Okay, explain me this: the film has got an original premise, a uniquely sinister setting and immensely atmospheric scenery. So, then why on earth is it still such a boring and mildly frustrating film? "Macabra" contains all the basic ingredients of a unique horror effort, but the elaboration is so weak and amateurish all the potential and good intentions go nearly wasted. Jennifer and Mark Baines, a married couple, invest their money in a Mexican mine and hope to get rich real fast exploiting silver. The local workers still attempt to warn them about the place being haunted with an ancient demonic evil, but it's useless. Instead of winning silver, Jennifer and Mark unleash pure evil in the shape of a mummified hand that takes control over the people it possesses. When Mark falls victim to the evil first, Jennifer teams up with a reluctant Vietnam veteran turned priest in order to defeat the hand. As said, the basic idea had potential, but a bit more background regarding the nature and origin of the evil would have been welcome. What exactly is it? Why a hand? How did it end up in a Mexican mine, etc? There are some moments of sheer suspense, fast pacing and creepiness, but even more boredom and absolute pointlessness. There's a reasonable amount of gore and typically 80's cheese-effects, including self-crawling hands and explicit amputations. The cinematography is too dark, but the set-pieces are admirably macabre and especially the soundtrack is far superior to any other aspect this overall mediocre effort. The theme music is creepy, and throughout the film uncanny tunes can be heard repeatedly. Bad film, but curiously compelling and still recommended to remotely tolerant genre fans.
37 Reviews
Good idea, badly executed
jluis19845 December 2006
By the early 60s, the Mexican film industry was beginning its slow but constant decline after the Golden Age ended. Facing economic problems and a stronger competition from foreign filmmakers, the Mexican industry found itself at its darkest hours through the decades of the 70s and the 80s. Sadly, this is the period where director Alfredo Zacarías begins his work, starting as a writer under the guidance of his father, director Miguel Zacarías, and the legendary Golden Age director Gilberto Martínez Solares. Soon Alfredo Zacarías started making films on his own and found success directing the comedies of GAspar Henaine "Capulina", however, Zacarías had big plans in mind and by the end of the 70s, he directed two ambitious horror films co-produced with the U.S.A. and starring somewhat famous American actors: 1978's "The Bees" and this film, "Demonoid, Messenger of Death".
Also known as "Macabra, la Mano del Diablo", the film stars Samantha Eggar as Jennifer Baines, who is visiting the mining city of Guanajuato in Mexico as his husband, Mark (Roy Jenson) owns an important mine there that seems to be very rich. At the time when Jennifer arrives, Mark is facing the refusal of his workers to go deeper as they believe the mine is haunted. Thinking it's all mere superstition, Mark and Jennifer enter the mine and discover an ancient altar to the Devil, which holds the Devil's hand as a relic. Mark takes the Hand as a trophy of man conquering superstition, but soon he'll discover that the Devil's hand is not made for fooling around. The Hand begins to possess people transforming them in psycho killers, and only Jennifer knows the truth.
While the movie is written by Amos Powell (of Croman's "Tower of London" fame) and David Lee Fein (who later would write "Cheerleader Camp"), the film is obviously the brainchild of Zacarías himself, as he wrote the source story the script was based on. Unlike in "The Bees", Zacarías really attempts this time to create an interesting horror piece, and while he unashamedly lifts some ideas from Oliver Stone's "The Hand" (released previously that same year), it could be said that he succeeds in making a somewhat original tale of horror. Sadly, the plot lacks the coherency and the sense to put all the elements together and the bizarre story never really takes off.
Zacarías' direction is technically effective, but his style is outdated and unoriginal, and in the end this makes the film look 10 years older than its true age. To Zacarías' credit, he makes really original set-pieces aided by some good special effects and a somewhat effective musical score; however, the bad cinematography, together with the low-budget and the contrived plot, would diminish the power of those scenes. While he has proved to be good with comedy, he seems to struggle with the drama and the suspense of his film, as if he had troubles directing his cast. The various action sequences of the film are really good for the budget, although again, with a notoriously anachronistic look in the execution.
Samantha Eggar does her best with what she has to work and manages to carry the film despite the movie's obvious problems. Her character is really simple, almost typical, but she makes it likable and less two dimensional. The experienced Stuart Whitman is less successful, although overall he pulls off an acceptable performance as the Priest that helps Jennifer against the Hand. The rest of the cast ranges from mediocre to downright awful, although one can't tell if it's completely the actors' fault due to the bad way the script is written. However, to tell the truth, Roy Jenson did give an effective performance in his short screen time.
It's true that at first sight, one could blame the movie's flaws to it's low budget, it's bad special effects or to its director, however, I think that the real problem lays on the poor way the script was built. Contrived and fast packed, the story never really fulfills its main purposes (to scar and entertain), and never really goes somewhere. While the intentions of the writers were good, the plot was probably not meant to work in the first place. Zacarías has done better films when he has a good script to work with, but in "Demonoid", the lack of coherency of the plot simply make the film boring and tedious.
It's kind of sad that Zacarías had the chance to make this film when the Mexican film industry was at its lowest point, as the very ambitious idea (that without a doubt looked good on paper) simply couldn't work well on film. Fortunately, he finally would make a movie the way he wanted in 1989, with "Crime of Crimes", in the meantime, "Demonoid, Messenger of Death", ends up as another good idea that was just badly executed. 4/10
Also known as "Macabra, la Mano del Diablo", the film stars Samantha Eggar as Jennifer Baines, who is visiting the mining city of Guanajuato in Mexico as his husband, Mark (Roy Jenson) owns an important mine there that seems to be very rich. At the time when Jennifer arrives, Mark is facing the refusal of his workers to go deeper as they believe the mine is haunted. Thinking it's all mere superstition, Mark and Jennifer enter the mine and discover an ancient altar to the Devil, which holds the Devil's hand as a relic. Mark takes the Hand as a trophy of man conquering superstition, but soon he'll discover that the Devil's hand is not made for fooling around. The Hand begins to possess people transforming them in psycho killers, and only Jennifer knows the truth.
