A teenage slacker's right hand becomes possessed with murderous intent.A teenage slacker's right hand becomes possessed with murderous intent.A teenage slacker's right hand becomes possessed with murderous intent.
- Awards
- 4 nominations total
Nicholas Sadler
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- (as Nick Sadler)
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Featured reviews
I don't care what anyone else says, I found this movie to be hysterical. For one, it's pretty violent. People get it in disturbing ways here. One comes to mind in particular where someone gets a knitting needle rammed straight into their ear. It's not nice stuff but it's so funny you can't help but laugh. A major question, first and foremost: just what the hell was Vivica A. Fox doing in this movie? I've never used the word slumming before in a sentence but I think it applies here. Devon Sawa is a cool cat. I liked him here and his brand of physical comedy is pretty impressive. Watch Final Destination after seeing this and I think you'll wonder why we haven't seen more of him. Seth Green is cool and so are Elden Henson and Jack Noseworthy. And for Jessica Alba fans, she's in here, in all her pre-Dark Angel glory. I've never used the word nubile but I think it definitely applies here. She looks so good in this movie that it hurts my chest. She's one of the finer points (literally) of the movie. There's a chick in this movie wearing Paul Stanley's KISS makeup that should email me so I can give her my home address. There's parts of the movie that kinda fall flat but that's to be expected. Check this movie out if non-pc humor and bad mojo violence is your thing. Especially if you liked Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, I think you'll dig this picture. And if you appreciate Jessica Alba in any way. Rating: *** out of *****.
"Idle Hands" is a classic 90's comedy/horror flick which although swooped a little under the radar - it is still a must-see film for fans of horrors such as the "Evil Dead" series (especially army of darkness) and/or teen comedies like "American Pie".
"Idle Hands" works well by striking the perfect balance between comedy and horror and this works extremely well. The cast are brilliant especially Seth Green who is always great to watch in comedic roles. Reletavely unknown actor Devon Sawa plays the lead character 'Anton', who's hand gets possessed by an evil entity and goes on a murderous rampage! Though I have never seen Devon Sawa in any films prior or since "Idle Hands" - he is excellent in his role and the way he makes his hand move wildly and mis-behave really makes it look like it is not controlled by himself! In fact, one of the funniest scenes is a make-out scene between 'Anton' and 'Molly' (Alba) in when his hand keeps trying to strangle her! It's hilarious!!!
American skate-punk band, 'The Offspring' also make an amusing cameo in the film and also play a tune "off with her head" from their debut self-titled album which was a bonus! I won't give away what happens to singer Dexter Holland but it is pretty amusing!
In conclusion, "Idle hands" is a great late 90's comedy/horror flick which should have been bigger than it was.
Most definitely worth a watch!
"Idle Hands" works well by striking the perfect balance between comedy and horror and this works extremely well. The cast are brilliant especially Seth Green who is always great to watch in comedic roles. Reletavely unknown actor Devon Sawa plays the lead character 'Anton', who's hand gets possessed by an evil entity and goes on a murderous rampage! Though I have never seen Devon Sawa in any films prior or since "Idle Hands" - he is excellent in his role and the way he makes his hand move wildly and mis-behave really makes it look like it is not controlled by himself! In fact, one of the funniest scenes is a make-out scene between 'Anton' and 'Molly' (Alba) in when his hand keeps trying to strangle her! It's hilarious!!!
American skate-punk band, 'The Offspring' also make an amusing cameo in the film and also play a tune "off with her head" from their debut self-titled album which was a bonus! I won't give away what happens to singer Dexter Holland but it is pretty amusing!
In conclusion, "Idle hands" is a great late 90's comedy/horror flick which should have been bigger than it was.
Most definitely worth a watch!
What more can I say about this movie?
All I knew about it was that it had quite a few elements of teen comedy and that I've only seen the tail end of it a few times.
Now that I finally saw the whole thing, it's now one of my favorites!
It's a welcome change from most of the horror movies I've seen.
Great music, great acting, and gorgeous women (Specifically speaking, Jessica Alba)... what more do you want?
This is one of those movies that you can watch and understand it perfectly... whether or not you're stoned.
10 out of 10
All I knew about it was that it had quite a few elements of teen comedy and that I've only seen the tail end of it a few times.
Now that I finally saw the whole thing, it's now one of my favorites!
It's a welcome change from most of the horror movies I've seen.
Great music, great acting, and gorgeous women (Specifically speaking, Jessica Alba)... what more do you want?
This is one of those movies that you can watch and understand it perfectly... whether or not you're stoned.
