I love being caught off guard. Chances are slim, but every once in awhile, an unheard-of film jumps up and slaps me in the face. Hello, Hands of Blood.
Movies like this one make seeking out bizarro, no-budget films a magical experience. Sure, you’ll sometimes end up with toilet scroungers like Evil Town, but it’s the exceptional moments of crude ingenuity that make obscure film appreciation all it’s cracked up to be. Hands of Blood (also known as Stepsisters on VHS) concocts a lethal dose of rough production values, spooky locations, and grimy sleaze into what might be one my favorite discoveries of the year.
After a hyperactive opening montage concerning police cars and ambulances, things get underway. Norma (soap star Bond Gideon) and Thorpe are an extremely dysfunctional married couple. Cheating frequently on each other, the two live in an inherited Texas farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. They constantly fight for no reason. One day, Norma’s stepsister, Diana, breezes into town. Norma has a late night tryst with a mysterious visitor wearing leather boots and Diana picks up a guy at a gas station. Cue the axe murder! Soon enough, tempers boil over, as Thorpe starts flying Diana around in his chartered plane. Thorpe calls Norma a “stinking slut!” Somehow, the gross-looking, chain-smoking Thorpe manages to seduce Diana. So what naturally follows? Thorpe and Diana plan to bump off Norma, so the killers can make good on their new life together. But there’s a twist. And a lo-fi country theme song summarizes the story while the credits roll.
On paper, Hands of Blood sounds like a gothic soap opera that has been sprinkled with some light grime. And that’s true. However, the appeal of this movie lies in the bizarre presentation. Shot in Weatherford, Texas and released the same year as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Hands of Blood showcases a quieter side of homicide in the Lone Star State. The decrepit old mansion, where the bulk of the film unfolds, exudes dirt, creeps, and lonely emptiness. The movie is filled with unexpected jump cuts, an erratic editing style, clashing music cues, and lovely compositions. The relationship between Norma and Diana (and the magnetic performance of Gideon) keeps us engaged, even though the exploitive elements of the film are quite tame (no nudity, despite the frequent sex scenes, and a bit of gore). Plus there’s an absolutely baffling chase sequence involving a chair that gets knocked over.
Hands of Blood is a surreal, soap-operatic proto-slasher that flails about and begs to be watched. At only 70 minutes long, how can you not oblige?
