MANOS THE HANDS OF FATE (1966)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

Though I confess that on occasion I've watched a MST3K version of an old film, I never review the film according to what the comedy commentators add to the experience. But even if I could have watched MANOS THE HANDS OF FATE by itself, I would not have done so. MANOS, unlike Ed Wood and dozens of other junk-movies, is known almost entirely thanks to MST3K's revival of it. Their skillful skewering of MANOS, giving it the reputation of a film so bad it almost broke the Satellite of Love, became part and parcel of the legend of El Paso businessman Hal Warren's venture into supernatural horror.

The story is a variation on the "cursed house" trope, wherein a small group of people get trapped in one dwelling and can't get away from some evil influence, whether it's a merely human killer or some occult evil. In this case, a family of average middle-class vacationers-- dad Michael (Warren), mom Margaret, little girl Debbie and Debbie's doggie-- drive their way into some barren part of Texas, and wind up stuck at a strange, isolated house. They meet a caretaker, Torgo (John Reynolds), who suffers from some infirmity, and who warns them that the house's owner "The Master" does not wish them to linger. Torgo is ambivalent as to whether the Master is alive or dead, and swipes from Christian scripture by saying that this mysterious figure is "not dead the way you know it. He is with us always."

After Torgo reverses himself and tells the little family that they can stay the night, they never really bed down. First the dog goes missing. Then Torgo makes a pass at Margaret, claiming that he wants her even though the Master has selected her as his next wife. Little Debbie wanders off and somehow finds another structure adjoining the house. When Michael and Margaret investigate, they find a room with several people in a state of vampire-like sleep-- The Master (Tom Neyman) and his gown-clad wives. In no time, the Master and his female slaves awaken. Despite Torgo ingratiating himself by clubbing Michael and typing him up, the Master intuits that Torgo has got a little too handsy with the comatose wives, as well as trying to horn in on Margaret, and the caretaker gets taken care of. The two females are inducted into the Master's harem and Michael becomes the house's new zombie caretaker.

A lot of junk films have all the faults of MANOS: out-of-focus shots, amateur thespians and bad voice-work. (All of the performers had their dialogue dubbed after the shoot by just two voice-actors.) But I must admit that despite all these failings, there are some creepy moments here. I compared the Master and his brides to sleeping vampires, but Warren's script never establishes just what the Master is. The evil cultist makes reference to a deity named Manos, wears a robe emblazoned with blood-colored hand-symbols, and kills Torgo by burning the caretaker's hand off. But what's the symbolism of hands in the story? Warren seems to have concocted the images out of some personal, or even random, association. The most I can guess is that the Master is some sort of immortal warlock, and that he and his wives are empowered by Manos to live indefinitely, so long as they go to sleep for long periods. But they're so far off the beaten track that it's really hard to believe that they can pick up many sacrifices for Manos, after the usual fashion of a pagan/Satanic cult. It's also intimated that Torgo might be some sort of satyr-- hence, his ungainly walk-- and this fits with his concupiscence toward both Margaret and the wives. But this also seems like just another tossed-off association from Hal Warren's fever dream-- to say nothing of an extended catfight between the wives when they quarrel over the prospect of inducting one or more new members to the harem.

There are other bits of goofiness in the script. But unlike a hundred other bad films, MANOS is one of the few that sticks with me even after laughing at it.