Idle Hands

"The touching story of a boy and his right hand."

Director: Rodman Flender Year: 1999 Runtime: 92 min IMDb: ⭐ 6.2
Movie Poster

Synopsis

Anton is a cheerful but exceedingly non-ambitious 17-year-old stoner who lives to stay buzzed, watch TV, and moon over Molly, the beautiful girl who lives next door. However, it turns out that the old cliché about idle hands being the devil's playground has a kernel of truth after all.

A couple of nights before Halloween, Mr and Mrs. Tobias are killed. However, their lazy stoner teenaged son Anton doesn't notice until the following night when he discovers their bodies. He shows the bodies to his friends Mick and Pnub and the three of them piece together that Anton is his parents' killer. After he stabs Mick in the head with a broken bottle, Anton realizes his right hand is possessed, but he is unable to stop it from decapitating Pnub. Anton struggles to control his hand, which winds up throwing his cat out the window. While searching for it, he encounters his neighbor and crush Molly and the two start a relationship. After Anton returns home, he buries his parents and friends in the backyard. However, Pnub and Mick decide not to go to heaven, returning to their former bodies and rising from the grave. Meanwhile, a druidic high priestess named Debi LeCure is hunting the spirit responsible for killings across the country. After his hand kills two cops in his living room, Anton cuts it off with a cleaver. Pnub and Mick seek out a First-Aid Kit while Anton traps the hand in a microwave, burning it. Meanwhile, Debi (now along with Randy, Anton's neighbor) hunts Anton down to put a stop to the possessed hand. After sending Molly to the school dance, Anton returns home to finish off the hand. Unfortunately Pnub and Mick inadvertently release the hand. The three then steal Randy's truck and head to the school. Mick and Pnub go to the Halloween dance to watch over Molly, while Anton looks for the hand. Randy and Debi meet up with Anton. Debi explains that the hand will drag Molly's soul into the netherworld. Anton crashes the dance and tries to warn everyone about his hand, but is ignored. The hand then scalps the band's lead singer and causes a panic. Molly and her friend Tanya escape through the vents. They attempt to go through a fan, which they have stopped with Tanya's shoe, but Tanya gets hung on the rope, Molly tries to pulls Tanya off the fan and Anton's hand ends up removing Tanya's shoe, allowing her to be pulled to her death in the fan. Molly then runs into the art room, causing her to get knocked out. Anton enters and fights with the hand while it is inside a puppet but it escapes to the auto shop, where Molly is strapped to a car in her bra and panties, being raised toward the ceiling. Anton, Mick, and Pnub fight with the hand over the controls. Mick finds a mechanic's bong and he and Pnub smoke "for strength". Anton blows some smoke into the hand (still inside a hand-puppet) until it drops the controls and they save Molly. Debi throws a ritual knife into the hand, stopping it in a puff of smoke and fire. She and Randy take off for "ritualistic sex." Anton releases Molly from the top of the car, they go under the car and start making out. In the process of lighting the bong for Mick, Pnub accidentally hits the controls for the car, and Anton is crushed by the car. In the film's conclusion, Anton is in a body-cast in the hospital, having given up heaven to stay with Molly, and Mick and Pnub are now his Guardian Angels. When he is left alone in his room, Anton looks up and sees the message "I am under the bed" written on the ceiling. Mick and Pnub walk down the hall, pondering if they should tell Anton they were the ones that wrote the message, but decide against it, laughing.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

