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This movie has already been discussed in numerous threads, but I FINALLY bought the DVD (the Alpha version, not the MST3K version) and watched it last night.  All I can say is . . . huh?

After about 20 minutes, I asked myself, "If I had the opportunity to make a movie, no matter how small my budget was, would I make THIS movie?"

I've seen some bad movies in my life, but this one wins the award for "most shots of actors staring blankly at one another, or staring off into space, without moving or talking."  It also wins the award for "most meaningless close-ups."  I mean, for no reason, the editor kept inserting close-ups that had nothing to do with the scene.  For instance, the husband and wife will be talking, and then the film cuts to a close-up of their daughter for about 15 seconds (during which, you don't hear the conversation anymore), and then it jumps back to the medium shot of the husband and wife talking again.

I can't wait to watch it again.

Burgomaster wrote

>I can't wait to watch it again.

Your a sick sick man Burgomaster. Rough viewing, but I love the opening scene with conversation and singing in the family car. That doorman character with the limp was the worst. Glad I was able to see it though. I'm sure not many people haven't seen this film. Well, I also bought the original version from Alpha DVD. You need to watch this one with someone to get more fun from it.

One day I'd like to catch all the Mystery Theater episodes/versions.

I got the DVD as a gift (I had never seen it uncut) and sat down to watch Manos knowing it was ranked #1 of the worst films on imdb.com (at the time, before Gigli) and was in for a shock. There is nothing I can say that you haven't already heard about the movie.


& Hired, part 2 (what happened to part 1?) was hilarious. I was acctually crying in laughter during that one, like Prince of Space.



"By the way, you have the biggest dick, I have ever seen on a man!" ~Bruce Lee's son.

Damn right, Burgo!  Finally someone else agrees with me!  Viva la Manos!
(By the way, Torgo has a limp because he's supposed to be a mutant goat-boy satyr thing, which explains the "huge knees" bit, they're actually just triple jointed like a goat's)

Brother R

Thanks for sharing that Brother Ragnarok. : ) I think. Either way it's rough viewing, but with films like this. It kinda makes me feel like a black belt for something.

this was even a hard one for MST to save for me. i remember there were a lot of pointless shots of the road from the car moving (?). my friend and i were like "what is this s**t a tourist video for the desert!"

The reason why there were so many jump cuts in this movie is that the camera could only hold about 30 seconds of film.  Even with the MST treatment it's hardly watchable.  (Dr. Forester and TV's Frank both aplogized for it. :)

Want to know something creepy?  The guy who played Torgo actually killed himself the same year this movie was made.  I read about on the Internet movie database.

I saw the un-MST3K version (I think I have a copy somewhere).  I didn't think it was utterly terrible.  That judgement was rendered after massive amounts of alcohol, though.

Yes it's Manos.  I know of the horrors of this film (and I mean the film itself.)  I actually showed this film to a good friend of mine who asked me to "do my worst."  Needless to say, he wanted to pummel me to death shortly afterwards.  This is definately in my most despised films.  Atleast "Orgy of the Dead" had nudity, this stinkberger just plain sucked.  Kudos for having the courage to watch this waste of celluliod.

The scariest thing about "Manos, The Hands of Fate", is that after seeing it a few times (yes, the MST3K version), I realized that I KNEW someone in the movie!!!!  I have been on stage (community theatre, that is) with one of the policemen!!!!  Yeah, that's a scare fest all its own!!!!!

We all know now how Frank Zappa came to be...he was The Master!!!

    The guy who wrote, directed and starred in this movie actually had a day job.  He was a fertiliser salesman.  You heard me!  That alone should be warning enough but if you absolutely MUST see a contender for the worst film ever, here it is.  They must have though a hunchbacked servant was too cliche so they gave Torgo a speech impediment and knees the size of footballs, you could escape from this guy if you were on cruthces and yet NO ONE seems to be able to escape from the ramshackle-cabin-of-Doom.
   Yes, I have this one on video.  Whenever I have a party and it is 3 in the morning and the guests are all drunk and I want them to go home I put it on.  It clears the house in a matter of minutes!  Hasn't failed yet!

This is proof that Ed Wood was not the worst director ever.

"HANDS, the HANDS OF FATE" (MST version) is a favorite in my twisted household.  Where can I buy the soundtrack -- with the squabbling wives' music and the "haunting Torgo theme"?

I've only seen the MSTied version, but I knew a couple of guys at my old Rocky Horror theatre who were obsessed with this satanic turd and got a copy from Sinister Cinema. Lucky them. Did I mention one of these yahoos looked EXACTLY like Dr. Erhardt? <shudder>

Movie...too...painful. I don't know how you survived this one without the MST3K commentary.

The clip says it all. How could MST3K not do this one? The Master and Torgo ARE Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank, right down to The Master's wholly-unthreatening "evil" laugh (and habit of hamming it up to the camera).

"You have nice hair... I'll save it for the master."
Without MST3K, I wouldn't have been able to watch this film.  My roomie, my wife, and I started quoting it for months afterwards.

Heheheh...I used to date a girl who concidered this movie to be excellent.  She watched it constantly....

And you think you knew true horror watching this ONCE!

MY EYES!!!!!!!!!  MY EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!  HELP....  MY EYES!!!!!!!!!!!   <sob> <sob>

For some reason, my favorite part is when sand was obviously diliberately thrown directly at the camera lense!

Was that Gomez Addams SLUMMING?

'Manos' is perhaps the worst.......I don't know.......there's a lot of crap out there.  My personnal vote goes to 'Monster-A-Go-Go', also covered by MST3K, but not available on release.  I used to rent an out-of-print copy from my local video store before it disappeared for good.  If you think 'Manos' can be challenged, this film is a good contender.  A hint for how bad it is?  Its actually several pieces of other movies interspliced into one ugly mess.  Oh........and it doesn't have an ending either.  Hope that doesn't spoil it for you all!

