Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Hand Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson May 31, 2021

The 1970s were a difficult and arduous decade for Oliver Stone to get his filmmaking career off the ground. Upon graduating from NYU Film School, he directed a couple of shorts and his first feature, Seizure (1974), which wasn't distributed widely or seen by many. He supposedly wrote a dozen scripts over ten years. He earned his first big break with Midnight Express (1978), which he won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. This granted him a ticket into Hollywood and an offer from Orion Pictures to direct a modestly budgeted feature. According to Stone's biographer James Riordan, West Coast literary agent Ron Mardigian gave the still young filmmaker a copy of Marc Brandel's novel, The Lizard's Tail, which Stone shaped it into a full-length screenplay. Stone re-titled it The Hand.

The Hand opens in rural Vermont where Jonathan Lansdale (Michael Caine), an eccentric cartoonist, and his younger, yoga-practicing wife, Anne (Andrea Marcovicci), live with their little daugh­ter, Lizzie (Mara Hobel). Jon has enjoyed ten years of success with his Conan-like comic strip, Mandro. Anne has become more interested in macrobiotics and membership in consciousness-raising groups. She wants to put money down on an apartment in Brooklyn Heights and her husband thinks it over before tentatively agreeing. While on an automobile excursion around a country road, Jon and Anne get into a bitter argument about their marriage. Jon puts his right arm out the window to signal an oncoming car. His protruding arm gets struck and flies out into the field. Jon's severed limb gushes with blood as Anne tries to control it while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Jon is fit with a prosthetic and knows that his drawing career will never be the same. Karen Wagner (Rosemary Murphy), Jon's longtime agent, suggests to her client over dinner that they bring in a ghost cartoonist to do Mandro. He can still do the continuity and have final approval. But Jon hates what David Maddow (Charles Fleischer) has done to his creation and storms out of Karen's office after meeting with both of them. Jon yearns to get away from New York and accepts an offer teaching at a Northern California community college. But odd things happen in between places. Jon finds his signet ring in the fields where his right hand headed but it vanishes only to reappear again in the house he rents near Sierra College. Additionally, various markings and sketches appear in drawing books that Jon can't remember doing after his accident. Is this a byproduct of Jon's neurosis and his purported blackouts? Or has his detached hand gotten a new lease on life?

Where did my other hand go?

Stone has changed several of the characters' names from the book. In The Lizard's Tail, Jonathan is known as Martin Trask and his wife is named Ruth. Their daughter is Sophie. There's also Lloyd Hammond, the president of the college Jon teaches at, who doesn't appear in the film. The novel is narrated in the first-person and contains a number of scenes that aren't retained in the adaptation. Stone includes a couple more in his third-draft screenplay but they also don't make into the final cut. The movie includes a far different ending than the novel's, which is less bleak. Stone bookends the first and third acts with a brief courtroom scene in his script but drops it in the theatrical version. Brandel is a very good writer and The Lizard's Tail is an excellent page-turner. I prefer the novel over the movie, which is still very good.

The Hand received much better critical reviews than I expected. In his oft-quoted review in the New York Times, Vincent Canby called it "a sus­pense-horror film of unusual psycho­logical intelligence and wit....Mr. Stone’s screenplay is tightly written, precise and consistent in its methods, and seemingly perfectly real­ized in the performances of the very good cast headed by Mr. Caine. It ap­proaches its revelations in the self-as­sured way of a film made by someone who knows exactly what he's up to and has no need of red herrings. The Hand suggests that he’s also a director of very real talent." Terry Lawson of The Journal-Herald (OH) understood Stone's intention: "[The Hand] actually lives up to its billing as a 'psychological suspense film'....It's closest com­parison — in terms of content, not artistic merit — would probably be The Shining. In The Hand, as in The Shining, one is never actually sure whether the horror is indeed literal, or lives only in the mind of the protagonist. That am­biguity is basically what keeps The Hand interesting, even lively....This film succeeds on plot and character, the two elements most of to day's 'horror' directors are least concerned with....solid and entertaining B-grade movie­making." The Philadelphia Inquirer's Douglas J. Keating regarded it "head and shoulders above the the current crop of horror films....is scary, yet soft-pedals gore and is respectable enough to attract the average filmgoer. Indeed, The Hand is much closer to the mainstream Hollywood suspense movie than it is to the schlock chop-'em-ups that are splashing blood all over the nation's theater screens." J.T. Yurko's (of Ohio's Zanesville Times Recorder) syndicated review also cited it as an exception: "What separates The Hand from dozens of other horror films is that, amazingly enough, there is actually a story here. There is tension and suspense and things that go bump in the night, but there is also a psychology and logic to the actions goings on..." Bruce Bailey of The Gazette (Montreal) described it "as well made and intelligent as gory thrillers get." Jack Mathews of the Detroit Free Press praised the movie's aesthetics: "[O]n most levels, [Stone] has succeed­ed. Visually and stylistically, The Hand is a first-rate psychodrama, as craftily set and written as any Brian De Palma film, except Carrie."

