Idle Hands | | Cast : | Devon Sawa, Seth Green, Elden Henson | | Director : | Rodman Flender | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Full Screen | | Released Date : | April 30, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | August 31, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 29, 2005 | | Summary | Tries to be "An American Werewolf in London," but fails | Content
 | The trailers for "Idle Hands" implied the film was a madcap horror comedy when, in reality, the filmmakers created something more along the lines of "An American Werewolf in London." Granted, they don't come near the high water mark of that film, or even the later "Fright Night" or "The Lost Boys," but "Idle Hands" has genuine moments of horror along with its comedy, although neither element is particularly memorable.
From the icky premise to the icky undead friends acting as Greek chorus to the hot babe inexplicably drawn to the protagonist to the dark finale, "Idle Hands" bears the mark of the creators watching "American Werewolf" over and over and over again while creating this film.
Of course, it's not as though "An American Werewolf in London" is difficult to find at your local video store. For those looking for those sorts of thrills, stick with the original, as well as "Fright Night" and "Lost Boys."
"Idle Hands" is a recommended rental for fans of Seth Green or Jessica Alba, but other horror fans should give it a miss. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 02, 2005 | | Summary | It's a PERFECT example of today's horror movies | Content
| Which isn't a good thing. If you've seen any recent horror flicks within the past 10 years(Taking Lives, Wrong Turn, I Still Know What you Did Last Summer, Scream), then you know it's filled with the dummest imaginable good guys, cheesy plot and almost un-killable bad guys. And scenes that are supposed to thrill you and you just wonder when this is going to end. I almost fell asleep in a few of those movies, that's how lame, tiring and boring they are. Fortunately, for this film, it has Jessica Alba and Seth Green, who are two fantastic actors/actresses and are always delightful to see. Seth Green is hilarious as the main characters buddy, and Jessica Alba is more then sexy. However, the movie is beyond cheesy(like a hand jumping out a microwave through the window, smashing the glass in the mean time and landing in the bush, but it can't escape the microwave. Or, when the lady(played by Vivica A. Fox(Kill Bill)) is hit by a car, which is backing up, and then is sent 50 feet. Uh huh, that's realistic. Ends sarcasm.) Then there is tones of un-necessary gore and silly scenes like the guy losing his head. And how exactly did his buddies get back? They don't explain anything and assume everything is magical. It delivers the comedy pretty well, thanks to Seth Green for that, but is just too silly, far too cheesy and extremely lame(a hand that is possessed? Please, give me a break.) |
| Rating | | | Date | January 01, 2005 | | Summary | One Toke over the Line | Content
| Pity poor slacker kid Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa): he hasn't seen his parents for days. He's out of milk. He's out of dog food. He has no girl, no car, no central motivating ambition. He's a total loser.
Worst of all, he's "dry": totally out of fuel for the bong. Forced to face the bleak prospect of a cheerless world not percolating to the hazy slacker cumulus of marijuana. Oh, and there's a brutal serial killer loose on the streets: a maniac who slaughters his victims, skins them alive, and---when the need arises---takes eyeballs and other chunky bits as souvenirs.
Life can be a real b*tch when you haven't yet turned 18.
Anyway, things quickly get rough, brutal, bloody, and totally out of hand (heh). Questions mount right along with the body count: Where are Anton's parents? Who is slaughtering his friends and neighbors? Is it wise to try score weed off a cop, even if y'all went to the same high school? Will Anton ever really muster up enough courage to ask the hottie of his dreams (the truly luscious Jessica Alba) to the prom? And it is possible---perhaps probable?---that his suddenly wanderlusting hand might have something to do with the wanton bloodletting and recent reign of terror?
"Idle Hands" is perfectly adorable on all counts and entertains scandalously: don't be alarmed by the 90210-ish packaging or the blurbs that make this thing out to be an innocent romantic comedy.
I was nearly scared away by all the chick-friendly marketing, but I persisted---and happily, I found this little romp in the cemetery to be sick, twisted, and totally freakish. Seth Green (Anton's slacker buddy Mick) gets to spend some up-close-and-personal cranial quality time with a beer bottle (local brew). Buddy Pnub (the hysterical and eminently blase Eldon Henson) loses his head and sees his social life improve---albeit with a little duct tape and a garden trowel. Dexter (lead singer of Offspring, who does a killer cover of the Ramones "I wanna be Sedated") gets scalped by an evil possessed right hand (played, admirably and with great dramatic restraint, by Christopher Hart, who plays hands and nothing else. I'm not kidding).
"Idle Hands", turned out by director Rodman Flender and a talented SWAT team of special effects mavericks, is simply all kinds of cool.
