Wizards And Worriers: Idle Hands (1999)

Idle Hands (1999)

Starring: Devon Sawa, Jessica Alba, Seth Green

Writers: Terri Hughes, Ron Milbauer

Director: Rodman Flender

Synopsis:

Anton (Devon Sawa) is a dirty stoner kid who's only ambitions in life are to sit around on the couch all day getting high and watching TV. One morning he wakes up out of weed, so he calls his friends, Mick (Seth Green) and Pnub (Elden Henson) hoping to score. At their house, he lets them in on the fact that he hasn't seen his parents in the last few days. Jokingly, they let him in on the fact that his parents could be dead, since there happens to be a serial killer roaming the town slaying mother fuckers left and right. Sadly, Anton doesn't score any pot, but he does manage to hit it off with Molly (Jessica Alba), the girl of his dreams. Later that night, he finds his parents' bodies hidden in some Halloween decorations and comes to the conclusion that the killer is in the house. Even more fucked, he soon finds out that he's the one behind the murders, and uncontrollably slaughters his two stoner friends. For some reason, his hand has went all Evil Dead II on him in demonic fashion, doing what it wants... and what it wants is to kill!

Rant:

While Idle Hands is more funny than anything else, Rodman Flender (Leprechaun 2, the Unborn) knows his shit when it comes to grue. This flick is one huge love letter to the genre, while perfectly blending comedy with horror. Though honestly, the way the movie begins, all the ingredients of one intense as shit scary movie are all in place. It just goes elsewhere right after Anton's parents meet their demise. You can also tell Flender is big on Argento, by his use of vibrant red and green lighting and just the way he incorporates colors into the sets of the film. Visuals are brilliant; all kinds of cool transitions. One for instance being the rotating tire of a camper segueing to the wheel of a grocery shopping cart, while Anton pushes it down a heavily fogged road. There's all kinds of nifty tilted angle shots, quick zoom-ins and closeups. Lastly, a favorite work of cinematic genius is when Anton goes running down a school hall rushing to the Halloween dance. The cam is at floor level as he gets closer and after he passes it continues focus on him, while upside down. Love it. Kudos to cinematographer, Christopher Baffa for lighting and camera placement.

The film's characters are written really well, and it's clear that the cast had a lot of fun working here. Devon Sawa absolutely rules as the burnout lead, Anton. His stoner persona is highly (HAH) believable, and I can't stress enough how well he does at giving his murderous hand a mind of its own. Seth Green and Elden Henson as Mick and Pnub a --reference to Eddie Murphy as Buckwheat singing “Wookin' Pnub” on old school SNL-- are funny as shit as the sidekick besties, who hilariously call out references left and right to everything from Red Shoe Diaries to Texas Chainsaw 2. Jessica Alba plays Molly, the rockin' bass player hottie that falls for oily Anton and his awkwardness. Great googly moogly, she is stunning in this flick. Equally smokin' is Vivica A. Fox as Debi Lecure, who comes to town with a weapon to rid the evil. She plays a bad ass with ease. Favorite character is Randy the town metal head, played by Jack Noseworthy. Dude rocks “Shout at the Devil” for the entire film, sports tight black jeans, Quiet Riot shirts and has some knowledge about the dark arts. Noseworthy is pretty damn funny in his own way. Fred Willard has a small role as Anton's Dad, Sean Whalen and Nick Sadler play cops, and there's also cameos during the restaurant memorial scene with Ricky Martin and Tom from Blink-182.

Once Anton detaches his hand, Christopher Hart works his ass off at continuing to give it its own conscious. Hart also played Hand in the Addams Family movies, and it's pretty awesome how utterly different the performance is here. Mad credit to him, plus he gets to grab a hot set of boobs.

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Cannom Creations is on SFX, and I applaud the work in this film. Shit tends to get pretty nasty for a comedy film that was aimed at a large audience. Roll Call: a cat chewing an eyeball, dead parents corpses, ears in a bag of onion rings, a knitting needle through one ear and out the other, electrified burnt face taser death, nasty burrito eating, pencil sharpened fingers, Dexter from Offspring having his scalp ripped off (how I wish), an awesome implied fan death and microwave hand and more! The entire movie is one big hug to Fulci, Argento, Depalma, Stuart Gordon, Tobe Hooper, George Romero and probably a shit ton of other pioneer horror directors. Love it.

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While Graeme Revell's music score is absolutely bad ass, especially the title theme, it unfortunately takes a back seat to rock music. I don't always mind rock in movies. It's perfect for films like Trick or Treat, but that revolves around music altogether. I hate it when rock takes place of score in films, and it does here a few times. It works when Randy is rocking the fuck out to Motely Crue while working on his big ass truck, it works when Mick and Pnub are smokin' out to Sublime and even when Anton is watching 2 Live Crue and Two music videos. But there's rock all over the place, and it becomes too much after a while. The center piece at the school Halloween dance is The Offspring, and I've always disliked that band. However, I must admit they do a good cover of The Ramones' “I Wanna Be Sedated”. Overall, it's tolerable, and even works most of the time... I just wish there had been more use of Revell's score.

Kinda sad this flick gets little love now. It's a great comedic nod to the genre. It has a lot of fun with horror while not making fun of it. Dig it!

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