You are a far far braver man than me.  Hail the bad movie master!

Hey, "Manos" isn't a movie - "Manos" is a RELIGION, alright?

Very few times in this life do you see such a perfect object, that fails so completely on every level, so miserably, utterly WRONG that you can't help but sit in dumbfounded awe.

And Torgo's one of the greatest characters in film history.

You actually PAID for this movie??? You and your wife MUST share separate bank accounts. :)

Classic! Classic piece of ****! Fun if your totally drunk and doing something else.

What can I say, this movie is my FAVORITE!!! I purchased it off of moviesunlimited and I found out that MST3K ruined this film, and cut out some of the best parts. My opinion is that if you havent seen the uncut version, please dont write reviews that bash the film, because mst took the feeling of the movie away. I havent even had this film for 5 days yet and Ive watched it 6 times! This is the coolest movie ever *****outof *****

Torgo has the greatest theme music ever

Like many others I only ever saw the MST3K version.  But first time out I got to where I was paying too much attention to the movie and not Joel & the bots.  It made me physically ill.  Many have said the same thing about Troll 2 and others on this site.  Big kudos to the Best Brain guys and MST3K...the best thing to happen to movies like this.  Manos is definately in the Top 5 of MST3K episodes.  

Love the message above saying that MST3K messed up the movie!  LOL

I dunno, this movie sorta grows on you after awhile.....

Screw Plan 9! At least that movie had bisexual aliens! THIS is the true worst movie of all time!

This movie is the definition of 'bad movie'. From lights to sound to acting and location, absolutely nothing was done right. I've seen movie with more painful plots and more painful acting but this one is just bad all 'round.

"Manos" ain't the only misused non-English word here-"Torgo" is Greek for "vulture". Make of that what you will; maybe Hal Warren thought he was producing a classic Greek tragedy.

There was one part of this film that I absolutely loved... THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, I looked this one up online and it's worth LESS new that it is USED!  It's like depriciation adds to it's overall value!  Either way you got jipped!

I admit that i've only seen the MST episode showing this movie, but that was enough for me.  As far as i'm concerned, the only good line came when one of Manos's wives said "Man yes; child no" and Tom followed it up with "Cheese, maybe!"

You, sir, are to be saluted for watching the non-MST version of this film...I know I wouldn't be able to do it, at least not without some serious alcohol in me...the first time I watched the MST episode was with my cousin when I was about 14 or 15...Torgo freaked her out, and over the next few weeks I was constantly getting punched by her for playing with her hair like Torgo did in the film and saying "THe MAstER lIKes yOU"...to this day it still freaks her out. It was years before I saw it again, after having bought the DVD of the MST version. Without Joel and the Bots to help, I imagine that this film could be an implement of torture the Spanish Inquisition only WISHED it could have had...

Did anyone notice the bad editing & continuity errors when Mrs. Useless keeps appearing with head scarf off then on, then off, then on??? Man I laughed my ass off at this stinkburger, made more palatable by MST3K. and I thought "The Creeping Terror" was the worst film I'd ever seen.

This is soooooooooooooooo bad, I'm surprised Robert Rodriguez hasn't decided to do a remake of it!  Just think - Antonio Banderaz as the Master!  Johnny Depp as Torgo!!  (or would Cheech Marin work better there?)  Quentin Tarantino as Mr Useless!!!

Easily the single greatest MST3K episode!

I saw this on MST3K, and I thought the episode was decent as far as humor goes.  But about the movie.. It seems obviously poorly done, as far as the editing, and picture quality, and how everyone is dubbed.  But... I didn't hate the movie.  

I must also salute the man (or anyone for that matter) who viewed this movie sans MST3K; if it weren't for MST3K, I wouldn't watch "Manos: Hands of Fate" over and over again.  Anyway, the real reason I am commenting.  I read somewhere that after the movie failed, Torgo, the woman who plays the mother, and the woman who's continually making-out with her guy over a bottle of liquor killed themselves because the movie failed so horribly.  Crazy, but not hard to believe.

I'm just sorry that John Reynolds didn't live long enough to see how the character he played (Torgo) became a cult-movie icon. Just think at what kind of reception he'd have gotten at an MST3K convention.

For some reason, the defining moment of the film for me is the moment towards the end where the crew is clearly having trouble getting that dog to bark on cue. The dog just sits there and stares at the camera for several minutes, and finally lets out a grudging "woof". It's almost as though the dog was trying to intentionally sabotage his big scene, hoping maybe he'd get cut out of the film. Unfortunately, he failed to consider that they'd probably use up their editting budget long before then, and thus this gripping scene was presented in it's entirety.

Mm... I don't know if the number has been corrected yet, but I gather from imbd that 5 of the castmembers committed suicide in 1966.  It was that bad.  Those suicides intrigue me more than the thought of how such a comical piece of s**t could've been made, personally.

The user above is wrong saying Torgo is Greek for "vulture". "Vulture" in Greek is "&#947;&#973;&#960;&#945;&#962;" ("gúpas"). Torgo is just a name.

This may be the best "bad" movie ever...there is not one quality of decent filmmaking here.  It's badly edited, acted, and makes virtually no sense.  It may be funnier WITHOUT the MST3K additions...a true must see for any fans of bad film.  Torgo rules!!

As an efficianado of cheeseball movies, This is naturally my favorite movie of all time. From the opening scene where Mike says cut (though you can't hear it, you just lip-read) to the cameo by Mr. Clapboard, to the obvious zipper on the Master's cape, to the rather gratuitous suprise ending. For us freaks, this movie is bliss.

