. Despite being released during a decade where CGI often rendered horror painfully sterile, Greg Cannom (Blade) and Barry R. Koper’s (Alien Resurrection) combination of practical prosthetics and VFX remain viscerally repulsive over twenty years later. Whether it’s the absurdly comical image of a shattered bottle protruding from Mick’s forehead or a half-chewed burrito congealed with blood seeping through Pnub’s neck wound, there’s enough bloodshed to satisfy the most discerning horror connoisseur. The dismembered appendage wreaking havoc provides a cavalcade of gruesome moments after embarking on its malevolent rampage. Masterfully brought to life by Christopher Hart (The Addams Family), the possessed hand violently dispatches a myriad of characters with a variety of creative methods. Its onslaught reaches a gruesome crescendo during the obligatory school dance, where a member of The Offspring meets his gruesome demise. It’s a spectacular collision of technical achievement and camp horror that evokes the early exploits of Tom Savini (Creepshow).

While skillfully navigating between humour and horror, Idle Hands never outright terrifies its audience. It lingers in the shadow of Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness (1992) and Peter Jackson’s Braindead (1992) where the bloodshed functions as an ironic counterpoint to the comedy. However, some surprisingly well-executed nightmarish sequences will generate a nervous exasperation among viewers. Flender’s intelligent use of chiaroscuro lighting and shadow play in Anton’s house lends a strangely Gothic ambience to this otherwise lighthearted carnage. It’s far from the stylistic ambitions of Dario Argento (Suspiria) or Mario Bava (Blood and Black Lace) but momentarily generates suspense rather than slapstick. There are some surprisingly unnerving sequences when the frivolous tone is truncated by upsettingly brutal horror. An unnerving sequence in which Anton stumbles upon the corpses of his parents is equal parts horrific and grotesquely amusing. Grotesquely posed like a decaying parody of Grant Wood’s iconic American Gothic, it’s a rare moment that’ll induce the audience with a disconcerting jolt. While these instances are fleeting, they do reveal that Flender understands the visual language of horror.  

Like so many works that dared to blend horror with satire, Idle Hands suffered from a poorly timed release and wasn’t welcomed with open arms during its theatrical run. Its woefully misguided marketing campaign failed miserably to present it as a horror-comedy and was overshadowed by mainstream offerings such as Never Been Kissed (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and The Matrix (1999). Before its scheduled release, the tragic Columbine school shooting sent shockwaves across the world and audiences were not receptive to a cinematic depiction of a teenage protagonist wreaking murderous havoc on his parents and friends.

Many critics were unkind and suggested that violence in cinema was responsible for the tragedy. Unfortunately, it was a commercial failure and grossed a paltry $4.2M on a $25M budget following its brief theatrical run. Despite garnering a disappointing reaction from critics and audiences alike, Idle Hands ultimately found redemption and a more appreciative audience through its subsequent release on home entertainment. Although it may never achieve the cult status of Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer, it has secured a loyal following and continues to find fans 25 years later.

More than any of the horrors provoked by the success of Scream, Idle Hands feels like a completely different beast. Unlike its contemporaries, it dares to revel in its absurdity. Many will treat it as adolescent irreverence but those who enjoy its frivolous tone will appreciate the dark humour and unrestrained effects. It’s a delightful 90 minutes of chaos wrapped in blood and laughs that plays to a niche audience who gravitate towards Evil Dead (1981) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). Unfortunately, it never found the audience it deserved. However, its status as an underrated oddity makes it ripe for rediscovery, waiting to become a cult classic.

USA | 1999 | 92 MINUTES | 1:85:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Rodman Flender.
writers: Terri Hughes Burton & Ron Milbauer.
starring: Devon Sawa, Jessica Alba, Seth Green, Elden Henson & Vivica A. Fox.