User reviews

Reading through some of the IMDb reviews, I was truly bewildered by the responses. It was like bullies beating up on the weakling in school...not because he necessarily needed to be beat up, but just because the bullies could. Well, I'm the principal here to tell those folks to lighten up and leave the poor kid alone! My goodness, this movie had a budget of $1.95, yet everyone is expecting "Lawrence of Arabia"? Come on.

John Agar is a government scientist out in the California desert who thinks he is a few steps away from creating a revolutionary nerve gas agent that will eliminate all wars. His mentor, the mentor's secretary, his scientist buddy, and even his own college intern think it's too dangerous and want him to stop, but John has noble and lofty goals and pushes on. Well, John has an accident, spills one of the liquefied variations on his hands, and slowly turns into a hideous, mutated creature whose touch can kill...and kill he does.

Maybe I was just in the mood for a fun little film like this, but I must say the acting didn't bother me, nor did the production values, the music, the directing, or the monster make-up. Yes, the screenplay is dopey, has holes in the logic, and a rather abrupt and unsatisfying ending, but this is a Z-grade film aimed at kids at a drive-in theater looking for a fun time, not stuffy film critics or pretentious film snobs.

Set your expectations at a reasonable level, have fun, and enjoy a great little throw-back to a bygone age of sci-fi/horror.

Clocking in at a paltry 58 minutes, Hand of Death will leave you reaching for the sunscreen. And in a hurry. For if John Agar gets a grip on you--you're a roasted duck. I could not believe this was filmed in Cinemascope! And on-location in Malibu and Santa Monica, California, too. Mister Agar becomes exposed to some type of experimental nerve gas he's concocting out in the desert for the military. He quickly dispatches his lab mate to the fire pit in the sky. Only then does he realize something is amiss. So he gives his mentor a ring and hightails it over to the gentleman's (he's confined to a wheelchair, never a good sign) suburban abode. He resides there with his daughter, the picture's love interest. The rest of the film breaks down as some kind of shopping stroll toward insanity. He becomes increasingly agitated, disfigured and insane. He slaughters his mentor and goes looking for the girl. On the way to the beach, and his certain downfall, he sends some more people to the above mentioned fire pit in the sky. The poor victims--taxi driver and gas jockey--are working stiffs. He also encounters a small boy romping along some jagged rocks and a seawall. He survives. The ending recalls an earlier film about a fellow with a flat head and protruding iron bolts. I enjoyed this loopy movie. I must be losing my bolts, too. I saw this on AMC when the sun was rising and my mind was clear. Honest.

i caught this kooky little horror film on cable the other night. it held up pretty well. the notion of scientist turned monster is obviously familiar, but it actually managed to be creepy and suspenseful..wished the guy had found a pair of gloves before touching all those poor people. i also loved the 'nightmare' sequence when he's exposed to the deadly gas, and dreams of beakers and flying white mice. kewl! how odd that it was directed by a musical comedy song and dance man. this is a fun 50's -ish horror tale, with delightful over the top acting. and it's really short. which is something.

How can a movie be so short and yet be super boring and have almost no meaningful dialogue? It's mind blowing. If you took all the good things about this movie and put them in a trailer, you would have a very short trailer. Sadly, I have seen worse so I gave 2 stars. That doesn't mean anyone should watch it.

Not all that bad horror, if you take it for an unintentionally comedy, film with it having a former member of the three stooges as well as the hilarious Stinky Davis of the Abbot & Costello TV show Joe Besser as a gas station attendant as well as one of the "Hands of Death's" victims. "Hand of Death" with it's star John Agar as the obsessed and crazed scientist Alax Marsh who ends up turning into what looks like a overripe avocado. Marsh runs and drives around L.A doing his best to terrorize everyone he comes in contact with but mostly leaving them in a state of total bewilderment trying to figure out just what the hell he, or it, is.

Trying to perfect this nerve/hypnotic gas for the US military that would not only knock out anyone who's affected by it but turn them into obedient zombies Marsh working day and night in his out of the way desert laboratory. One day Marsh falls asleep and knocks down a bottle of the nerve agent and gets infected by it. The gas gives him the power to kill by just touching anyone. Later Marsh develops a leprosy-like appearance that even his own mother would run from.

Killing everyone he as much as touches Marsh trying to hide his identity, as the killer Avocado Man,just puts on a Humphrey Bogart like trench-coat and fedora hat thinking that would be enough to fool anyone! One of the craziest scenes in the movie is when Marsh pops into a taxi cab trying to communicate to the cabbie ,Fred Korne, where he want's to go, to the beach in order to get a suntan? The taxi driver turning around and seeing this weird and grossed-out guy isn't at all surprised or even scared at how he looks! Is he used to picking up customers like him,looking like vine-ripe avocados,in the city's many farmers markets and fruit and vegetable stores?

