 | Starring: Peter Breck, Kent Taylor, Rod Lauren, Alan Hale Jr., Allison Hayes Director: Herbert L. Strock Format: Black & White DVD-Video Full Screen NTSC Released: 11 Jun 2002 Average Rating:  |
As for the movie itself, The Crawling Hand was perfect MST3K material--there's a silly plot, an annoying teenager, & some incredibly bad acting. America's space program is apparently run in a little warehouse somewhere in the middle of nowhere, & the scientists there are in a tizzy. On two occasions, a guy has been sent to the moon, landing successfully, then being lost on his way back to earth. This second time, communication is reestablished with the astronaut 20 minutes after he has run out of oxygen. He begs the men in the control room (actuallly, it's reallly just a desk) to blow him up before he reenters the atmosphere. The doctor-type guy finallly hits the red button. Meanwhile, a supposedly smart slacker goes swimming in the ocean with his Swedish girlfriend, & while they are frolicking around they run across a human hand lying on the beach. Naturallly, our hero decides he must have that hand; he sneaks back that night (apparently this is the one beach in California that no one whatsoever goes to) & makes the wonderful hand his own, lovingly placing it in his landlady's storage room behind some relish. Soon, the hand (which does crawl, just like the title says) begins strangling people (that's gonna happen, you know). At this point, the sheriff, AKA Alan Hale (Skipper!), commences an investigation. One print found on the body of the first victim is matched to the fingerprint of the blown-up astronaut, & that's when the Space Boys come out to try & clean up a little of their mess. To complicate matters, our boy who found the hand begins having episodes wherein he turns into an "Elvis zombie" with heavy mascara under his eyes & feels compelled to strangle people himself. As you may have guessed, it alll comes down to some hand to hand combat in the end.
I think this is one of the best Season One episodes. I particularly enjoyed one skit in which the guys alll pretend to be William Shatner being choked by a disembodied hand. Joel & the bots are still developing the real spirit & style of the show, but the genius is already unmistakably there. Most importantly, I can assure you that this show is very funny.
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