While the movie is written by Amos Powell (of Croman's "Tower of London" fame) and David Lee Fein (who later would write "Cheerleader Camp"), the film is obviously the brainchild of Zacarías himself, as he wrote the source story the script was based on. Unlike in "The Bees", Zacarías really attempts this time to create an interesting horror piece, and while he unashamedly lifts some ideas from Oliver Stone's "The Hand" (released previously that same year), it could be said that he succeeds in making a somewhat original tale of horror. Sadly, the plot lacks the coherency and the sense to put all the elements together and the bizarre story never really takes off.
Zacarías' direction is technically effective, but his style is outdated and unoriginal, and in the end this makes the film look 10 years older than its true age. To Zacarías' credit, he makes really original set-pieces aided by some good special effects and a somewhat effective musical score; however, the bad cinematography, together with the low-budget and the contrived plot, would diminish the power of those scenes. While he has proved to be good with comedy, he seems to struggle with the drama and the suspense of his film, as if he had troubles directing his cast. The various action sequences of the film are really good for the budget, although again, with a notoriously anachronistic look in the execution.
Samantha Eggar does her best with what she has to work and manages to carry the film despite the movie's obvious problems. Her character is really simple, almost typical, but she makes it likable and less two dimensional. The experienced Stuart Whitman is less successful, although overall he pulls off an acceptable performance as the Priest that helps Jennifer against the Hand. The rest of the cast ranges from mediocre to downright awful, although one can't tell if it's completely the actors' fault due to the bad way the script is written. However, to tell the truth, Roy Jenson did give an effective performance in his short screen time.
It's true that at first sight, one could blame the movie's flaws to it's low budget, it's bad special effects or to its director, however, I think that the real problem lays on the poor way the script was built. Contrived and fast packed, the story never really fulfills its main purposes (to scar and entertain), and never really goes somewhere. While the intentions of the writers were good, the plot was probably not meant to work in the first place. Zacarías has done better films when he has a good script to work with, but in "Demonoid", the lack of coherency of the plot simply make the film boring and tedious.
It's kind of sad that Zacarías had the chance to make this film when the Mexican film industry was at its lowest point, as the very ambitious idea (that without a doubt looked good on paper) simply couldn't work well on film. Fortunately, he finally would make a movie the way he wanted in 1989, with "Crime of Crimes", in the meantime, "Demonoid, Messenger of Death", ends up as another good idea that was just badly executed. 4/10
Give 'em a hand...or not
lovecraft2317 August 2012
Warning: Spoilers
*Note: Like many of my reviews, this is taken from my blog, which is called "Talk of Horrors." This one comes from the last entry of "Not on DVD Week."
The workers at a Mexican mine don't exactly want to go there because of a curse. Well, Jennifer (Samantha Eggar) and Mark Baines (Roy Jones) go in anyways, and accidentally unleash a demonic force that has a fondness for possessing people's left hands. I guess Ned Flanders was wrong when he said "Lord Love a Leftie." Anyways, the only way a person can free themselves from committing acts of evil is severing said hand-which will then go after someone else and kill or possess them. Can Jennifer and Father Cunningham (Stuart Whitman) stop this handy horror?
As you can tell from the premise, "Demoniod" is about as goofy as they get. The plot really doesn't hold up to scrutiny, most of the performances are lackluster, and the film is loaded with moments that are unintentionally hilarious. The highlight of those goofy moments is a police officer demanding "cut my hand off or you die!"
In spite of it's problems, I found myself kind of enjoying this movie. It's not really good, but the whole concept is so daffy that you can't help but go along with it. It's like "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats" or "I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle", only played straight and without evil inanimate objects. Apart from that, Eggar and Whitman aren't great, but do their best carrying the material, and there's something perversely amusing about seeing people finding different ways of getting their hands severed, providing some fun bloody moments. Add a great score by Richard Gillis, plenty of (unintentional) laughs and a downbeat (though predictable) conclusion, and you've got yourself an amusing little piece of trash cinema. It's amazing that a movie this offbeat hasn't gotten a DVD release yet, as it's the kind of cult oddity fans of trash live for.
The workers at a Mexican mine don't exactly want to go there because of a curse. Well, Jennifer (Samantha Eggar) and Mark Baines (Roy Jones) go in anyways, and accidentally unleash a demonic force that has a fondness for possessing people's left hands. I guess Ned Flanders was wrong when he said "Lord Love a Leftie." Anyways, the only way a person can free themselves from committing acts of evil is severing said hand-which will then go after someone else and kill or possess them. Can Jennifer and Father Cunningham (Stuart Whitman) stop this handy horror?
As you can tell from the premise, "Demoniod" is about as goofy as they get. The plot really doesn't hold up to scrutiny, most of the performances are lackluster, and the film is loaded with moments that are unintentionally hilarious. The highlight of those goofy moments is a police officer demanding "cut my hand off or you die!"
In spite of it's problems, I found myself kind of enjoying this movie. It's not really good, but the whole concept is so daffy that you can't help but go along with it. It's like "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats" or "I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle", only played straight and without evil inanimate objects. Apart from that, Eggar and Whitman aren't great, but do their best carrying the material, and there's something perversely amusing about seeing people finding different ways of getting their hands severed, providing some fun bloody moments. Add a great score by Richard Gillis, plenty of (unintentional) laughs and a downbeat (though predictable) conclusion, and you've got yourself an amusing little piece of trash cinema. It's amazing that a movie this offbeat hasn't gotten a DVD release yet, as it's the kind of cult oddity fans of trash live for.
Left Hands Are Pure Eeevil!...
azathothpwiggins18 May 2020
DEMONOID is about a demonized left hand that creeps, crawls, leaps, and kills! It also possesses those it chooses and uses them to further its agenda of eeevil!
Jennifer Baines (Samantha Eggar) tracks the horrid hand after it destroys her husband. Stuart Whitman co-stars as a priest with all the personality of soggy communion wafers! Much maligned, this movie may be absurd, but at least its fun to watch!...
Jennifer Baines (Samantha Eggar) tracks the horrid hand after it destroys her husband. Stuart Whitman co-stars as a priest with all the personality of soggy communion wafers! Much maligned, this movie may be absurd, but at least its fun to watch!...