Trying to contact his girlfriend Carol ,Paula Raymond, so he can take her, I could only guess, to the local drive-in to see someone who looks a lot like him his screen hero "Ceature from the Balck Lagoon". Marsh later gets to where she's hiding from him at her friends Tom Holland's, Stephen Dunne, beach-front home. As he breaks in Carol calls Tom gets the police who both come to her rescue. Marsh running along the beach and trying to take a dip into the ocean, with his heavy and bulky street cloths on, is shot dead and left floating on the waves as the movie finally comes to an end.

Hard to believe that anyone would have been insane enough to take, much less pay for a movie ticket, "Hand of Death" seriously back in 1962 when it was released. "Hand of Death" looks like it must have been the final movie that was part of a quadruple feature following even the cartoons and coming attractions where by the time it came on the screen there was almost nobody left in the movie-house to watch it. Which may well have been the best thing that could have happened to the professional careers of everyone unfortunate enough to be in it.

John Agar stars as Alex Marsh, a researcher working on a combination nerve gas and hypnotic drug. However, there's an accident in the lab and instead of killing Marsh, the poisonous gas turns him into a giant toxic monster. Just touching him kills folks...yet he somehow is immune to it. Can they stop him or turn him back into the handsome researcher?

There are many problems with this film. First and foremost, there's enough material for about 30 minutes worth of film. As a result, the film is heavily padded and you see many, many scenes of Marsh running about town evading the authorities. Second, the weird costume they put on Agar didn't allow him to talk or act. In fact, it could have been ANYONE inside the ridiculous looking getup. Third, it just wasn't interesting...in fact, it was pretty boring...which means it's a pretty typical John Agar film.

By the way, when the monster came upon a gas station attendant played by Joe Besser, I sure was hoping to see him touch him! I never could stand Besser and his naughty little boy shtick back in the 50s and he was probably the worse guy to try playing Curly's part in the Three Stooges...even worse than Joe DeRita!!

Floyd Crosby, the Oscar-winning cameraman on this tawdry little quickie, had worked over thirty years earlier with F.W.Murnau, who in 1920 directed a long-lost version of 'Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde', for which any self-respecting film buff would unhesitatingly trade this trifle, which has certain similarities to it.

Bill Everson used to say that if 'London After Midnight' ever resurfaced it would prove a terrible disappointment. That caveat certainly applies to 'Hand of Death', since if we only had the stills to go on it would seem fascinating. Unfortunately after being a 'lost' film for several years it quietly reappeared on the Fox Movie Channel during the early nineties; when despite it's brevity managed to prove both simultaneously ludicrous and dull.

However it it was shot largely on location in some of the classier suburbs of Los Angeles (where they're obviously used to strange sights, since John Agar's monster rates scarcely a glance from people in the background) at a time when even a hideously deformed mutant who resembles 'The Thing' from The Fantastic Four possessed sufficient presence of mind to put on a hat (one that fits just happens to be hanging in his closet) before going on the rampage; his victims including Joe Besser of the Three Stooges.

I can imagine being a kid in the early 60's and sitting in the local theater watching this movie. A classic low budget B movie from the era, this one has a decent story line with plenty of scenes of the effects of a experiment that went very wrong. I you enjoy low budget B movies, don't miss this one. A good story, a few laughs and a gruesome monster.

John Agar and his assistant are conducting independent secret nerve gas experiments in the California desert with the goal of creating a hypnotic-paralytic agent which will allow America to "peacefully occupy" any country it likes, rendering nuclear weapons unnecessary. If that alone isn't making your head swim, Agar's safety procedures will; in the opening moments, a mailman investigating the apparently-dead sheep littering Agar's front lawn stumbles through his front gate and almost succumbs to lingering chemicals, five whole feet from the roadway.

So it should come as no surprise that overworking, careless Agar winds up splashing a fresh and faulty batch of formula on himself, giving him a literal nerve-gas touch-of-death. Said touch is both horrifying--as a casual arm-clutch causes a hapless dopey gas station attendant (Joe Besser) to die screaming in seconds--and silly, as Besser spins to the camera to display what appears to be a rubber glove pasted to his face to represent bruising, swollen flesh.

Other victims get modeling clay and greasepaint pasted on their kissers, but Agar's character gets the worst of it: while the formula doesn't immediately kill him, it does cause him to abruptly transform into Marvel's The Thing with a bad case of toad-throat halfway through the movie, forcing Agar to shove his typically hammy performance out the holes in the puffy mask for the remainder.

And that's not even the worst of it. This movie is only sixty minutes long, and the front end is packed with a ridiculous romantic triangle sporting dialog that would make Jerry Lewis' writers flinch, while the last half is a broth-thin manhunt for the swollen death-toucher as he stumbles and flails his way across town from one random encounter to the next. These time-wasters include a particularly pathetic scene on a hideous rock-and-concrete-strewn beach in which the collapsed monster gets stalked and investigated by a small boy (Butch Patrick of The Munsters). And all the while, the worst score you could imagine before the invention of the synthesizer plays incessantly. INCESSANTLY.

