When I first saw VIBRATIONS back in 1996, I described it to friends who swore I was making it up. A keyboardist (James Marshall) has his hands cut off by some thugs playing around with a backhoe. He becomes a homeless bum after his girlfriend flinches at the touch of his fake hands. Our hero then catches some zzzs in a warehouse next to a rave, and is booted out by the manager, played by Christina Applegate. She is later accosted by some thugs - not the same ones who cut off James' hands - and he comes to her rescue just as they pull a switchblade which lands squarely in the palm of one of the fake hands. This frightens the thugs, who wander off muttering that "that dude isn't real or something." Charmed by his heroics, but not his smell, Christina takes James home for a bath. She just happens to live in the same building as some techno-wizards, who create "cyberhands" for our poor disabled protagonist. Just like that he becomes the top handless techno music star in the country. The scene where he's reunited with his policeman dad is too precious, excruciating, and unbelievable to describe, as are the final moments of the film, which involve revenge against the first batch of thugs, and a cryptic nod of the head to dad that clearly signals, "those are the guys who cut off my hands." The acting is atrocious, the script is beyond ludicrous, and it's astonishing that anyone could keep a straight face while on screen.
That said, in the spirit of PLAN 9, GLEN OR GLENDA, and others of that ilk, VIBRATIONS is a lot of fun.
That said, in the spirit of PLAN 9, GLEN OR GLENDA, and others of that ilk, VIBRATIONS is a lot of fun.