Your Average Killer Hand Flick
mindyannfraizer25 April 2022
Samantha Eggar has to fight off a killer severed hand after her husband and his team accidentally stumble upon a cursed cave. The hand jumps from body to body, turning them into killers. The premise is silly and the film doesn't do a lot to bring any seriousness to it, but it's fun enough.
I gotta "hand" it to you,...
lee_eisenberg28 August 2008
...there's not much point in watching "Demonoid: Messenger of Death". Had they gone deeper into the history of how the first hand became a killer hand, maybe the movie would have been better. But just showing one scene of a cult, and then showing a husband and wife going into a Mexican mine and finding the remains of a temple, thereby releasing an evil hand? Not good enough.
Anyway, this isn't the worst movie (it's easily more interesting than "Baryshnya-Krestyanka" or "Everyone Says I Love You"). But they could have easily developed it further. I suspect that Samantha Eggar and Stuart Whitman don't try to stress this on their resumes. Pretty lame.
Anyway, this isn't the worst movie (it's easily more interesting than "Baryshnya-Krestyanka" or "Everyone Says I Love You"). But they could have easily developed it further. I suspect that Samantha Eggar and Stuart Whitman don't try to stress this on their resumes. Pretty lame.
Demonoid, messenger of deadly boredom!
The_Void5 December 2006
All the signs pointed to this being a bad film...but I went ahead and watched it anyway. To its credit; Demonoid is very fast paced, but the credit ends there as despite the plot playing out quickly, the film is still very boring and the swiftness in the story's movement seems to be a lame attempt to mask this. The plot has something to do with a Mexican mine and a possessed demonic hand. Mark and Jenifer Baines are attempting to reopen the mine, but find themselves in trouble when the workers won't go down for fear of an ancient curse. This leads the couple to go down the mine...and guess what? They release an ancient curse. I actually wish they'd listened to the locals and left the mine closed, as then there would have been no reason for this film to be made. The idea of someone's hand becoming possessed and developing a life of it's own was very well used in classic horror Evil Dead II, but here the idea is sadly squandered and unfortunately the best way to describe Demonoid is simply 'damp squib'. As you might expect, I can't recommend this terrible film as there is nothing going for it.
Watch out for demon hands!
BandSAboutMovies1 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
My wife wants to go away on a fancy vacation. While horror films have forever enriched my life, they've also damaged her chances of going anywhere. The tropics? Have you seen Zombi? A resort like Sandals? I assume that Laura Gemser will show up and I'll be boiled in a pot. And now, thanks to this movie, we can also cross Mexico off the list.
As much as horror may have curtailed my partner's opportunity to globetrot, it's also imparted several important lessons to me. To wit: if your mine is over a Satanic temple where left hands were severed to honor demons and every single worker refuses to go any deeper, perhaps it's time to find a new mine. And if by chance you discover a miniature coffin with a hand inside it, just leave it where you found it. Don't take it back to your hotel room. This is why I've made it forty six years on this Earth without being possessed or dealing with a face melting cult in the desert.
My true joy in the movie Demonoid comes from reading the review that it received when it was released in 1981 and laughing in their prose faces. How can anyone dislike a movie where a possessed man decides that old school Las Vegas is the best place to hide out? Who can dismiss a film where Samantha Eggar obviously dressed herself in some of the most astounding fashions that the early 80's could unleash? The woman wears an ascot and oversized orange counter to explore a mine (let's be fair, every outfit she wears in this movie are a paradox, somehow both gorgeous and ridiculous at the same time). And damn anyone who speaks ill of Stuart Whitman! This former boxer and soldier had already played Jim Jones - I'm sorry, James Johnson - in Guyana: Crime of the Century, released less than a year after that tragedy? Here, he plays a battling Catholic priest who we just know could win over Ms. Eggar if he didn't have that pesky collar and angel on his shoulder to worry about.
Maybe they weren't watching the Mexican cut (Macabra!), which has more dialogue, more death and a different ending? Look, you can't please all of the people all of the time. And most of those critics, they never got pleased all that much anyways. Demonoid is worth the whole lot of them. Would they dare to feature an ending so downbeat after 98 minutes of rooting for our British heroine? I dare say no. They'd be afraid to insert so many flashing shots of a demon raising his fist, they'd be too concerned about a soundtrack that practically screams in your face and they'd sooner hide behind their film theory books than make a movie in 1981 that feels like it came from 1974.
Demonoid is why I watch movies. Samantha Eggar screaming at the top of her lungs while a mine explodes all around her? There. An appearance by Haji, she of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Bigfoot, Supervixens and the wonderfully titled Wam Bam Thank You Spaceman(whose real name Barbarella Catton wasn't sexy enough for a stage name)? You got me. Overacting in nearly every scene? I'm riveted. A poster that promised nubile ladies reclining for a fallen angel carrying a gigantic sword? I might have piddled a little.
Keep your Oscar picks and guilty pleasures. I have no such taste or qualms. Give me Demonoid or give me a severed left hand!
As much as horror may have curtailed my partner's opportunity to globetrot, it's also imparted several important lessons to me. To wit: if your mine is over a Satanic temple where left hands were severed to honor demons and every single worker refuses to go any deeper, perhaps it's time to find a new mine. And if by chance you discover a miniature coffin with a hand inside it, just leave it where you found it. Don't take it back to your hotel room. This is why I've made it forty six years on this Earth without being possessed or dealing with a face melting cult in the desert.
My true joy in the movie Demonoid comes from reading the review that it received when it was released in 1981 and laughing in their prose faces. How can anyone dislike a movie where a possessed man decides that old school Las Vegas is the best place to hide out? Who can dismiss a film where Samantha Eggar obviously dressed herself in some of the most astounding fashions that the early 80's could unleash? The woman wears an ascot and oversized orange counter to explore a mine (let's be fair, every outfit she wears in this movie are a paradox, somehow both gorgeous and ridiculous at the same time). And damn anyone who speaks ill of Stuart Whitman! This former boxer and soldier had already played Jim Jones - I'm sorry, James Johnson - in Guyana: Crime of the Century, released less than a year after that tragedy? Here, he plays a battling Catholic priest who we just know could win over Ms. Eggar if he didn't have that pesky collar and angel on his shoulder to worry about.