P.S.: I believe I am the first person to notice the delayed sound effect when the make-out couple are first found by the fuzz. The officer closes the door just as the light on the roof starts flashing, and roughly 3/4 seconds later, we hear the sound effect. I haven't seen this in any reviews, therefore I am proud. Yet still a freak.

I bought the MST3K dvd of this, and while Joel and the Bots did all they could, they just couldn't save it.This truely deserves its high ranking on the worst movies list on imdb. My god man, I sat through both Gigli and Cool As Ice and neither of them were this bad. In culinary terms, Gigli, at least compared to Manos, is like stuffed veal served with a fine wine, while Manos is the equivalent of hot dogs smothered in Cheez Wiz washed down with cheap scotch.

Badbrains,
I am still awaiting the $55.00.  I have a case of Old Milwaukee and two 25.00 hookers lined up.  How soon can you send?
Walt

I seriously considered suicide after first seeing this movie. It's hard to even make fun of, how do you mock twenties minutes of driving?? or hours of making out that never goes anywhere?? I recently came across a copy on dvd at a local Borders and decided I must own it, I've made most of my friends watch it, if you can handle it it's hilarious. There's really not much to say about the film that can't be explained in the fact that torgo is referred to as togar on the back of the case.

I have seen Manos, the Hands of Fate without the MST3K commentary, and you have no idea how bad it really is until you see it naked. I mean ... Well, ... I don't have words.

This was my standard for awhile. (I love it that somebody mentioned Monster-A-Go-Go, because that was the movie I used as a standard for bad movies ... then I saw Manos.)

Of course, my current standard is Red Zone Cuba. JESUS LORD! Once you discover the works of Coleman Francis, Ed Wood doesn't even look like a bad director any more.

Which doesn't let the guy who did Manos off the hook. He still looks pretty bad, but at least he had a story. It sucked, sure, and it made no sense, but at least he's better than Coleman Francis.

HE IS WITH US ALWAYS! Yeah,THE classic bad movie. I don't know how I made it through this more than once(probably 'cuz it's the mst3k version)...but what do you expect from a movie called "Hands: The Hands of Fate"?
i <3 crow T. robot

God, this movie makes that Olsen Twins movie look like Citizen Kane

I live in el paso the city in which this shlock fest was filmed. it was refered to as "beautiful ground zero." and in the thirty years since then, nothings changed.

Okay, who dropped the LSD?!

My bro bought me a copy of this dvd at Tower Records  for $7.00. What would I do without him?

Coming from El Paso, where this movie was made in the 60s, I find that this movie is well in a league of its own. I have seen bad movies and really bad movies, and MANOS ranks as the best film I have seen in years. Whether it's the MST3K version or the original I had fun and cried tears of joy finally buying it. If Quentin Tarantino; director of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill 1&2; says this is one of his favorite movies, then that's good enough for me.

OK, there are far to many reviews about this subject (I will not use the term "film" or "movie" for a thing like this, in fact I won't even mention the title of this piece of trash 'cos if I would, it would cause a similar effect like mentioning Sauron.
On IMDB there are about 500 reviews on this one. So I won't go into all this "makes Ed Wood look in comparison like Kurosawa" or that all the living descendats of the creator (Spelling out his name would cause a paradox in space-time for it is by reason or logic not possible that such a spirit could ever has existed in our universe.) should be killed outright, because these reviews are all far to optimistic and defending. As a matter of fact I doubt that many of them made the experience for they seemed o come through alive. I for my part scarcely survived and only I used certain filters, such as only watching parts of 2min a time, then resting my senses a year (Thus I only finished watching these days), plus filtering both sound and image.
Still I am convinced words of any language cannot describe anything about it. One has to use the whole thing as an applicative definition for horrors no man experienced before , a new feeling against all that is good and right in the world. Future generations might with scientific and technological advancements be able to at leat withstand it.
If Hell for filmmakers exist the soul, creating this is in the 9th circle: Treachery on the Human Race.

I was unfortunate enough to see the non-MST3K version. I was about to commit seppuku with my Kingdom Hearts disc for boredom.

Sora the B-Movie Alchemist's Ratings
This goes off the charts

    Walt, I'm putting $55 in an envelope and sending it to you right now.  The $5 is for a pitcher of beer.  The $50 is for a hooker. (Two if you're a careful shopper)  You sir, need to get out more

I remember catching the second half of this one night (sans Joel and the Bots) at 3 in the morning on some cable station that had reached the bottom of the barrel. I had been flipping around one last time before I went to bed - but this was like a train wreck - I couldn't take my eyes off it. I remember thinking, as slip wearing women wrestled in the sand and some weird guy with big knees talked funny and Frank Zappa showed off his new coat -  that this is the worst thing I have ever seen. Ever. It was like watching someones bad acid trip. I was haunted. My mind whimpered and howled and scratched at the back of skull in a vain attempt to escape. I couldn't stop watching until the end.
The only thing I didn't catch was the movies name. I supose that was my brain trying to protect itself. So imagine my horror/delight when I buy the MS3K tape of Manos and discover - I'd seen this film before.

Manos:  The Hands of Fate

From the opening shot of the horror film Manos:  Hands of Fate one thing is perfectly clear:  the audience is grippingly propelled through a taut, well-crafted tale of terror that is easily the most influential film ever made.  It is safe to say that every modern classic made after 1966 has worked hard to mimic the technical and artistic proficiencies of this film which, in its own right, is a tribute to every great work of art ever written or filmed prior to 1966 back through William Shakespeare and beyond.  There is not time nor space to trace the elements of the cultural landscape that inspired the film, nor explore fully the depth and breadth of its influence, but…what the hey…let’s give it a shot.  