Michael Caine's 2018 memoir, Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life, mentioned The Hand as one of his "mediocrities." Caine also recounted an anecdote that Stone repeated to him: "[W]henever I see Oliver Stone he likes to say to me, 'Michael, the best movie you ever made was The Hand.' In Stone's recent memoir, Chasing the Light, he recalled that Jon Voight (his first choice), Christoper Walken, and Alan Bates all turned down the lead role. He also remembers nervously meeting Dustin Hoffman at 7:30 for breakfast but sweating all the way through it!

The Hand Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Scream Factory advertises their release of The Hand as an all-new 2021 HD movie transfer done from a fresh 2K scan of the interpositive. The film appears in its original theatrical exhibition ratio of 1.85:1. The image looks sharp with deep blacks during the dimly lit scenes. The opening main titles have a smattering of dot crawl and a couple other scenes display noticeable grain. Stone occasionally switches from color to black and white (see Screenshot #20). Blue is used for the Hand scenes in the field. Interestingly, Patrick Taggart of the Austin (TX) American Statesman observed the theatrical print sported "grain-free photogra­phy." Rick Chatenever of the Santa Cruz (CA) Sentinel pointed out that cinematographer King Baggot catches faces in the the Last Chance Saloon "in a shadowy light that makes them both interesting and potentially frightening." Scream employs the MPEG-4 AVC encode on a BD-50. The disc's authors have encoded the feature an average video bitrate of 34000 kbps.

Scream has provided twelve scene selections for the 104-minute movie.

The Hand Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo mix (1677 kbps, 24-bit). The track is clean with out any audible hiss, background noise, or dropouts. Dialogue is distinct and crisply delivered. I like James Horner's music for this film even more than his score for Humanoids from the Deep. One of his only melodies is accented with warm strings and woodwinds. The rest of the score has ominous piano and darker-sounding strings. Some of the film critics even made special mention of it. Ed Blank of The Pittsburgh Press: "James Horner's chilling music is just what the story prescribes." Jack Zink of Fort Lauderdale (FL) News pointed out that Horner's score has a "recurring Jaws-like theme."

Optional English SDH are available for the feature only. The spoken character's name appears in brackets.

The Hand Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Oliver Stone - Stone recorded this feature-length track for Warner's 2007 DVD, which was exclusively available in the seven-film Twisted Terror Collection. He speaks about the actors and crew members he worked with on the picture. He also shares his own interpretations of various scenes and what he tried to achieve. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Interview with Director Oliver Stone (14:42, 1080p) - Stone is interviewed on Zoom at his home office in California. The recording is fine but the lights flicker a bit at the start of the interview. Stone recounts how his Oscar win for Midnight Express opened the directing door for him. He also shares one of the scripts he wrote that didn't make it to the screen. Stone discusses two contrasting philosophies and approaches to The Hand. He wanted to do it as a psychological thriller while Orion converted it into a more traditional horror film. The writer/director reveals his feelings for producer Jon Peters, who apparently was at Orion at the time of The Hand's production. Stone states that he and Michael Caine have two opposing takes on the latter's performance and the resulting film. Stone divulges the lesson he learned while making the picture. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Interview with Actor Bruce McGill (10:15, 1080p) - McGill is also interviewed on Zoom in his spacious home office. The only technical anamoly is there's a reverberation after he speaks. But he's always intelligible. The veteran character actor remembers the first time he met Oliver Stone at a script-reading session of Born on the Fourth of July ca. 1978 when the film was originally slated to be directed by William Friedkin. McGill read for the role of Steve, who would later be played by Jerry Levine in the 1989 movie. The actor also recounts a memorable tantrum Stone threw in the men's room after the auditions. McGill discusses the part of Brian Ferguson in The Hand and how he approached the barroom scenes. He also reflects on what it's like to work with Stone and Michael Caine. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Interview with Actress Andrea Marcovicci (10:36, 1080p) - Marcovicci recalls with fondness being put up at the Beverly Hills Hotel before production began on The Hand. She has nothing but positive things to say about working with Stone and describes her experience acting opposite Caine. Marcovicci claims that Orion ratcheted up the gore after Stone wrote in only a little blood into his shooting script. She's also interviewed view Zoom and her voice modulates a bit. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Interview with Producer Edward R. Pressman and Actress Annie McEnroe Pressman (15:57, 1080p) - The husband and wife duo are interviewed in-person with an HD camera. Ed Pressman looks back at his early career as a producer and developing Stone's Conan screenplay. He talks about how he got involved on The Hand and what things were like on set. Annie McEnroe says that she had acted in one other picture (Running Scared) before playing Stella Roche, who she goes into some detail about. She also describes the memorable circumstances of meeting her future spouse while making The Hand. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:41, 1080p) - an original trailer for The Hand that's in decent shape.

The Hand Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I first saw The Hand on the Warner VHS in the early 2000s when I was trying to see as many films that Oliver Stone either wrote or directed that I could. (It actually took longer for the film to reach Blu-ray than it did to get a DVD release.) I had a higher opinion of it then than I do revisiting it here, although it definitely has its moments. The Hands of Orlac (1924), the sound remake Mad Love (1935), and The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) are The Hand's key cinematic antecedents. Seizure is a more original work than The Hand because it exhibits a greater burst of creativity. The Blu-ray looks and sounds fine. Stone's audio commentary is very good. Ditto for the new interviews with Stone, producer Edward Pressman, and three of the actors. A VERY SOLID RECOMMENDATION for The Hand.