Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18340 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-05-22
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Despite all the pot-smoking in Idle Hands, the message here seems to be that too many bong hits will take you on a one-way trip to the devil's playground. That's what happens to Anton (Devon Sawa), a wasted teen who's so perpetually zonked on weed that he doesn't notice his parents have been slaughtered by an evil force that then possesses Anton's right hand, taking on a wildly homicidal life of its own after Anton chops it off with a butcher knife. The first victims are Anton's pals Mick (teen-movie stalwart Seth Green), who gets a beer bottle embedded in his skull, and Pnub (Elden Henson), whose head is lopped off by a rotary saw blade, and later reattached with a barbecue fork and duct tape. (Did we mention that Mick and Pnub turn into undead jokesters? It's that kind of movie.) This unoriginal idea is little more than an excuse for gross-out effects and easy one-liners, and then Vivica A. Fox appears as the demon-buster who knows how to kill the hand once and for all. It's fun to a point, and certain to be a popular Halloween hit with its intended teenage audience, but you can't help wishing this movie had tried harder to be something more than a collection of crude and gory gags. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
German
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English German
Dolby Digital 5.1
Trailer
Behind The Scenes
Deleted Scenes
Storyboard Comparison of Two Scenes
Outtakes
Czech\Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\French\German\Greek\Hebrew\Hindi\Hungarian\Icelandic\Norwegian\Polish\Swedish\Turkish

Synopsis
Anton is a teenage stoner who, one Halloween season, realises two days after the fact that his parents have been beheaded. He is even more disturbed to learn that the culprit may be his recently demon-possessed hand. With the help of some fellow young drug users, some sharp objects (used to disembody several body parts), and a demon hunter (Viveca A. Fox), he may possibly restore some normalcy to his life.

Customer Reviews

Excellent horror comedy!
This movie is an excellent combination of horror and comedy with a great storyline and an outstanding performance by Devon Sawa (and his hand!), his two friends Elden Hanson and Seth Green, and the unmistakingly and uniquely gorgeous Jessica Alba.

I believe this movie was marketed teenagers but ended up being enjoyed by most viewers!

I strongly recommend it!

EXCELENT HORROR SPOOF
Waking up one morning, teen Anton Tobias, (Devon Sawa) finds that both his parents have mysteriously disappeared, and after noticing they've been gone for a while, friends Mick, (Seth Green) and Pnub, (Elden Hanson) convince him to throw a party. Using it as an opportunity to meet crush Molly, (Jessica Alba) he manages to get the job done. When a mysterious killer suddenly starts to terrorize the community, the clues point to him yet he can't remember doing anything. As he leaves a trail of destruction through the town, he comes to realize that it was actually his hand that was possessed by the Devil and was causing all the murders. With investigator Debi LeCure, (Vivica A. Fox) on his trail, he discovers the real reason why the hand's possessed and together try to stop it before it continues it's quest.

The Good News: This one wasn't that bad at all. The fact that this contains a large amount of humor is a pleasant surprise. The gags and humor in this one are actually funny. There's plenty in here that are quite funny, yet the most side-splitting is the first encounter on the couch after the discovery of the situation. The fight for control of the remote and the gags between the two are just flat-out hilarious, and the moments where the reanimated parts are soon incorporated back into the story and that brings in some good laughs. The film does put in some nice horror motives later on when the truth is revealed. This is quite evident in the film's conclusion, where the confrontation at the school is quite creepy at times. The sight of the dismembered hand stalking around the school's hallways and scuttling around the tubes and wires make for some real chilling moments. The film's kills aren't that bad either, and are pretty clever at times. There's a scalping from the front to the back, a knitting needle through the side of the head, an eye cut out, tied up through a rope noose which is then pulled through a spinning fan and splattered to pieces and a beer bottle stuck in the head, among many more great deaths in here. These are all given some nice amount of blood unleashed at each one, with the big ones getting in some really wet displays. The last real positive is that there's a really great pace on display. Things constantly keep moving forward here with just about nothing really spoiling the pacing. These are all parts of a really good film.

The Bad News: There really wasn't all that much wrong with this one. The fact that there's a lot of drug humor in here might be a little off-putting to some, as there's plenty of references and jokes about that. It's a topic that can be a source of worry to some, and the fact that the majority of the film either references familiar objects and themes or makes jokes about them can be a detriment. This is especially obvious in the beginning half, where there's a ton of it going on. The only other part that doesn't make any sense is the weird ending it has. It's quite unusual and doesn't really make any sense at all, other than serving up a final joke to go out on. The fact that it was blatantly set-up to do that is what's the real problem, as the joke is quite obvious from the initial setup and it becomes even more so afterward. These, though, don't take away from the film's entertainment.

The Final Verdict: With some really good points about this one and a lot of entertainment to be derived from it, this is a really solid film. The minor flaws aren't that bad and don't really interfere too much, leaving this one as a solidly recommendable film in all areas.

Derivative but enjoyable comic horror
Remember that scene in Evil Dead II when Ash's hand is possessed by the deadites and all sorts of dark Three Stooges-style shenanigans ensue? Well, this one is just like that scene but stretched out over an hour and a half and with Devon Sawa instead of Bruce Campbell.

The cast here is mostly good. Sawa embraces the nonsense with aplomb and throws himself about like a champion. Most of the laughs, however, come from Seth Green and Elden Henson, who play zombie characters reminiscent of the undead sidekicks from An American Werewolf In London. These are not your typical zombies who shuffle about and eat brains; these guys would rather sit around eating snacky treats and watching Dawn Of The Dead. The one bum note is probably Jessica Alba. God bless her, she is extraordinarily beautiful (especially in her Halloween costume), but this is probably the worst performance I've seen her give.

Despite its derivative nature, Idle Hands has plenty of laughs and throws in enough ideas of its own to keep things fresh and interesting. The effects are excellent, director Rodman Flender does an admirable job of keeping the tone consistently dark throughout, and it was entertaining enough that I was prepared to forgive it its dependence on other, better films. Recommended to all fans of darkly humorous horrors.