Manos The Hands of Fate (1966) written, directed, and produced by Harold P. Warren is often said to be the worst film ever made, which is of 'course highly debatable particularly since half of the big budget schlock and mindless re-makes Hollywood is dishing out these days is actually far worse, but I digress... the fact remains it is bad - real bad. Harold Warren was a fertilizer salesman from El Paso, Texas who produced the film as a result of a bet. He also starred in it, alongside El Paso theater actors Tom Neyman and John Reynolds.
Upon its debut, Manos was poorly received and lay in obscurity ever since until in 1993, Mystery Science Theater 3000 gave it the old heckling treatment in what is widely said to be one of their best episodes ever.
The plot of the film revolves around a vacationing family who lose their way in the wastelands of El Paso on a road trip. After a long drive in the Texas desert, the family stops for help at a lodge where they meet the creepy satyr Torgo, who says he takes care of the place while "The Master" is away. As night falls, the family is menaced by "The Master", resplendent in his spiffy cape no less, and by his multiple wives. As it turns out, they maintain a pagan cult that worships the evil deity known as Manos! The family must then try to escape as the cult's members try to decide what to do with them. Will they succeed? Watch and find out! (oh the suspense is killing me... ;)
Here I present both the original and MST3K versions - if you are, like me, the sort of person who truly loves B horror and sci-fi movies that are sooo bad they are good, you can probably take watching the original although its more of the so bad its actually really bad sort. Its worth watching just to help set the bar of badness by which other bad films can be judged ;) The MST3K version, on the other hand, is a scream that all can enjoy - it is preceded by the second half of the short Chevrolet training film "Hired!" which the MST3K crew had to finish watching first.
Manos The Hands of Fate
MST3K: Manos The Hands of Fate
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