The plot of the film is 68 minutes of pure joy for any devoted fan of tautly crafted horror.  The film is 68 minutes long but seems to take place over 8 minutes of actual time, a trick enhanced by altering the reality of the audience’s perception of time.  For example, the opening driving sequence appears to be a landscape travelogue of the entire distance between Mexico and Canada, but in reality is only a few miles.  Anyway, in the film a loving and devoted nuclear family (mother, husband, child and poodle) arrive at a lodge and never leave.  In the middle, they lose and find their child and we see a group of women slap each other for 45 minutes.  Oh, and they slap a man into a coma, but he recovers.  For trivia fans of horror and education, here is what can be learned from the plot of Manos:  Hands of Fate:
•   Satan keeps his dog on a leash.
•   Apparently you can’t slap a satyr to death.
•   Don’t maintain a stable of undead wives if they won’t listen to you when you repeatedly tell them to shut up.
•   If you don’t kill your defiant minion immediately, you will have to burn his hand off later.
•   Men can be rendered unconscious by tapping them lightly on the back with a large wooden staff.
•   If your child disappears into the desert at night, do a thorough search of a ten foot radius then give up.  She will eventually wander back with Satan’s Doberman.
•   Firing bullets directly into the face of Satan will not kill him.
•   Police search and rescue techniques consist of shining a red plastic covered flashlight into the desert for 4 seconds before they abandon the search.
•   A make-out session is always enhanced by a gallon of whiskey.  Men take note;  women be warned.
•   Satyr’s have flammable hands.
•   Miss Manners says:  “It’s not polite to point;  it is even less polite to point with the flaming severed hand of your minion.”

That being said, the origins of Manos:  hands of Fate can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome.  The ancient Greeks and Romans often wrote of mystical beasts that lived among men, both jealous and contemptuous of humanity.  This is clearly seen in the intense longing of the satyr, Torgo, and his passionate attempts to possess the hair of a woman.  His spastic attempts to stroke the pre-Jennifer Aniston hairflip of the lead actress painfully exudes the clumsy frustration of all who desire that which is within their reach but beyond their grasp.  His sorely misshapen knees and goat-like satyr-ness are directly influenced by Caliban from Shakespeare’s classic play The Tempest.  And who cannot help but be terrified, as mortals are, when Gods walk among us?  A theme explored as far back as Aeschylus and as recent as Elektra and that credit card commercial with all the superheroes in it, including Underdog.

Technically speaking, Manos:  Hands of Fate is clearly influenced by Orson Welles’ great film classic Citizen Kane and links the unique camera angles of that film landmark to such modern wonders as The Blair Witch Project and Fox network’s 24.  For example, who needs to see actors framed directly in shots when our imaginations of what they might be saying or doing is likely far greater than what they are actually saying or doing?  Doesn’t the real time driving sequence through almost 40 miles of non-descript landscape prepare us for the slow, inexorable crawl towards death that is our lives?  Doesn’t the woman’s randomly appearing and disappearing scarf suggest the fleeting and impermanent joys of rampant consumerism?  Finally, the random glimpse of the film’s cameraman in the mirror suggests, with a winking nod toward surrealism, that the fine line between art and life is little more than a half-step to the right.  

As for the acting…I pause, lest I swoon.  Who dares question the implied menace of the robe-guy’s glower?  The implied frustration of the hero’s inaction, through his obvious training in status and conflict, in which he subtly, yet effectively transmits an aura of the impotence of modern man as he struggles against forces beyond his control or understanding.  I’d like to see Brad Pitt or even Dustin Hoffman, supposedly this generation’s best actor, remain minimalistically stoic while being simultaneously frenched and slapped while tied unconscious to a pole.  Who else could so effectively portray the domination and neutering of the alpha-male in today’s feminine-sensitive post age of Chivalry?  But the icing on the Manos:  Hands of Fate cake, the good kind with the huge sugary flowers, is John Reynold’s bold, brilliant, bestial portrayal of Torgo the Satyr.  In Reynold’s deft hands, he is a man fighting to control his animal instincts and remain human while struggling against the pull of lust.  Overcome with knees the size of  swollen hams, he is all but consumed with desire when faced with the innocent submissive allure of a woman too weak to run ten feet, yet all too powerful in her ability to depend entirely on every male around her to tell her where to go and what to do.  What man can resist that temptation?  I’ll tell you.  A man of Torgo’s stature and species can.  Reynold’s all but allows his tics and twitches to tell the tale of the inner demons that seek to control him.  In the end, when his hand ignites and separates from his body, he runs off into the desert night, finally a free man free of his hands.  Of fate?  Yes.  His hands of fate, man.  Oh, yes.  His hands of fate.  What kind of man?  I’ll tell you.  A goat-man.  

Costume-wise, never has clothing so defined characters since Superman felt the need to wear a huge S on his chest.  It stood for Superman.  This was so as not to confuse him with the other people in Metropolis who flew or stopped bullets with their chests.  In Manos:  Hands of Fate the servant has two hands on his robe.  Two hands, because in the title there are two hands.  The word Manos, which is Spanish for Hands and the word Hands, which roughly translates to Manos in Spanish.  So there are two hands on the man’s robe and two hands in the title.  One fate for each of the characters in the film and one fate in the title.  But there are many “the’s” in the film’s dialogue, but only one “The” in the title, which goes to show you that we have more articles in English grammar than we do fates in our lives.  Finally, there is an “OF” in the title and that is a preposition.  When you think about it, it’s really very deep.