If Rifftrax doesn't tear this one up, it will be a crime.

A scientist (John Agar) fools around with some chemicals, looking for a formula that could be used by the military to paralyze their enemy. Like any scientist working with dangerous chemical reactions, the good doctor falls asleep on the job, and spills the toxic substance. Soon he is dreaming about flying beakers, while the poison turns him into a screaming brute with a serious complexion disorder. He looks like a very tan version of the Hulk, and his touch is lethal to anybody except some guy with bongo drums who seems to be just off-camera in every scene.

This drive-in second feature had a premise that held some possibilities, but a budget of about five bucks didn't allow for much except a lot of dialog between characters. The actors all try, but there isn't much substance for anybody to work with. Just chase scenes, and a few chance encounters with the creature. After menacing Hollywood, he beach combs Malibu.

Not enough is done to make the character sympathetic, and the movie just ends abruptly as the budget ran out. A nostalgic curiosity only.

Hand of Death (1962) is a movie I recently watched off my DVR after recording it on FXM. The storyline follows a scientist who steps a little out of his realm and begins testing a new, state of the art nerve gas. Unfortunately for him things don't go as planned leading to a catastrophe.

This movie is directed by Gene Nelson (The Bad News Bears and Fantasy Island television series) and stars John Agar (The Mole People), Paula Raymond (Devil's Door), Stephen Dunne (The Woman from Tangier), Roy Gordon (Attack of the 50ft Woman) and John A. Alonzo (Chinatown).

This is one of the all time greatest background music you will find in any film. This soundtrack is cool from beginning to end. The characters are well established and it's easy to root for and against the main character. His transformation scene is crazy and seeing him run around as a monster in a trench coat was hilarious. The taxi scene in this had me cracking up.

Overall this is a very average addition to the genre that's an absolutely must see. I would score this a 5-5.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

John Agar really shines in this 62 SCI-FI/,Horror film a rare one indeed! Also stars beautiful Paula Raymond & Steven Dunn. John Agar stars as a scientist working on a special nerve gas and by accident turns him and his touch into a deadly monster! Creepy background music helps enhance this rarely seen film. Too bad he doesn't have the help & lab from his film TARANTULA ..maybe Dr. Deemer could of found a cure!! Fun n well paced movie some good scares too! John Agar was a solid actor especially in his SCI-FI films , one of my favorites next to Richard Carlson & Kenneth Tobey

Highly recommended!!

I've heard so many "critics" carp about this movie that it astounds me...Let's remember that this was a LOST movie for many years. Thousands of us grew up with tantalizing pictures of the movie in Famous Monsters and Castle of Frankenstein. Along with Horrors of Spider Island and The Awful Dr. Orloff, it was the Holy Grail of Silver Age Horrors. Don't listen to detractors...this is EVERYTHING you want in a low-budget monster film; the compact running time actually adds to its appeal. I want to join with the fans in getting FOX to release this on DVD, or have them release the rights to some company who would embrace the project.

I saw this movie at a theater as an 8 year old,and was literally scared under the seat. I haven't seen it since 1962, but vividly remember the monster he became. As young as I was, I remember finding it odd that he wandered the streets without garnering more attention. It IS a shame that it hasn't been made available on DVD; I'd grab it up in a minute. It would probably seem hokey now,but, on the other hand,maybe it would still impress, like " The Day the Earth Stood Still" (no insult intended to THAT classic). We don't have AMC available in Canada, so it appears that I'll have a long wait before refreshing my memory of my first REALLY scary horror movie.

One of the most inexplicably hard-to-see Horror titles of the 60's has resurfaced -- well, sort of. Because of a combination of vague legal rights issues, big studio neglect and the dissolution of its original production company, HAND OF DEATH has all but disappeared from sight. Recently, its star, John Agar and a group of his devoted fans got a rare opportunity to watch a videotape of the film. Hopefully, 20th Century Fox (now that they have found a print) will resolve all those pesky legal details and reissue the film on DVD, tape and TV. The film itself has some definite merit. The acting, , writing, direction and basic storyline are totally pro all the way. Technically, HAND benefits from fine cinematography by Crosby (TABU, several Roger Corman features) -- although the Cinemascope film is hampered by a pan-and-scan transfer on tape. The real standout is a jazz cum horror genre score by Sonny Burke (ooh, a CD would be nice, hint hint). On one level, HAND is a typical: Mad scientist INVENTS serum, mad scientist TAKES serum, Mad Scientist BECOMES Monster kind of movie. But, a subplot (underdeveloped mainly because the film runs a too trim 60 whole minutes) about the military creating the serum for nerve gas war is intriguing and the above mentioned tech credits are handled by seasoned vets. I hope all IMDB fans will get the rare chance I did of seeing HAND OF DEATH soon. And, thank you, John Agar for letting me see your movie!