10 out of 10
Watching "Idle Hands" is like watching an R-rated rendition of "Beetlejuice." It has the same tone as the Tim Burton classic. Though it is basically a dark comedy--emphasize the word "dark" as much as you can--there are some moments of graphic violence that the casual moviegoer might not expect out of a comedy. But not all comedies are meant to be like Mel Brooks movies. Peter Berg explained it perfectly on the David Letterman show when he was talking about "Very Bad Things," which he wrote and directed. He said, "Just like how some people, like me, like our food spicy--some people also want their comedy spicy." Just like "Very Bad Things," "Idle Hands" is a grotesque, slightly off-putting comedy that won't be taken easily, but that's part of its appeal. It gives you that "dark comic rush." And there are moments where you can't help but laugh hysterically.
Seth Green and the other boy--I don't know his name--have some extremely funny moments. Most of the jokes have to do with scatological and drug-related elements, but they work perfectly. This is not for the prudish, not tailor-made for the sick and twisted (though they would probably take delight), but makes intelligent use of gruesome and coarse gags. I know that doesn't sound appealing on paper, but you'll see what I mean. See for yourself.
"Idle Hands" is not for all tastes, it's not sophisticated and I would call it a popcorn movie...but you'd probably throw up your popcorn if you were to watch this flick. As for eye candy (for the guys) we have the stunningly beautiful Jessica Alba, who never gets naked (Dammit!) but struts around in a revealing blue nightie with her beautiful cleavage on display. She's just one of those extremely cute babes that you just want to cuddle like a teddy bear.
Idle Hands may do the Devil's work, but it makes heavenly entertainment!
My score: 7 (out of 10)
Seth Green and the other boy--I don't know his name--have some extremely funny moments. Most of the jokes have to do with scatological and drug-related elements, but they work perfectly. This is not for the prudish, not tailor-made for the sick and twisted (though they would probably take delight), but makes intelligent use of gruesome and coarse gags. I know that doesn't sound appealing on paper, but you'll see what I mean. See for yourself.
"Idle Hands" is not for all tastes, it's not sophisticated and I would call it a popcorn movie...but you'd probably throw up your popcorn if you were to watch this flick. As for eye candy (for the guys) we have the stunningly beautiful Jessica Alba, who never gets naked (Dammit!) but struts around in a revealing blue nightie with her beautiful cleavage on display. She's just one of those extremely cute babes that you just want to cuddle like a teddy bear.
Idle Hands may do the Devil's work, but it makes heavenly entertainment!
My score: 7 (out of 10)
As mentioned in the other comments, this movie is a awful lot better than it would first seem. Its still a rather brainless teen slasher flick, with the usual array of 2D characters ( the goofy friends, gorgeous love interest, aggressive hunk etc) and situations (school Halloween dance), but the great dialogue and great visual effects elevate it above the majority of other movies in the teen slasher style and doesn't do too much talking down to the audience. Where most other movies of this type give the audience 2 answers before a single question is answered Idle Hands has no fears about leaving things unanswered, where the viewer can make their own mind up (for once). Devon Sawa makes for a convincing and cute Anton, while Jessica Alba is all thats needed to keep the target audience of under 20's males glued to their seats. Don't get me wrong, this isn't up there with the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, but it never sets out to be; it's hilariously funny, satisfyingly gory and one hell of a lot better than you'd ever think. Go rent it, you'l be pleasantly surprised. Also, the soundtrack is great.
Did you know
- TriviaJack Noseworthy (Randy) and Katie Wright (Tanya) did not know they were half-siblings until they met on the set of this movie.
- GoofsWhen Anton pulls away after hitting Debi with the Ford, both hands can be seen on the steering wheel.
- Quotes
Anton: Hey, I didn't kill anyone on purpose, okay?
Mick: Yeah, well, we weren't in hell! I mean, there was this bright white light at the end of a long tunnel, right, and there was these chicks' voices, and that music...
Anton: Music?
Pnub: Yeah, kinda uncool music, like, Enya. And these chicks' voices, they were saying, "come to us, come towards the light".
Anton: So what happened?
Mick: We figured, fuck it, I mean, it was really far!
- Alternate versionsThe DVD contains the original ending, set in the school's gym pool. The producers and the director decided to shoot a different ending because the original ending was very different in its style of humour and horror and they thought it didn't fit into the film.
- ConnectionsEdited into Idle Hands: Alternate Ending (1999)
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $25,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,152,230
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,807,181
- May 2, 1999
- Gross worldwide
- $4,152,523
- Runtime
- 1h 32m(92 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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