Lastly, the theme of Manos:  Hands of Fate is multi-layered and timeless.  When the hero is suddenly Torgo in the end, but not a goat, we see the old ways replaced with the new and it is clearly an economic statement about job security and modern manservants replacing ancient mythical goat creatures.  The female fighting scene clearly speaks to the objectifying of women as non-sex objects by having them wear unattractive clothing and fight in the sand.  Clearly, this is a pre-70’s attempt to reconcile the post-70’s manly feminine ideal with the current woman as powerslut image popular among teens today.  Lastly, the scene in which the small girl wanders off in plain view of her parents, prompting a frantic room search before giving up is a statement on the inability of modern parents to control the obvious and simple behavior of their children.  Oh, and when the chick makes out with the guy while he is unconscious and tied to a pole, then she slaps him, well…that’s just good clean fun.  It’s so wrong…yet somehow so very very right.

In conclusion, could Manos:  Hands of Fate be made into a film today?  The answer is no.  The cookie-cutter product machines that serve as directors today lack the auteur visionary brilliance of Harold (Manos:  Hands of Fate) Warren.  In simple math, it goes like this:  if $16,000 can produce Manos:  Hands of Fate and 250 million dollars can produce films like Star Wars:  Revenge of the Sith  then aren’t we getting more film for more money?  Can we afford not to not spend more money so we can get films for less?  Think about it.  Star Wars had over twice the budget of Manos, but aside from a few lightsaber battles and a couple of Wookies, can we afford to sacrifice the human element of films?  I think not.  When considering these artistic dilemmas, ask yourself, “What would Torgo do?”  If your answer is, “Run screaming into the desert night while a madman points at people with the flaming stump of your hand,” then clearly you arrived at the same answer as me.  

The only saving grace for this "movie" would have to be the commentary from Joel and the bots.  Never have I seen a film with so [perhaps too] much driving, butt ugly scenery, looong moments when none of the actors say/do anything, etc.  Hell, at time lip movements were not in tendem with the badly dubbed voices.  

This film makes watching "Alone in the Dark" seem like a good idea.  Dear God, what am I saying!!!???

I caught the MST3K "Manos" (always include the quotes when referring to "Manos") about a week ago after my friends warned me HEAVILY away from it, and goddamn if it wasn't one of the worst bad movies ever... and that's exactly what I love about it. Then I found a streaming version of the unedited (well, mostly unedited) version on-line at youtube.com:
http://tinyurl.com/d9d88
I watched it six times over two days... and I like it more each time I see it.
It fires badness on every cylinder, to the epitome of awful, making it utterly fascinating to watch (yes dry and clean, no booze or weed).  The more you watch it the more fun it gets.  Torgo is my hero, Margaret is foxy, the Master's mumu kicks ass, and that unintelligable kid (Debbie) cracks me up every time.
I've captured a ton of stills from this film and the surprising thing is how nicely composed *some* (a very select few) of the shots are.

Hail "Manos"

Wow, I just picked this up for 8 bucks at an cult film shop downtown yesterday.  I was ripped off of a joint and luckily the high lasted for the whole length of the movie. I actually replayed the 2 seconds where a whole chunk of scenery was taken out while this weird cabaret lady was singing...ok pot moments aside...
The film was stupid to the point of me realizing that well Plan 9 had a "plot". These aliens in silver pajamas wanted to take over the Earth and resurrect the dead. And guess what? It actually WORKED! In this film, Dweezil's dad made menacing comments, repeated the same menacing comments 20-30 more times, but never achieved anything.

I threw up a little in my mouth while watching this film. It's okay though, I just swallowed it.

This movie isn't good for every Manos, Womanos, or Childos in the Humanos race.

In certain lights at certain angles, Torgo is kinda cute. He looks a bit like a deranged George Cloony.

I am usually able to find some sort of silver lining in most movies, but even I'm having a difficult time trying to find something good about "Manos".

Before Hitler shaved his mustache to resemble a paintbrush and slicked his hair with greasy gel, he spoke English and was...THE MASTER!

It was hard enough for me to watch the MST3K version. I remember even Joel and the 'bots found it especially bad. I did love the "break" portion, though, where Joel was wearing a mock "Manos" cape that had red FEET instead of hands! THAT was funny.

Bad acting, horrible dialogue, some lines don't make any sense, what kind of movies is this?

 :cheers:  You managed to sit through this piece of excrement without the aid of Joel and the Bots.  Andrew, you've confirmed for me that Marines really are the toughest people on Earth!!!!

This movie is, ugh.

I watch it now and then.  But it's terrible.

Okay, I think I finally earned my "red wings" by watching this.  It was off of one of the Mill Creek sets so I'm not sure if it was uncut, but then does it matter?

My girlfriend cried, "I stayed awake to watch this?" grabbed one of her Martha Stewart magazines to read and refuse to look at the screen.  She promptly fell asleep.  At least the movie caused enough pain to prevent sleep.

The only thing I can honestly say about this (and I'm sure it has been said before) is "Oh, my God, oh my God, Oh MY God, oh my GOD, OH MY GODOHMYGODHOMYGODOHMYGOD!!!!!!!!!" 

Sorry, I hyperventilated and passed out.  I would ask "Why?' but that would mean actually thinking about this thing. 

I'll give it a year and then watch it again.  Pray for me, and pray for us all.

You can do worse than Manos, I liked the atmosphere, which is more than can be said for most horror films today. IMO, slow, pointless, lingering cuts beat cuts so fast you have no Earthly clue what is happening anyday :tongueout:!

The characters and glaring continuity errors? Well, if you really overlook bad filmmaking as the culprit, you would see that Manos is one of the most unintentionally dream-like films ever: Super-long stretches of pointless information, lines repeated, glimpsing into totally irrelevant characters lives, capricious character focus changes, physical focus problems, unecessary lines, sense of uninvoked dread (Mike I'm scared! Of what?!), "The end?" you don't know that your dream is ending until you suddenly become lucid and wake up!