I mean, come on: you have Ramones cover songs. You have Hands Baked Alaska in the microwave. You have adorable little kitty cats nibbling away at eyeballs and licking up spilled blood. You have one of the uber-coollest opening sequences ("I'm Under the Bed"---oh BOO-ya!) in horror movie history, in which veteran character actor Fred Willard plays Dad. You have Vivica Fox brandishing a meat-cleaver and screaming "die, Host of Evil!". You get "Dawn of the Dead" and "Evil Dead" tributes---who am I kidding, "Idle Hands" is itself one long Evil Dead tribute. You get slacker friends consigned to walk the Earth forever as the soulless Living Dead---all because they hated the white light, the Enya Music, and the general sense that Heaven meant having to "walk to far".
Anyway, the horrific, ugly, malign, diabolic evil slaughtering hand is one of the staples of Grand Guignol horror, and Flender and Company hit the ball out of the park and work their material like champs. Hell ain't so bad if you have good (undead) friends and plenty of Cheesey-Poofs---give the boy a Hand.
JSG |
| Rating | | | Date | December 30, 2004 | | Summary | A fond favourite | Content
| I love this movie, its just one of those movies you can watch over and again, and you will find something different to make you laugh at (in a good way though). If you havent seen this movie then see it now. Actually don't even see it jjust buy it. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 27, 2004 | | Summary | In Love With Leatherface | Content
| Ok, I was looking for a stupid movie to watch with my best friend, and I came across "Idle Hands". I read some of the reviews on here to see if the movie was any good. Man, what's up with the people who don't like this movie? GO SEE IT NOW!
IT IS AWESOME! More than half of the people who said that the movie sucked complained that it was ripped off of other movies. Yeah, so? Newsflash: That's why it's funny! DUH! That's like someone seeing "Scary Movie" and then saying that it was dumb because it was ripped off of other movies. Don't people get the fact that this movie is making fun of other horror movies? Now that that is out of the way...
Ok, I'll admit it, I only picked up this movie because Seth Green is in it. He's one of my all time favorite actors, and he's SO HOT! This movie is about a group of stoner friends who are the laziest people you've ever seen. The laziest is Anton Tobias. Apparently, Idle Hands are the Devil's Playground, so Anton's "idle" right hand becomes possessed by the devil. Yeah, I know, it sounds pretty dumb. But, this movie is actually really funny. I guess the trick is not to take this movie too seriously. Anyway...
Anton cannot control his murderous right hand, so it begins to kill people. Including his parents and his two best friends Mick (Seth!) and Pneub. Thankfully, his friends come back from the dead because heaven was too far away and they didn't want to walk that far (haha!). Eventually, Anton chops off his hand with a butcher knife. Now, with the help of his two un-dead buddies and one crazy Devil Hand Killer (Vivaca A. Fox), Anton must catch his hand before it kills the love of his life, Molly (Jessica Alba).
I loved this movie! It's just so out there and crazy that you have to laugh. This movie isn't for everybody, especially for people that:
1. Are strict movie critics-This movie is a cross between "Dude, Where's My Car?" or any other stupid stoner movie and any movie that involves a killer hand so, yeah, obviously it's gonna have some plot holes!
2. Don't have a good sense of humor or don't find things that are kind of...umm..."sick" humorous-Yeah, I guess this is black comedy. You know, it's like oh! Let's watch this kid eat blood or let's heat this burrito up in that microwave that's full of blood or let's poke fun at the Texas Chainsaw Massacre! ("What? Did he just say he was Leatherface? That's not funny. People died, you know!") Seth acting like Leatherface was one of my favorite parts of the movie. So, it's all in fun.
3. Have really, really, really weak stomachs- Man, everyone's like, Oh! This movie is SO DISGUSTING! No, actually it's not! The gore is just stupid and laughable. Like, "stupid gore". If you're like me you'll say, Whoa? Did he just use a barbecue fork and duct tape to stick that guy's head back on? Is that cat eating an eyeball (which looks really fake)? And then you'll just laugh you head off. I love a movie with lots of blood and gore. I'm just weird like that I guess!!!!
4. Are young and impressionable kids- I personally wouldn't let a little kid watch this movie. You know, 13 and up. Depends on how mature they are. There is a lot of pot smoking and nutmeg/oregano smoking in this movie. There's language, but it's not like a kid wouldn't have heard that stuff before. Some "stupid gore". Nudity, which made me mad (I'll get to that next). But I can see some kid now, "Mom, so if I sit around all day and do nothing, my hand will be possessed by the devil? Cool!" Hahaha...
5. Are offended by nudity- Ok, this was the only part of the movie that made me mad. Why is it always women? I mean, was it really necessary for that girl to be topless in the car scene. I don't think we really needed that in this movie. The last thing we need to premote is the fact that a lot of girls are turning into *coughslutscough* because of what they see on tv and in movies. But why is it always women? There were plenty of hot guys in that movie! Man...
Ok, I've talked for long enough! GO SEE THIS FREAKING MOVIE! It rocks. Has some great one-liners ( "I'm not going through all that Tonya.") Have some fun. Watch a stupid movie...
"Look at me! Look at me! I'm Leatherface!"
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