Reviewed by Melissa Garza
After a beautiful day at the beach my husband and I attended a special showing of Rifftrax Presents Manos: The Hands of Fate. Widely known as one of the worst but beloved movies of the cult fan community, Manos follows the couple Michael (Harold P. Warren) and Margaret (Diane Mahree) who are travelling on their first vacation. They get lost with their daughter Debbie (Jackey Neyman) and their black poodle.
Ending up at a small home, they meet the headmaster Torgo (John Reynolds) who is half goat/half man. He advises that The Master (Tom Neyman) wouldn’t want them to be there yet is taken by Margaret. Within moments he falls in love with her. The Master however wants her for his 7th wife.
Michael is a bit verbally rough with Torgo and insists that they stay and furthermore insists the Master will be fine, not understanding who the Master is or that he worships a dark force.
Soon, the poodle wanders off and is murdered. The Master awakens and lashes out at Torgo. He then goes after the family.
As for the actual movie, I think it gets a bad rap. Visually, it’s far from stunning. The camerawork is shoddy and sometimes the shots make little sense. The characters are many times unrealistic both in action and dialogue, yet there is something remarkably charming about the movie. More than that, it is a genuine horror flick as it’s a fun-filled wacky ride with a cool ending.
Scared Stiff Rating of the Movie: 5/10
It goes without saying that the brilliant minds of RiffTrax made the movie a hundred times better than it actually is. The jokes were hilarious. The shorts before it were priceless. Welcome back, Norman is outstanding! I would highly recommend purchasing this the moment it comes out!
I can hardly wait for Halloween (or more specifically Thursday October 25, 2012), when my husband, brother-n-law and myself will attend RiffTrax Presents Birdemic in beautiful Georgia!
Scared Stiff Rating of the RiffTrax: 10/10