Maybe they weren't watching the Mexican cut (Macabra!), which has more dialogue, more death and a different ending? Look, you can't please all of the people all of the time. And most of those critics, they never got pleased all that much anyways. Demonoid is worth the whole lot of them. Would they dare to feature an ending so downbeat after 98 minutes of rooting for our British heroine? I dare say no. They'd be afraid to insert so many flashing shots of a demon raising his fist, they'd be too concerned about a soundtrack that practically screams in your face and they'd sooner hide behind their film theory books than make a movie in 1981 that feels like it came from 1974.
Demonoid is why I watch movies. Samantha Eggar screaming at the top of her lungs while a mine explodes all around her? There. An appearance by Haji, she of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Bigfoot, Supervixens and the wonderfully titled Wam Bam Thank You Spaceman(whose real name Barbarella Catton wasn't sexy enough for a stage name)? You got me. Overacting in nearly every scene? I'm riveted. A poster that promised nubile ladies reclining for a fallen angel carrying a gigantic sword? I might have piddled a little.
Keep your Oscar picks and guilty pleasures. I have no such taste or qualms. Give me Demonoid or give me a severed left hand!
Demonoid
Scarecrow-8820 March 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Samantha Eggar's husband owns a Mexican mine which contains within it an ancient tomb housing a metal box with a severed demonic hand possibly possessed by the Devil himself. The hand attaches itself to Mr. Bains, in turn, possessing him. Each time the host is killed and the hand is severed it moves on to another human victim. The hand's ultimate choice for an owner is Eggar herself who joins forces with a priest(Stuart Whitman)to try and stop it. I have grown mellow over the years since writing user comments and really, really try to approach even the worse dreck looking for something positive from the experience. DEMONOID is one of those cases where I can not find one good thing to take away from it. The plot is preposterous, the severed hand gags are lame and laughable, and the actors attack their parts with an absolute seriousness which had to have been extremely difficult under the circumstances. Whitman and others doing battle with a severed hand trying to smother them is hard to watch without shaking your head in disbelief, and Eggar's fate at the end, the screaming, the swirling camera, broken glass table, it's the tip of the iceberg. For bad movie lovers, I think this junk will even bore them. It is an absolute slog to get to the end as a lot of nothing, other than the infamous severed hand crawling about, happens for long periods, but there are a series of decapitations which might amuse lovers of rancid cinema: a laser, train on railroad tracks, and a car door among other things. While Eggar hasn't necessarily starred in a ton of quality films in her career, DEMONOID would have to be considered the definite low point. Whitman, who I like a lot, doesn't have a prayer(pun intended)in this movie as the heroic man of the cloth who must use the power of Christ to combat the evil demonic hand. The funniest scene could be when the severed hand helps Eggar's husband Mr. Bain win at throwing dice in a Las Vegas casino--who knew a demonic hand had such luck.
Hilarious horrors
Rrrobert7 August 1999
Ghastly high-camp Mexican horrors with Stuart Whitman as a Priest attempting to help Samantha Eggar in her battle against a murderous demon which possesses people's left hands.
Whitman's acting is suitably over-the-top and Eggar gives the low-budget production more class than it deserves. Russ Meyer starlet Haji has a small role as a gangster's girl and Erika Carlsson receives prominent billing for her challenging role of "Nurse Morgan": a sexy blonde cleavage-revealing nurse who has about 45 seconds of screen time and who's only dialogue is screaming out "NOOOOOO!!!" (See Alicia Encinas' role in "The Bees".)
Infinitely compelling and enjoyable in its badness, the film is enlivened by several grisly/hilarious horror sequences and quite a few genuinely suspenseful situations. The funniest sequences involve assorted possessed people finding various imaginative ways of removing their left hands. Of course as soon as the hand has been removed it scurries off in search of a new victim and the process begins again.
Unlike Alfredo Zacharias' other opus "The Bees" (1978) it appears the makers really were attempting to make a good film this time. They almost made it but fortunately there is enough terrible acting, laughable dialogue (possessed cop to a plastic surgeon: "cut my hand off or I'll kill you!") and high-camp hilarity to keep any bad-movie buff enthralled.
The film apparently sat on the shelf for three years; release of "The Hand" starring Michael Caine undoubtedly encouraged distributors to finally release this to cash-in on the living-hand craze.
Whitman's acting is suitably over-the-top and Eggar gives the low-budget production more class than it deserves. Russ Meyer starlet Haji has a small role as a gangster's girl and Erika Carlsson receives prominent billing for her challenging role of "Nurse Morgan": a sexy blonde cleavage-revealing nurse who has about 45 seconds of screen time and who's only dialogue is screaming out "NOOOOOO!!!" (See Alicia Encinas' role in "The Bees".)
Infinitely compelling and enjoyable in its badness, the film is enlivened by several grisly/hilarious horror sequences and quite a few genuinely suspenseful situations. The funniest sequences involve assorted possessed people finding various imaginative ways of removing their left hands. Of course as soon as the hand has been removed it scurries off in search of a new victim and the process begins again.
Unlike Alfredo Zacharias' other opus "The Bees" (1978) it appears the makers really were attempting to make a good film this time. They almost made it but fortunately there is enough terrible acting, laughable dialogue (possessed cop to a plastic surgeon: "cut my hand off or I'll kill you!") and high-camp hilarity to keep any bad-movie buff enthralled.
The film apparently sat on the shelf for three years; release of "The Hand" starring Michael Caine undoubtedly encouraged distributors to finally release this to cash-in on the living-hand craze.
enjoyable Mexican horror
trashgang8 April 2011
This Mexican flick with international actors is still unavailable up to this writing on DVD. You can find it easily on NTSC VHS. And I was glad that I found it. It starts of immediately with a woman being hunted by some KKK lookalikes in a cave. It appears that she has some superhuman powers in her left hand. Finally they can capture her and while she's stripped naked they cut off her hand. And from there on this movie gets going. The hand possesses the next victim whom possesses the next one, it goes on and on and of course the hand is being hunted by Jennifer Barnes (Samantha Eggar; CURTAINS) after she looses her husband being killed by the hand. What happens next is a must see for drive-in or turkey flick freaks. The car chase is really laughable especially with the police car involved but still it do has his moments. Some find the ending a bit of overacting but I really enjoyed it. The effects are good enough to watch and it never bored me. Glad I tracked it down and shipped it from the US.