Okay, so what if you are a small-minded viewer and totally overlook (or just don't care about) the dreamlike spectacle? Well... It just so happens to be HILARIOUS! You don't need Joel and his robot friends, you can make new jokes for this one with each viewing!

You wanna see a really bad movie? Try one of the hordes that come on SciFi each weekend! They are overplayed to the point that you wonder whether desperation or stupidity made the executives made the decisions they did, and worse, about 4 percent are any good, heck 99 percent is so much of the same thing over and over you'll yearn for the eccentricities of Torgo and his master about 1 hour out of two in!

Well there I went again on the usual rant :tongueout: On a similar subject, how is the presentation of Manos on the Alpha disk? The same stunning picture and sound quality we had on MST3K?

 You know what? I TOTALLY AGREE!  :thumbup:

 I never liked MST3K...I thought it ruined the movies. I always enjoyed MANOS...and  feel alot of 'Bad' movies are not as bad as some of the drek Hollywood puts out today! Give me BLOODY PIT of HORROR over SAW anyday!!! Karma!

I've assumed a lot of the cuts had to do the equipment Hal P Warren used to make the movie... I heard somewhere he filmed most of it with some old movie camera that did like 60 seconds of film per reel or something like that- I don't remember the specs- but the jist I got was a lot of his shots had to be short- plus everything was shot closeup back then- that was originally done for television, due to the smaller screens- and Warren probably just unconsciously did the same.

To be fair, it was low budget filmmaking, which was harder back then. The guy had a vision, tried to make it, and Manos is the result. I sometimes ponder what if I tried to make my creative visions into a thing- be it a book, film or art peice- would it become a Manos? Poorly done, badly criticized, most remembered for being mocked... A little unnerving, to be honest. Yes, you truly can do worse than Manos...

Torgo rocks.  And the Master looks like either Frank Zappa or Bill Buckner. 


To each their own for MST3K.  Honestly, I liked it.  If anything, that show opened up the floodgates for my interest in the 'bad' movies.  Not just MST, but other shows as well, like USA Up All Night and MonsterVision.  I can see your point though. 

I'm sorry.  I must have given the impression that I hated Manos.  Sorry for the misconception.

I liked it.  I almost wet myself during the near-grope scene with Torgo and the wife.  I had to back up that slap about three times just to believe what I saw.  The little girl has a long future ahead of her as a store mannequin.  And the catfight scene reminded me of those "re-enactments" done by the small town women's league in all those Monty Python skits.

There are movies that are cheese, and there are those that are just bad (Adam Sandler, anyone?), but Manos is one of those that really defines the "bad" movie genre, or, as I call them "crap" movies.  Grand discussions of the film's "artistic" qualities aside, this film keeps you spellbound by the constant variety of "What the hell was that?" and "What the hell were they thinking (trying to do, getting at, etc.)?" comments your rational mind throws out.

So, for what it is worth, I don't hate this movie.  I like it, but, man, it sure gave me a mental beating that I'll remember for years.  Plan 9 never gave me so much to keep up with.

And am I wrong, or did I lose karma over this?  Heaven help me if I should ever suggest Quentin Tarentino be flayed for crimes against humanity.

Check out A TOUCH OF SATAN if you want to increase your beating.  Oh mercy me, I watched it this week and wondered if I could be justified calling it worse than MANOS.  No, not quite.  But not so far behind either.

I would never ,ever, give bad karma to someone who disliked a movie, or who's opinion is different than mine. That would be just make the whole purpose of a forum useless. Different opinions and points of view are what makes the world go round!  :smile:
My kids think my taste in movies is insanely  off track...too put it mildly. They'll watch some of my movies...but if I plug in something like...ohhh..ADVENGING DISCO GODFATHER or TEENAGERS from OUTER SPACE...I get practically booed out of the living room! Of course-it's my TV,so I watch it anyway (heheheh!)  :teddyr:

O god, this is such an awful film. I dunno how I'd handle the full film without the MST3K commentary, and yet for some reason I want to try it.

I haven't actually seen this film, but I heard a MIDI film of Torgo's theme on a website a while back.  I actually thought it was a fairly decent piece of music, which I was kind of amazed about considering the film's rep.  Not great and ultra-repetitive, but still in the range of competent, and something that could be used effectively.  I dunno, maybe if I heard it in context I'd disagree.

http://www.torgo.org/media/sounds/torgo.wav (http://www.torgo.org/media/sounds/torgo.wav)

Do Youself A favor don't see it!!
Unless You watch the MST3K verison!

You've yet to see Torgo's theme the way it's used in the movie :P

Manos Riffs
*"Why don't we sing a song to pass the time." - "Lets sing something from Pearl Jam."- Mom/Servo as Lil' Girl
*"Been hittin' the Thighmaster, Torgo?"
*"NO! Now their going back the other way!" - "Let's just pretend we're watching 'Trip to Bountiful" - Crow/Joel
*"Could you hold that one card up? What's it say? Oh, yeah -- 'Arf!'" - Crow as the dog
*"cUt it OuT yoU feM!" - Crow as Torgo, as the Master waves a stick in his face.
*"Every frame of this movie looks like someone's last known photograph." - Joel
*"Manos was filmed on location in a vacant lot." - Joel
*"He's got Earl Campbell thighs!" - Crow on Torgo
*"Ambiguity is scary." - Joel as the wife
*"It's like having Joe Cocker as your bellhop." - Servo
*"See, your feeling better already." - "Rolling in filth will do that for you." - Mike/Joel
*"Wants me? What kind of talk is that" - "Why, it's oily, sleazy talk." - Wife/Crow
*"When Carney's flrt." - Servo
*"I LeFt a piEce of cHeWed uP GuM on yoUr pilLoW" - Crow as Torgo
*"Uh, the dog is sharp again mommy... see" - Crow as Lil' Girl
*"His only crime was being born delicious!" - Crow
*"Kids worship the darndest things!" - Joel
*"Tonight: Manos gets caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse..." - Servo
*"Great, Torgo's giving him a snuggy" - Joel
*"You know, this is the alternate ending to "Beaches" - Joel as women wrestle
*"If you persist in this foolishness..." - "I'll take your credit cards!" - The Master/Servo
*"Torgo, you're missing the fight! Put your dress on and get in there" - Servo

I liked in the MST version when Mom and Dad are looking at the picture of the Master.  I think Joel's like, "So, the Master is Frank Zappa?  At least they got something right." 

