By Jason O'Brien jaobrien@charter.net
|
I like to give others who are fans of particular Stone films a chance to have their voices published on this web site. So for a break from my discussions, we shall hear from Dirk Vandamme, from Oostende, Belgium, as he provides his discussion and review of one of Stone's lesser known films, and one of his earliest directorial efforts, an unconventional horror film called The Hand.
After his success on writing Midnight Express, Stone went on to direct 'The Hand' starring Michael Caine, Andrea Marcovicci and Annie McEnroe. 'The Hand' was adapted from the book 'The Lizard's Tail' by Mark Brandel. This horror movie tells the story of an arrogant cartoonist Jonathan Landsdale, struggling to adjust to a new life after his drawing hand is severed in a tragic car accident. Although he realises his career is over, he ignores the wishes of his wife, Anne (Andrea Marcovicci), to use another artist to replace him in order to benefit financially, further jeopardizing the marriage that was already in very serious trouble. Soon, anyone who wrongs Lansdale start to disappear. And Lansdale himself, terrified by the strange killings, begins to go psycho, as he believes his hand to be the myserious killer. The movie was released in 1981 to generally negative reviews. The sight of a disembodied hand 'walking' around (although these were only visions living in Caine's mind) struck laughter rather than fear into the audience. After his directorial debut 'Seizure' (1973), starring Martine Beswick, this was yet another horror film by Stone, but a better one : the film is a unique, surreal psycho-horror movie. The story is moving, thrilling and the end is logical as the audience has to decide who really was responsible for the killings. Photography by King Baggot is outstanding. The music by James Horner is brilliant (he went on to score big-budget movies, like Aliens) The convincing hand effects were created by Carlo Rambaldi (E.T., Alien) : 750.00 dollars were spent on special effects and a lot of that budget went to the 40 mechanical hands that were constructed. What really makes the film great, is the outstanding acting performance by Michael Caine. All well-known american actors refused the part, but Caine was up for it. Stone initially wanted David Bowie, but decided the singer/actor didn't have the screen presence needed for this character. Unfortunately the film was underrated by most critics. As a result of the failure of the film, Stone wouldn't direct again until 1986. Review Written by Dirk Vandamme, dirk.vandam@12move.be  Oliver Stone directs Michael Caine in this behind the scenes photo
LINKS:
VIDEO:
# Of Hits This Page: |