Only 4.5!!???? Be Reasonable!
biggushlong26 November 2019
If you are going to watch a film like this I assume you have some intelligence and you have an inkling as to what the film entails. I watch a lot of Baad films / B movies ...Rare and odd movies. I found GOLD! This has everything in it to make me happy. Great music (GREAT!) Bad acting - in a good way - A scream queen - and a hand and some humour. This is why I look through films. Some last for 20 minutes. Some I watch and think it was ok. This I saw this twice in 2 days and still smiled! A fantastic entertaining movie. Forget Genre....forget horror or trash or Euro Classic. This is pure GOLD! PS.The films video cover alone deserves 6 out of 10. That too is a classic!
Attack of the killer left hand!
HumanoidOfFlesh7 January 2010
"Demonoid:The Messenger of Death" is an entertaining and bizarre Mexican horror flick about a mine proprietor(Roy C. Jensen),his gorgeous wife (Samantha Eggar) and the hand case found by them in an underground mine chamber.During the night the dust turns back into a flying hand,which promptly starts possessing people.Admittedly this crazy horror flick is really bad,but I had lots of fun watching it.Its premise is similar to Oliver Stone's "The Hand":a possessed severed hand is stalking people.The possession of the left hand creates the opportunities for many bizarre scenes:a hand literally catching the train,fortune hunter dynamites his own mine- with his entire crew still inside it and a policeman pulls his pistol on a surgeon and insists the MD amputate the cop's arm sans anesthesia to name only a few.Watch "Demonoid" as soon as possible.7 out of 10.
"The Hand Will Kill Again!". The Hand, the hero of the movie.
insomniac_rod31 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I wonder if this movie somehow inspired "Evil Dead II"!! A demoniac and perverted hand with a bad attitude spreads terror. That's all you need to know.
Damn it, the effect of the moving hand is the best feature about this cheapie mess. The hand's performance was truly menacing and comic at the same time! It starts a killing spree while possessing, then, it hides under Samantha Eggar's sheets (dirty hand!), and if it wasn't enough, it jumps over a moving car without a stunt double. That's my kind of entertainment.
Now seriously, this movie is as cheap as you can imagine. There are some unintentionally funny situations, CHEAP false scares, horrible f/x, and putrid score. Not even the groovy music is likable.
The premise is good but you can't do anything good with such an extremely low budget and cheap production values. But in defense of this movie, it's meant to be pure B-entertainment. Although the movie is boring, it has it's moments of cheesiness and Mystery Science Theatre material.
At some points I thought I was watching a bad episode of "Miami Vice"! The car chasing, and shootings just demonstrate how poor this Horror oriented movie is.
"The Hand will kill again!". Oh , I forgot to praise the horrible one-liners.
Damn it, the effect of the moving hand is the best feature about this cheapie mess. The hand's performance was truly menacing and comic at the same time! It starts a killing spree while possessing, then, it hides under Samantha Eggar's sheets (dirty hand!), and if it wasn't enough, it jumps over a moving car without a stunt double. That's my kind of entertainment.
Now seriously, this movie is as cheap as you can imagine. There are some unintentionally funny situations, CHEAP false scares, horrible f/x, and putrid score. Not even the groovy music is likable.
The premise is good but you can't do anything good with such an extremely low budget and cheap production values. But in defense of this movie, it's meant to be pure B-entertainment. Although the movie is boring, it has it's moments of cheesiness and Mystery Science Theatre material.
At some points I thought I was watching a bad episode of "Miami Vice"! The car chasing, and shootings just demonstrate how poor this Horror oriented movie is.
"The Hand will kill again!". Oh , I forgot to praise the horrible one-liners.
So so effort.
bigpappa1--214 August 2000
A couple (Samantha Eggar and Roy Cameron) while working in a Mexican mine discover a severed hand. The hand becomes one with Cameron and possesses him, causing him to commit all kinds of nasty murders.
Not as bad as other people make it out to be, but nowhere near good. And poor Eggar gives it her all even though she is in such an unispired production. Some of the effects are incredibly grotsque though. My rating: 5 out of 10.
Rated R; contains Graphic Violence, Nudity, and Language.
Not as bad as other people make it out to be, but nowhere near good. And poor Eggar gives it her all even though she is in such an unispired production. Some of the effects are incredibly grotsque though. My rating: 5 out of 10.
Rated R; contains Graphic Violence, Nudity, and Language.
Eggar Gives It Her Best Shot
kayrannells16 February 2021
A demonic severed hand springs to life and attacks Samantha Eggar and her husband before going on a mad killing spree, infecting and possessing anyone that comes into contact with it. It's hard to know what to make of Demonoid. Despite a handful of campy and silly moments, it's not fun enough to enjoy as a drunken party movie and it's definitely not serious or scary enough to work as a terrifying horror film either. It does decide to keep its run time fairly short so that you don't feel like you're wasting too much of your time and I appreciate that.
Terribly stupid!
RodrigAndrisan1 October 2017
A movie worse than this one, hard to find... I wanted to see it thanks to Samantha Eggar, my love from my youth, the beauty from "The Collector"(1965) and "The Walking Stick"(1970). And also because of Stuart Whitman which I liked, when I was little, in "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes"(1965). There are no words to express how stupid it is this film. The only thing better is the pursuit between two cars, a white convertible and a police car, somewhere in the second half of the film.
"In the name of Evil, you and I must obey."
Hey_Sweden16 December 2015
Jennifer Baines, played by the lovely Samantha Eggar, joins her husband Mark (character actor Roy Jenson, in one of the bigger roles of his career) as he attempts to open a Mexican mine. The workers don't want to cooperate because they're superstitious, so he and she go poking around. They mess around with the artifacts laying around, and a cursed severed hand takes possession of him, making him do odd (and profitable) things. The hand is soon free to control a succession of hapless victims, while she teams up with a priest (a grim looking Stuart Whitman) who's having a crisis of faith.