Something to that effect.  I laughed hysterically for a minute.

You know, I think the treatment MST3k gives each film is a little different- the film plays a part, sure- I think the general concensus of the viewers played a major part in how the movie is mocked. Also, some movies are easier to enjoy MST'ed than others, depending on each viewer's preferences. I generally enjoy it, but once in a while I think they get overly fixated on something or just hate a movie so badly they lay into it a bit more than usual. Sometimes, it can be funny- the riffs that originated from the "comin' up on your mudflaps" line from Riding With Death comes to mind...

You make a good point. I always watch MST3K with my 'bad movie buddy' and we tend to riff along with it ourselves if the episode isn't so good. In the better episodes we tend to be silent, laughing our asses off at Crow, Tom Servo and Mike/Joel, but in some others where they're not so hot we enjoy riffing the film ourselves, just like we would a raw film.

My brain hurts when i watch this movie.

How Can anyone like this movie? After about 15 minutes I started rinsing my eyes with alcohol. When it was over, I actually wanted to claw my eyes out and dunk my face in a bucket of mercury, would have been a lot more pleasurable than watching "Manos" again. Spread the word Webmaster! STOP THE CIRCULATION OF THIS MOVIE! It kills more than the tape from "Ringu" (The original japanese version of "The Ring" for those who don't know.)

I actually own a copy of this movie in raw form (no MST3K).  :bluesad:  It has to be locked away.

Yea I have that too.  I think I need to get a safety deposit box at a Bank so I can store it away.

I've made several short films.  Longest about 6 or 7 minutes.  I still haven't sat down and watched ALL of Manos (a friend was watching it and I was doing homework), but I have to say my 7 minute short was more entertaining and, generally speaking, better made than Manos. 

Manos, the ahh... hands of fate.

I just watched it today, LOL I love net access at work. That show is joyously horrible. 

Don't forget that Torgo has the biggest knees in the world.

I've only seen the MST3K version and that was enough for me.I couldn't watch the movie by itself.I'd rather sit through Howard the Duck or something..oh,wait,let me take that back,ok?? Anyway,did anyone notice the clipboard(I think that's what it's called)briefly at the beginning of the scene with the young couple??? Also,what was the point of having the cops if all their job was is to harrass the young couple?? I heard that the star/director rented the equipment,so he couldn't do more takes and had to get it finished as fast as possible.Plus,there was talk of a sequel and also,there's a short doc about Manos that came out last year,I think...Worst movie of all time?? YES!!! At least Plan 9 was enjoyable to watch..

Watched this one again last night, with my 'bad movie buddy' Chris and my brother-in-law Alex. Always a good laugh to ad-lib along with this one.

When a movie failes to bring you into its 'world', riffing allows you to bring it into one of your own...preferably one with sharp objects...
Verbal nuclear scale wedgies are such a relief from the pain...

a comedy movie should be made out of this movie for its so surreal and awful the dubbing by torgo by the way makes him sound like a robot. by the way does he die at the end or did they just burn his hand off and he left.

The MST3K ep ;)

You could make a good Ed Wood style movie around the making of this movie. Like the same way in the movie Ed Wood they were filming Plan 9 From Outer Space. The reality of Manos is near the same (maybe without the crossdressing). There are some good stories around the filming of Manos. A travelling salesman bankrolls his own production, oh yeah, that's a movie.

I think there are lot of people who misunderstand the surreal masterpiece, that is Manos. After the first view, I despised it.
But then I watched it again. 4 times. Now, I can see clear. It is a movie, that my wretched words cannot describe. I'm not worthy. I saw the genius of it...it was like a shot with diamond bullet, right into my forehead. There is no other movie like this, this is a truly unique experience. It is so depressing, yet it will let you become one with the universe...it will make you feel alone.
Maybe next year, I'll go to a pilgrimage, to El paso.
Now you are probably thinking I'm some kind of Psycho, and you are pretty much right. :teddyr:

The funny thing about the MST3K episode is that they make the thing enjoyable despite this probably being the worst movie they've ever seen. But the Castle of Fu Manchu was probably better filmed yet was so boring and horrible the MST3K crew couldn't make it enjoyable. I'll never watch that episode again, and I have the MST3K Manos episode on DVD which is neat.

Harold P. Warren must of been sniffing that fertilizer while he was making this film. Because some of this seems like a idea by a guy getting high off of something.

The cops in this movie are idiotic, they stalk the smoochers and yet seem completely unconcerned with gunshots. They have got to be som e of the most useless cops ever captured on film. But anyway, good review.

MANOS is the worst movie ever made. NOT Plan 9......Manos.

The world should gauge every bad movie
made by mankind with this standard and no other.

I have this movie, seen 80% of it
and  honestly can't watch the rest. Might be
"talked into it" for a special occasion. Like, at gunpoint.

Even then, i'm not watching the scene with the family
singing "row, row, row, your boat gently down the stream."
It a viscious attack on the dignity of the family unit because it
was included in this movie
and I really think they sung that song at a pitch that
conflicts alpha/beta waves of the human brain.

