Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Devil's Hand (1961)

Director: William J. Hole Jr.

Writer: Jo Helms

Composers: Allyn Ferguson, Michael Terr

Starring: Linda Christian, Robert Alda, Ariadna Welter, Neil Hamilton, Gere Craft, Jeanne Carmen, Julie Scott, Diana Spears, Gertrude Astor, Bruno VeSota, Dick Lee, Jim Knight, Coleen Vico, Roy Wright, Romona Ravez, Tony Rock

More info: IMDb

Tagline: ...It struck with savage fury destroying...killing all that crossed its path!

Plot: Rick Turner is engaged of Donna Trent and is having nightmares with a beautiful blonde woman dancing in the sky. One night, he is mysteriously driven to a doll shop, and in the next morning he returns to the place with Donna. He finds a doll that resembles his fiancé, but the owner Francis Lamont delivers another doll to him, with the face of the woman of his dreams, Bianca Milan. Rick looks for Bianca and is seduced and convinced by her to join a sect that worships the diabolic Camba, while the health of Donna is threatened by Francis and Bianca.



My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Nice flick!  For a short low budget horror flick, this one's really well made and packs a nice little punch.  The performances are good along with the story, sets, music and everything else.  For 71 minutes I kept wondering when it was going to fall apart but it stays true to itself all along. I won't spoil it but the ending was pretty damn good.  There's some good 'ole Voodoo type shit going on that added some fun.  Stuff with dolls and pins and such but this picture takes it more seriously than most from this era.  And who would have thought that 60s TV BATMAN's Commissioner Gordon (Neil Hamilton) was the leader of a Satanic cult?  He's terrific as are the rest of the leads.  This is one of eight films on a low budget 4-DVD set (each film is on one side of a disc).  Some come with extras and others don't.  The print looks really good and it's got a 'play as a drive-in' feature that gives you the drive in experience by starting the show with a vintage Water Lanz color Woody Woodpecker cartoon called PANTRY PANIC (1941) followed by some snack bar messages (mmmm them pickles look good!), a trailer for CARNIVAL OF CRIME and a final one for DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE! just before the film starts.  You can pick up the set for well under ten bucks (shipped).  So far I'm halfway through it and it's totally worth it.



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