Director Alfredo Zacarias ("The Bees") co-scripted this one, based on his own story, an update of "The Beast with Five Fingers" type stories. (Interestingly, this came out the same year as Oliver Stones' "The Hand".) It sets a tone early on, revealing itself to be schlock of the most priceless kind. If one were to take it seriously as a horror film, it'd be an utter failure, but if one accepts it as tongue in cheek, it's quite funny. The sheer incompetence on display is staggering. The special effects are amusing, the dialogue ridiculous, and the art direction by old pro Robert Burns is effective. Zacarias tries to spice things up a bit with breast shots (in the opening few minutes) and an action scene, but his bumbling misdirection is simply laughable.
Fortunately, Eggar doesn't look *too* serious. Whitman looks appropriately embarrassed. Lew Saunders is hilarious as the cop who pays an impromptu visit to a surgeon, in a memorable sequence. Erika Carlsson ("The Devil's Rain"), Ted White (Jason in "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter"), and Haji ("Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!") co-star.
Good fun for people who want to see characters devise ways to rid themselves of their left hands.
Five out of 10.
Director Alfredo Zacarias ("The Bees") co-scripted this one, based on his own story, an update of "The Beast with Five Fingers" type stories. (Interestingly, this came out the same year as Oliver Stones' "The Hand".) It sets a tone early on, revealing itself to be schlock of the most priceless kind. If one were to take it seriously as a horror film, it'd be an utter failure, but if one accepts it as tongue in cheek, it's quite funny. The sheer incompetence on display is staggering. The special effects are amusing, the dialogue ridiculous, and the art direction by old pro Robert Burns is effective. Zacarias tries to spice things up a bit with breast shots (in the opening few minutes) and an action scene, but his bumbling misdirection is simply laughable.
Fortunately, Eggar doesn't look *too* serious. Whitman looks appropriately embarrassed. Lew Saunders is hilarious as the cop who pays an impromptu visit to a surgeon, in a memorable sequence. Erika Carlsson ("The Devil's Rain"), Ted White (Jason in "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter"), and Haji ("Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!") co-star.
Good fun for people who want to see characters devise ways to rid themselves of their left hands.
Five out of 10.
Moderately entertaining if in the right mood
slayrrr66617 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
"Demonoid: Messenger of Death" is a moderately flawed and entertaining effort.
**SPOILERS**
In a newly-discovered mine in Mexico, Jennifer Baines, (Samantha Eggar) discovers a long-sealed burial chamber that the locals are fearful of. Eventually finding the main room inside, her husband Mark Baines, (Roy Jenson) suddenly takes an interest in the site, which reveals the secret of the site as being a sacrificial altar that required human parts to a statue that resembled an ancient demon. Soon thereafter, a bunch of murders committed around the site draw Sergent Leo Matson, (Lew Saunders) and they find that it's all a disembodied hand from one of the former victims in the chamber and killing off anyone around the group. Finally seeking help from Father Cunningham, (Stuart Whitman) on help with dealing with the situation, they try to put an end to the reign of terror.
The Good News: There's some really fun stuff here when it tries to. That's due to the film's actual action scenes in here being actually fun and enjoyable when it really lets loose. One of the greatest is the sequence in the doctor's office, where a cop forces a doctor at gunpoint to surgically remove his left hand, and is shown in full detail, which is quite bloody and messy in and of itself, then it shows the resulting chaos which really gets the best out of the scene. The offending member jumps from tray to table, brandishes a firearm, and guns-down a fleeing nurse as she makes for the door. It's all got the rather fun ending as well with the really brutal face-reconstruction with the disembodied hand to provide a great close to it. There's also a semi-decent car chase in here, which ends with a hokey stunt that ends in a mild laugh and another rather brutal hand-lopping which looks pretty good as well. The main action scene, when the hand goes crazy in the shack with other victims getting wiped out before an errant spark causes the whole thing to go up in flames, is perhaps the best one. The ending of it, with one guy totally engulfed in flames stumbling along for a few steps before falling to the ground while managing to have the severed hand buried in the sand by dislocating itself. The opening, down in the mines after the cave-in where they're all trapped inside with all the unusual sort of amulets, statues and trinkets that are used for the ancient ceremony make the location pretty creepy and eerie, and the back-story given to it is even better. There's also some nice creepy scenes in here at the end, when the disembodied hand chases them around the church, and at one point even cutting both the phone and power, making for some really nice atmosphere at times. These here are what the film has going for it.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of problems for this one. One of the biggest examples is that there's a lot of scenes early on which don't really do much here except pad out time in a film that didn't really need it. There's no point in showing the scenes in the casino, since it's all quite unneeded to show him wandering around the different parts looking for him. It's not exactly fun to watch, serve no purpose and just makes them all pretty boring to sit through. That also includes the numerous discussions of the two in the church, since it's always the exact same conversations that are carried out every time. This also applies to the film's middle segment, which contains those scenes but also, just in general, doesn't really have a whole lot that works beyond just getting boring, not featuring any action but just simply all different kinds of conversation that isn't all that interesting or exciting to feature. There's also the film's inherently weird and lame way of showing the demon, mainly by throwing the silhouette of the creature out of nowhere and for completely weird areas and reasons. It's pretty hard to understand the reasoning behind it. The last flaw in here is the inherent cheese, as the premise is a little wacky, there's some hokey effects and some of the sequences do give off that cheesy look. These here are the film's few bad points.
The Final Verdict: With some stuff that's actually pretty good and a couple of flaws to drag it down, this one is actually somewhat watchable. Give it a shot if you're into these kinds of creature features or have some kind of interest in it, while those who aren't into it should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity
**SPOILERS**
In a newly-discovered mine in Mexico, Jennifer Baines, (Samantha Eggar) discovers a long-sealed burial chamber that the locals are fearful of. Eventually finding the main room inside, her husband Mark Baines, (Roy Jenson) suddenly takes an interest in the site, which reveals the secret of the site as being a sacrificial altar that required human parts to a statue that resembled an ancient demon. Soon thereafter, a bunch of murders committed around the site draw Sergent Leo Matson, (Lew Saunders) and they find that it's all a disembodied hand from one of the former victims in the chamber and killing off anyone around the group. Finally seeking help from Father Cunningham, (Stuart Whitman) on help with dealing with the situation, they try to put an end to the reign of terror.
