The touching story of a boy and his right hand.
1999-04-30
$25.0M
92 min
Anton is a cheerful but exceedingly non-ambitious 17-year-old stoner who lives to stay buzzed, watch TV, and moon over Molly, the beautiful girl who lives next door. However, it turns out that the old cliché about idle hands being the devil's playground has a kernel of truth after all.
Pot-soaked teens in SoCal harassed by a possessed hand
A town is plagued by a series of killings as a group of unambitious high schoolers (Devon Sawa, Seth Green and Elden Henson) trace the problem to the uncontrollable appendage of one of their own.
“Idle Hands” (1999) is a manic horror comedy with macabre humor and lots o’ gore, influenced by bits from flicks like “Evil Dead 2,” “Re-Animator” and “An American Werewolf in London.” It’s often legitimately funny because it takes situations or lines and goes one step further for an over-the-top effect, similar to “There's Something About Mary” from the year before, just with a totally different milieu.
Jessica Alba turned 17 one week into shooting in 1998 and is a highlight. Meanwhile Vivica A. Fox is effective as a Druidic priestess hunting down the spirit responsible for the nefarious goings-on.
It’s creative, energetic, fun and bloody, but hindered by its curious obsession with pot-smoking. You could call it throwaway entertainment, which flopped badly at the box office.
It runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot mostly in Pasadena, which is just northeast of Hollywood; as well as areas nearby (Hollywood, Santa Clarita and Culver City for studio work).
GRADE: C