🎄 Holiday Cheer Breakdown

Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

a dog dies
spoiler Duke is shown early on when he's out of food and again when Anton is investigating odd sounds in his house. In the latter scene, Anton pushes Duke ahead of himself and then drags him along with neither really wanting to face whatever the sound is coming from. The actions in the scene are straight out of Scooby-Doo; Shaggy did the same thing in every episode. Duke isn't seen again, but nothing happens to him on-screen and it's never stated or implied that he's dead.
someone is sexually assaulted
spoiler The previous comment describing an unconscious woman being kissed was actually mouth to mouth CPR. However, there is a scene where the possessed hand gropes a girl, so this movie isn’t sexual assault free.
animals are abused
spoiler A cat is spun by their tail and thrown through a window. The special effects are terrible and it's clearly a soft toy of course
a cat dies
spoiler Cat is hurled into the neighbor's yard, but you can hear it hissing and running off so it is still alive
an animal dies
Yes
a pet dies
Yes
there's a dead animal
spoiler A cat is implied to have died but they don't show the body. Can't think of any other animals that get harmed
there are snakes
spoiler He calls her babysnakes
a child is abandoned by a parent or guardian
Yes
someone is stalked
Yes
there's addiction
spoiler The man character is a heavily reliant stoner.
someone uses drugs
Yes
someone is restrained
Yes
someone is beaten up by a bully
Yes
someone's mouth is covered
Yes
there's eye mutilation
Yes
there's excessive gore
spoiler I'd say there's a mid/high amount gore in this movie. A couple dead bodies, lots of blood splatter, hanging, amputation etc. but no guts
there's genital trauma/mutilation
spoiler The hand crawls up the principals pants and rips his genitals apart.
there's body horror
Yes
heads get squashed
spoiler A character has a beer bottle jammed into his head and it stays there the rest of the movie.
there's finger/toe mutilation
spoiler The possessed hand sharpens its nails in a pencil sharpener
there's decapitation
spoiler Yes
someone's throat is mutilated
spoiler One of the main characters is a decapitated zombie
there are hangings
spoiler A girl gets a rope put around her neck before she jumps off the area she's in, leading to her hanging for a while before dying by being sliced apart by a fan
there's shaving/cutting
Yes
someone is buried alive
spoiler No but the main character buries 2 people Who come back as zombies. While still buried, they ask to be dug out and mention struggling to breath.
there's amputation
spoiler anton severs his hand with a cleaver and Pnubs head gets cut off with a thrown saw blade
someone struggles to breathe
spoiler 2 different women are choked and one girl is hung, struggling to breath for a while before dying a different way
hands are damaged
spoiler The main character cuts off his hand with a knife
somebody is choked
Yes
someone is stabbed
Yes
Someone becomes unconscious
Yes
someone is crushed to death
spoiler A character is nearly crushed but is saved in time. Afterward, a character is crushed, but lives
someone breaks a bone
Yes
someone dislocates something
Yes
a minor is sexualized
Yes
a kid dies
spoiler Highschoolers but no young kids
a non-human character dies
Yes
a major character dies
Yes
someone dies
Yes
the r-slur is used
spoiler The shortened version is used once and not by one of the main characters
a family member dies
Yes
a parent dies
Yes
someone is kidnapped
Yes
there are jump scares
Yes
there's ghosts
Yes
someone is possessed
Yes
someone vomits
spoiler A little after 24 minutes like 24:20 maybe. It's only a few seconds and there's no visual just him leaning over bushes and making sounds. Also note: before that there's a scene where he tries to smoke oregano where he doesn't vomit but he cough/gags and that can be startling
There's audio gore
Yes
someone is eaten
spoiler A ripped-out eye is eaten a bit by a cat
there's incarceration
spoiler A man who was previously afflicted with the demon hand possession is shown in jail brielfy
there's smoke or haze
Yes
electro-therapy is used
spoiler There is no electrotherapy but there is a scene with a cop being hit by a taser, though the sound is not accurate. Tasers being used on characters isn’t a recognized category right now so this seemed appropriate.
there's a hospital scene
Yes
someone dies by suicide
spoiler It was not a suicide but someone is hung on screen near the end if that kind of imagery triggers you
someone self harms
spoiler The main character amputated his own hand.
there's a claustrophobic scene
spoiler They crawl through vents near the end. They are pretty wide for vents though
someone has an anxiety attack
Yes
there's flashing lights or images
Yes
there are sudden loud noises
Yes
there's screaming
Yes
there is obscene language/gestures
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
there are homophobic slurs
spoiler The main character is told he looks “queer” because he knits
there's ableist language or behavior
Yes
someone speaks hate speech
spoiler A girl reminisces about 2 dead characters who she had previously called “‘tards”
there's demons or Hell
spoiler The main character's hand is "possessed" but only said to be by "evil", not necessarily a demon
religion is discussed
spoiler The characters talk about heaven/hell
there is sexual content
spoiler There's two sex scenes, at one point Anton watches a porno, and there's making out and sexual references throughout its pretty unavoidable.
there are nude scenes
spoiler A girl's bare breasts are shown and groped for like fifteen seconds
someone is sexually objectified
Yes
there's BDSM
spoiler The main character ties his possessed hand to the bed to stop it from hurting a girl during sex but she sees it as him being kinky and submissive
someone loses their virginity
Yes
a person is hit by a car
Yes
a car honks or tires screech
Yes
there's blood/gore
Yes
there's gun violence
Yes

Add to Your List

Open this movie on a tracker to watchlist, rate, or review.

Metadata

Trailer

User Comments

No comments yet. Be the first!