The Good News: There's some really fun stuff here when it tries to. That's due to the film's actual action scenes in here being actually fun and enjoyable when it really lets loose. One of the greatest is the sequence in the doctor's office, where a cop forces a doctor at gunpoint to surgically remove his left hand, and is shown in full detail, which is quite bloody and messy in and of itself, then it shows the resulting chaos which really gets the best out of the scene. The offending member jumps from tray to table, brandishes a firearm, and guns-down a fleeing nurse as she makes for the door. It's all got the rather fun ending as well with the really brutal face-reconstruction with the disembodied hand to provide a great close to it. There's also a semi-decent car chase in here, which ends with a hokey stunt that ends in a mild laugh and another rather brutal hand-lopping which looks pretty good as well. The main action scene, when the hand goes crazy in the shack with other victims getting wiped out before an errant spark causes the whole thing to go up in flames, is perhaps the best one. The ending of it, with one guy totally engulfed in flames stumbling along for a few steps before falling to the ground while managing to have the severed hand buried in the sand by dislocating itself. The opening, down in the mines after the cave-in where they're all trapped inside with all the unusual sort of amulets, statues and trinkets that are used for the ancient ceremony make the location pretty creepy and eerie, and the back-story given to it is even better. There's also some nice creepy scenes in here at the end, when the disembodied hand chases them around the church, and at one point even cutting both the phone and power, making for some really nice atmosphere at times. These here are what the film has going for it.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot of problems for this one. One of the biggest examples is that there's a lot of scenes early on which don't really do much here except pad out time in a film that didn't really need it. There's no point in showing the scenes in the casino, since it's all quite unneeded to show him wandering around the different parts looking for him. It's not exactly fun to watch, serve no purpose and just makes them all pretty boring to sit through. That also includes the numerous discussions of the two in the church, since it's always the exact same conversations that are carried out every time. This also applies to the film's middle segment, which contains those scenes but also, just in general, doesn't really have a whole lot that works beyond just getting boring, not featuring any action but just simply all different kinds of conversation that isn't all that interesting or exciting to feature. There's also the film's inherently weird and lame way of showing the demon, mainly by throwing the silhouette of the creature out of nowhere and for completely weird areas and reasons. It's pretty hard to understand the reasoning behind it. The last flaw in here is the inherent cheese, as the premise is a little wacky, there's some hokey effects and some of the sequences do give off that cheesy look. These here are the film's few bad points.
The Final Verdict: With some stuff that's actually pretty good and a couple of flaws to drag it down, this one is actually somewhat watchable. Give it a shot if you're into these kinds of creature features or have some kind of interest in it, while those who aren't into it should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity
An awful demon possession movie with a great title and lots of killer hands running around
mwilson197625 April 2020
Explorers in Mexico discover the dismembered hand of an ancient demon in an old silver mine which a has the ability to possess people. Stuart Whitman plays a priest who teams up with Samantha Eggar (The Brood) to destroy it by performing an exorcism. Alfredo Zacarias wrote and directed this co-production between Mexico and the USA (aka Demonoid: Messenger of Death and Macabra), which for a movie about demonic possession featuring lots of killer hands running around comes across like a really boring episode of TV's Fantasy Island.
Rosey Palm And Her Five Sisters Terrorizes Mexico Vato!
DavyDissonance24 February 2020
Some priest and some chick with crack smoking bug eyes must track down a demonic hand before it does something. The antagonist is a hand. (Sigh) Anyways, Demonoid is the quintessential of what asinine horror movies are. I mean, who comes up with this stupid s···? A hand. Really? We are all supposed to cower in trepidation over an evil hand? Ugh! Well, what to expect is some really bad acting, severed hands and crushed faces with some blood and a little gore and an idiotic story. Okay I liked it and that's only because the idea of a lame ass demonic hand terrorizing people was hilarious. Yes, this may be the dumbest horror movie ever, but it's still entertaining in a crappy way.
The only part of a hand is gets from me is a certain finger.
mark.waltz11 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The chills are few and far between in this demonic possession horror film that waste the talents of Samantha Eggar and Stuart Whitman, one of many forgotten chillers of the early '80s that probably had the intended team audience running to get popcorn during the boring scenes of which there are many. The story surrounds a 300-year-old curse in the tombs of Mexico left behind by an old satanic cult where sacrificial victims had their hands cut off, set to place a curse on anybody who disturbs the tomb. That curse is let loose when Eggar and husband Roy Jenson disturb the tomb and wake up in the middle of the night to find out that the hand has followed them to their hotel room. Soon Jenson has become a victim of the curse and Eggar (who should have rushed back to where she came from) joins forces with priest Whitman to find a way to stop the curse.
Cheaply made, this only has a few moments of throws, and the flashback sequence at the beginning, showing a screaming female victim having her hand lopped off, and flashes forward to the present where the skeletal remains of the victims somehow are shown to the viewer as they looked when they were sacrificed. There are thus some clever ideas, but the film is cheap and plodding, and prints of the film indicate a lack of interest in restoring this to looking fresh. Therefore, the picture is grainy and the color is dull, and more importantly, the sound is muffled and often annoying. It would take a lot of freshening up to make it look decent, but until then, the damage is done because it's not the type of film anyway that most viewers will rush back to watch and reanalyze. Eggar is lovely, and Whitman sincere, but the two actors have had much better movies and probably would prefer that this one be avoided.
Cheaply made, this only has a few moments of throws, and the flashback sequence at the beginning, showing a screaming female victim having her hand lopped off, and flashes forward to the present where the skeletal remains of the victims somehow are shown to the viewer as they looked when they were sacrificed. There are thus some clever ideas, but the film is cheap and plodding, and prints of the film indicate a lack of interest in restoring this to looking fresh. Therefore, the picture is grainy and the color is dull, and more importantly, the sound is muffled and often annoying. It would take a lot of freshening up to make it look decent, but until then, the damage is done because it's not the type of film anyway that most viewers will rush back to watch and reanalyze. Eggar is lovely, and Whitman sincere, but the two actors have had much better movies and probably would prefer that this one be avoided.
