Save your money for something good and enjoyable

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

A Masterpiece!

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Back in the 1970's, shortly after the blockbuster of "Jaws" was released, some music editor took the hit songs of the past and edited it into a conversation with the shark where one of the cracks was "Wouldn't you give your hand to a friend?". That tongue-in-cheek commentary goes perfect with this wonderfully dreadful science fiction/horror turkey that really goes arm in arm with some of the worst movies ever made. The surprising thing about the film is that as bad as it obviously is, it is totally entertaining! Rod Lauren is the hero, a young college student with ambitions of being a great scientist, is on the beach one day with his girlfriend (Sirry Steffen), frolicking a la Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee, and all of a sudden, her screams alert him to the presence of a disembodied hand. So like any good future mad scientist to be, what does he do? Go back later and collect it of course! An altercation with his landlady (Arline Judge, a forgotten "B" actress of the 30's) leads to the revelation that the arm has a mind of its own (or at least a brain in its pulse) and is not incapable of violent acts, including murder. Poor Lauren begins to physically change a la Jekyll and Hyde (basically he looks like he has a black eye) and begins to think he's the one committing all this violence. With the aid of NASA scientist Peter Breck and the local law (lead by Alan Hale, no less!), Lauren must prove his innocence which leads to a show-down in a junk yard of old cars and wild house cats.Totally fun with so many unnecessary plot elements (Steffen's professor father objecting to his daughter's romance with Laurence even though he's the professor's favorite student), a babbling old man who runs the soda shop spouting as if he was John Carradine, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die", etc.), the focus on the cult song "The Bird is the Word" by the Rivington's (not "Family Guy's" Peter Griffin who would constantly break into this forgotten ditty) and Steffen's Gidget like scenes with best pal Beverly Lunsford. Then, there's Allison Hayes whom I did not actually recall seeing in this movie until realizing that she had one scene at the very beginning and pretty much disappears. I researched her character and could not find any mention of her, making her participation in this totally forgettable. I guess with her large hand swooping down in "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman", she didn't want to upstage the crawling one here.And what about the two cats fighting over the crawling hand in the film's climactic scene? Would they find it purr-fect and give it two paws up, or would they hiss and scratch their way out of the litter box this seems to have crawled up from?

This viewer was hoping to enjoy "The Crawling Hand" more than he did. It's got enough absurdity at times to make it diverting, but the whole premise is boringly handled by director Herbert L. Strock, who makes us wait too long for the "good" moments. The actors do their best at looking dead serious, which naturally helps to make things funnier. The special effects, surprisingly, aren't that terrible, and the movie actually does have a sense of humour in some scenes. All in all, this does go on longer than it really should. It gets off to a great start with its opening credits, promising more fun than it eventually delivers.Astronaut Mel Lockhart (Ashley Cowan) goes crazy while in space, and crash lands in California. Turns out, the alien intelligence that possessed him still resides in his severed arm & hand, and it commits a murder, and soon exerts an evil influence over dopey medical student Paul Lawrence (Rod Lauren). Paul struggles to regain control of himself while the local sheriff (played by The Skipper himself, Alan Hale Jr.) believes him to be guilty of the killing.The cast also includes a hammy Peter Breck as ill-tempered Steve Curan, Kent Taylor as his associate Dr. Max Weitzberg, the 50 foot woman (otherwise known as actress Allison Hayes) as Donna, cute Sirry Steffen as Pauls' girlfriend Marta, Arline Judge as landlady Mrs. Hotchkiss, and Richard Arlen as Lee Barrenger. They're all entertaining to watch, and the movie, even if not that funny, does possess a certain low budget bad movie charm that's hard to resist. The ending is the best part; it's pretty damn amusing.Schlock devotees will likely have a reasonably good time with this.Four out of 10.

The severed hand of a dead astronaut comes back to dangerous life so it can embark on a murderous strangling spree. Moreover, said evil appendage causes med student Paul Lawrence (wild overplayed with pop-eyed zeal by the hunky Rod Lauren) to go violently around the bend after failing to kill him. Boy, does this notoriously atrocious clunker strike out something rotten in every possible way: The flat (non)direction by Herbert L. Strock, extremely variable acting, shoddy (far from) special effects, leaden pacing, talky script, meandering narrative, static cinematography, and a numbing surplus of tedious filler all confirm this honey's shabby status as a real four star stinkeroonie. Gut-busting kitschy highlights include two jerky paramedics stealing beer from a murder victim's kitchen, a positively nutty assault on a grumpy malt shop owner set to "The Bird's the Word" by The Rivingtons, a supposedly dead woman in an ambulance opening her eyes and blinking, the hand being viciously assaulted by stray cats in a scrap yard, and a simply priceless "it ain't over yet!" surprise ending. Alan Hale Jr. goes above and beyond the call of duty with his robust portrayal of the local sheriff while the always dependable Allison Hayes keeps her dignity intact as the concerned Donna. As a tasty extra bonus, gorgeously voluptuous brunette knockout Sirry Steffen shows off her hot body in a two piece bikini. A hilariously horrendous hoot and a half.

THE CRAWLING HAND looks like something straight out of the 1950s, when TV was beginning to upset the Hollywood applecart, forcing the major studios to look for new angles and gimmicks (Todd A-O, Cinemascope, VistaVision, Cinerama, 3-D, stereo sound, and big-budget color remakes of old films) and small indie directors like Ed Wood were having a field day turning out tons of drive-in drivel. HAND is about a dead astronauts's severed hand seeking revenge on the living. Yowsa! How's that for a plot! In some scenes, you can actually spot the uncredited actor whose hand is doing the crawling. Considering HAND is from 1963, I am a little surprised as drive-ins by then were on the wane and no self-respecting movie house would have been likely to show this. It is a terrible, wooden movie, with poverty-row sets, little or no action, a virtually nonexistent script, bad music, uncorrected sound and so on. But ... for true film buffs, we get to see a very young Peter "Big Valley" Breck, veteran leading men Kent Taylor and Tris "King of the Rocketmen" Coffin, a pre-"Gilligan's Island" Alan Hale and the alluring Alison "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" Hayes. A rather unusual cast for a no-budget movie. I guess they were taking what they could get in the dawning era of color TV and the collapse of the studio system.