MANOS should be displayed in the Smithsonian Institution
as the worst movie ever concieved by man.
It's a disgraceful, inept movie stealing all good ideas from movies
made prior to it. To top it all off it was filmed in 16mm!!!

MANOS looked really good years ago on UHF TV
when the reception was poor, like on a rainy day.
At least then it had an excuse to be bad.

Only the few, the priviledged know the truth:
MANOS is the worst......not Plan 9.

I watched-"Manos: The Hands Of Fate"..3 days ago via Utube, This movie is so bad, But yet so good! I loved this movie. Now that "It" has a cult following, this Ultra Low Budget Z Movie Will Live On Forever. I dedicate these comments to Actor John Reynolds (Torgo) R.I.P.

manos is bad, but addicting :teddyr:

Have to agree. There's a fair few people on the site saying that Plan 9 is the worst film ever made. They are all wrong of course. This is most definitely it. Plan 9 is bloody awful, but not in the same league. If Plan 9 is the Citizen Kane of bad movies, then this is The Godfather of bad movies. I watched this over New Year 2010 with a very good friend of mine. We had watched our fair share of s**t on drunken bad movie nights in the past - Troll 2, Shark Attack 3, Grotesque, The Room (a personal favourite  :tongueout:), but nothing prepared us for this. It was bad enough watching the MST3K version - I'm really not sure I could sit through the whole unedited version of it i.e. as Hal P Warren intended it. After the extremely long driving sequence at the beginning, I was just like the robots, practically sobbing into my beer (and no, beer does not make this film any more bearable)...

But,

I still keep getting drawn to this pile of crap (the MST3K episode anyway), like moths to lights. Torgo's "Sexy time" has gotta be the most awe-inspiring scene in movie history:

"The Master wants you but he can't have you, I want you!" :bouncegiggle:



Is there something wrong with me?  :question:

I heard torgo had very bad joint pain during the movie, so they gave him pain pills so he had no idea what he was doing because he was so high. At the end of the movie he actually O.Ded
So this movie killed him

The crappiness of Manos is so unreal, that there's something about the product that makes it one of mhy favorite train wrecks (another is the Pinto and Vega :teddyr:)

I love this movie. The Master would approve.  :thumbup:

I was moronic enough to watch this one by myself... with no booze... I was pulling my eyes out with boredom. Having said that, I was glad to have seen this and not the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version. No offense but I can't stand those guys!

Watched this about 5 times now, i adore it, my favourite b-movie i have seen thus far (as you can likely tell my my username lol)

     Astoundingly BAD! Nonsensical! The  slowest, dullest catfight in film history! Didn't anyone notice the clapper in shot?

     Cool robe, though.



(http://www.badmovies.org/movies/manos/manos5.jpg)

Rifftrax (Known for having Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy of MST3K) just showed this nationwide in theaters. It was a laugh riot. I actually bought this film on DVD and have the renewed re-release of the dvd of MST3k that features a documentary that someone else made about the Manos. Only 1 actor they could find and talk to throughout the film. Many are dead, the rest are unknown.
The man who played Torgo shot himself shortly after the premiere of the film. Poor guy.

Torgo will always be near and dear to my heart. I saw a preview for the sequel (yes, a sequel) and it looks.......well...quite lame. It's supposed to be more of a comedy but it doesn't look very comical.

I just watched that video file: now I want to tear my eyes out.  :buggedout: :buggedout:*

* I have never seen Manos before: after I tear my eyes out, I thankfully won't be able to.  :buggedout: :buggedout:

Torgo's Theme 8-bit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81zJRH7fQ6k#ws)

Manos Returns???

http://www.theblood-shed.com/manos-returns-hits-kickstarter/ (http://www.theblood-shed.com/manos-returns-hits-kickstarter/)

So I watched this without the Bots for the first time and I can say that I would have needed caffeine to get through this in a single sitting without interruptions. Maybe to go as far as A Clockwork Orange type device to get me to sit through it all in a single go.

You may have no idea how relieved I was to read that!  It was a tough go for me and just a tad disappointing.

Haven't made it through the whole movie. It looks a lot like my vacation videos, complete with the accidental inclusion of the car window's side. Torgo is legitimately creepy tho.

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2150-5-things-i-learned-as-child-star-worst-movie-ever.html (http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2150-5-things-i-learned-as-child-star-worst-movie-ever.html)

Interview with the little girl who played...Debbie? I don't remember.

Her dad played the Master & was what you might call the film's scene designer; he designed the costumes, sets, & did the art. His wife made the costumes. To their credit, that costume the Master wears looks cool.

(http://www.badmovies.org/movies/manos/manos5.jpg)

Welp, I finally watched the MST3K version of this film, and I must say, I'm a little disappointed. Yes, the movie was bad, but it had great ideas behind it, mainly the ending, which I think it was great. The problem is that all of this was poorly executed, and that is just a kind way to say it.

I'm not usually in favor of remakes, but MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE really deserves it. It has this TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE kind of vibe, in which people end up in a house full of weirdos in the middle of nowhere. The characters of Torgo and The Master are great looking, and I would've loved to see more of Torgo's goat legs. The worst crime of the movie is that it's just plain boring; too many pointless shots of fields and blank stares. Not to mention, the music (with the exception of Torgo's themesong) is horrible, and has little to do with what we're seeing.

Even worse, the episode of MST3K isn't that fun to be honest. I liked it, but nothing compares to MONSTER A GO-GO. That movie is really, really bad, and the episode is still my favorite.  :teddyr:

When they did this on MST3K the mads actually apologized to joel and the bots for showing it, it was so terrible.

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2qu38Ipt4I&t=513s#)