A real choice chunk of Mexican horror trash
Woodyanders9 November 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Jennifer Baines (the always classy Samantha Egger), the wife of industrialist Mark Baines (a sturdy portrayal by Roy Jensen), joins forces with renegade boxing Irish priest Father Cunningham (a gloriously hammy portrayal by Stuart Whitman) to combat a lethal ancient evil force that has taken on the form of a deadly severed crawling hand.
Director/co-writer Alfredo Zacarias keeps the entertainingly absurd story zipping along at a brisk pace, treats the ridiculous premise with utmost misguided seriousness, and delivers many jaw-dropping moments of inspired lunacy. The crude (not so) special effects further add to this film's considerable infectiously clunky charm. Buxom Russ Meyer starlet Haji pops up (and out) in a small role as a cheap floozy. The sharp cinematography by Alex Phillips Jr. makes this low-grade schlock look more polished than it deserves. The funky pulsating score by Richard Gillis hits the get-down groovy spot. A deliciously tacky hoot and a half.
Director/co-writer Alfredo Zacarias keeps the entertainingly absurd story zipping along at a brisk pace, treats the ridiculous premise with utmost misguided seriousness, and delivers many jaw-dropping moments of inspired lunacy. The crude (not so) special effects further add to this film's considerable infectiously clunky charm. Buxom Russ Meyer starlet Haji pops up (and out) in a small role as a cheap floozy. The sharp cinematography by Alex Phillips Jr. makes this low-grade schlock look more polished than it deserves. The funky pulsating score by Richard Gillis hits the get-down groovy spot. A deliciously tacky hoot and a half.
Hilarious hand horror.
BA_Harrison21 February 2018
There had been 'living' severed hand movies before (The Beast With Five Fingers, The Crawling Hand, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, And Now The Screaming Starts), and there have been a few since (The Hand, Evil Dead II and Idle Hands), but none of them have been as wonderfully schlocky and unintentionally funny as Demonoid, an inept slice of z-grade Mexican horror made all the more laughable by earnest performances from leads Samantha Eggar and Stuart Whitman, and direction from Alfredo Zacarías that shows no sign of intentional humour. Eggar plays Jennifer Baines, who attempts to track down and destroy an ancient evil force that possesses people's left hands (starting with her husband Mark, played by Roy Jenson). Whitman is Father Cunningham, the initially sceptical priest who eventually helps her on her mission.
Demonoid immediately displays its trash credentials with a marvellous pre-credits sequence that delivers both gratuitous nudity and gore: a woman wearing cult robes fights against several men, but is overpowered, her clothing torn open in the process, exposing her ample breasts. After she is shackled, one of her assailants hacks off her left hand, the severed appendage crawling across the floor before being skewered and placed in a special metal case. It's a great way to start things off, and is just one of many fun scenes in this very daft horror. Each time someone is possessed, they are driven to remove their hand, which results in some truly memorable moments: Mark's badly burnt reanimated corpse slams his wrist in a car door, a gun-toting cop tells a plastic surgeon 'either you cut my hand off or I'll kill you!', while the very same surgeon severs his own hand by placing his arm on a railway track. Special affects are bloody but wholly unconvincing, which only adds to the charm of the piece.
The final act features a supposedly tense chase with zero sense of urgency, and sees Father Cunningham burning off his own possessed hand with a blow-torch, later scattering the ashes in the sea. It looks like the 'devil's hand' has been vanquished once and for all, but a delightfully silly epilogue sees Jennifer attacked by the five-fingered horror, which has somehow returned from the ocean.
Demonoid immediately displays its trash credentials with a marvellous pre-credits sequence that delivers both gratuitous nudity and gore: a woman wearing cult robes fights against several men, but is overpowered, her clothing torn open in the process, exposing her ample breasts. After she is shackled, one of her assailants hacks off her left hand, the severed appendage crawling across the floor before being skewered and placed in a special metal case. It's a great way to start things off, and is just one of many fun scenes in this very daft horror. Each time someone is possessed, they are driven to remove their hand, which results in some truly memorable moments: Mark's badly burnt reanimated corpse slams his wrist in a car door, a gun-toting cop tells a plastic surgeon 'either you cut my hand off or I'll kill you!', while the very same surgeon severs his own hand by placing his arm on a railway track. Special affects are bloody but wholly unconvincing, which only adds to the charm of the piece.
The final act features a supposedly tense chase with zero sense of urgency, and sees Father Cunningham burning off his own possessed hand with a blow-torch, later scattering the ashes in the sea. It looks like the 'devil's hand' has been vanquished once and for all, but a delightfully silly epilogue sees Jennifer attacked by the five-fingered horror, which has somehow returned from the ocean.
You Gotta Hand It To Them
shawnblackman5 October 2016
An 80's horror shined up by the good people at Vinegar Syndrome. Now I did see the 90 minute version known as Macabro but there are a few different versions . The one I seen was longer but had nudity and violence trimmed.
Miners unearth a Satanic cult site which specialized in removing left hands. The owners wife discovers a metallic hand which contains the curse. If you get the curse your left hand is taken over and it makes you kill using that hand until you cut it off. Of course who ever comes in contact with it next gets the curse.
It was campy as hell. Most of the time the actors are rolling around fighting a hand stuck on them but it was funny. You get a feel what the acting is going to be like from the first scene. You get lots of people removing there hands using trains to blow torches. Makes for a good late night flick.
Miners unearth a Satanic cult site which specialized in removing left hands. The owners wife discovers a metallic hand which contains the curse. If you get the curse your left hand is taken over and it makes you kill using that hand until you cut it off. Of course who ever comes in contact with it next gets the curse.
It was campy as hell. Most of the time the actors are rolling around fighting a hand stuck on them but it was funny. You get a feel what the acting is going to be like from the first scene. You get lots of people removing there hands using trains to blow torches. Makes for a good late night flick.
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