“Maybe we should clean that up.”

Justin’s rating: Give this movie a hand!

Justin’s review: The dirty secret about movie reviewing that nobody will tell you is that no review is set in stone. Opinions change. Films get a second chance over time. First impressions may have been unfairly colored. So it happens from time to time that I revisit an old movie that I covered only to find that my take on it has completely changed.

Such is the case with 1999’s Idle Hands. I was incredibly unkind to this movie back when I saw it a couple decades ago, writing it off as some uneven slacker stoner comedy. But time’s caused me to reevaluate this odd genre mash-up in a much more favorable light. Thus, a rewatch and re-review was needed!

Perhaps I could be forgiven for not knowing how to initially take this movie, for Idle Hands is a sample platter of styles. As I said before, it’s a stoner comedy (which was en vogue at the time), but it’s also a creature horror flick. With some body horror. And dark comedy. And teen hijinks. And a party movie. And horror satire. It’s even a not-very-subtle homage to Evil Dead 2. So you’ve got to take it as it is rather than trying to pigeonhole it into just One Thing.

Anton (Devon Sawa, Final Destination) is a third of a trio of slackers (along with Seth Green and Elden Henson) who are so, ahem, under the influence that they don’t notice that Anton’s parents have been brutally murdered in his own home. Heck, they barely notice that the entire town is in the national spotlight because of a huge rash of murders.

Well, he’s going to start noticing things, because it turns out that Anton is the unknowing killer. At least his right hand is. It’s been demonically possessed for several days without his awareness (drugs are bad, kids!) and apparently having a fine time indeed. Things only get more wild from there as he unintentionally murders his best friends — who then come back as worse-for-wear zombies.

With his hand calling the shots while the rest of his body frantically fights against it, Anton is in for one insane Halloween season. There’s a demon-hunting druidic priestess (Vivica A. Fox) after him, a girl he really likes (Jessica Alba) who’s in mortal peril, dorky cops on the prowl, and an upcoming school dance that could become a bloodbath.

Serious props must be given to Sawa, who literally throws himself into this role. He plays up his possessed hand quite convincingly, with it constantly twitching and fighting against him. You wouldn’t expect a horror movie to have so much slapstick — other than, say, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil — but there’s plenty here. It’s darkly hilarious to see the hand coming up with all sorts of ways to wreak havoc and torment its host.

When taking up knitting doesn’t work, Anton goes all Bruce Campbell and cuts off his hand. That doesn’t really solve anything — the now-freed hand starts skittering about and demonstrating an uncanny ability to lift and move things 5000% heavier than it. Thus, the entire rest of the movie becomes a whole cast vs. a vicious hand (which is actually played by another actor).

I think the Tucker and Dale comparison works in another way, which is the juxtaposition of genuinely funny moments and some brief but gross kills. This is a horror movie, after all, just one with a high-spirited soundtrack and a Greek chorus of idiotic zombies.

That said, it’s not a perfect movie. Stoner humor doesn’t have the best shelf life, in my opinion, and it takes until the hour-mark until the hand gets loose for good. The abrupt shifts between genres takes a higher degree of go-with-the-flowness as well.

But I do think I was far too harsh on Idle Hands back in the day. It’s apparent that everyone was having a blast with this ridiculous premise, and its audience has certainly grown in appreciation in the past quarter-century. Plus, whenever you unleash Seth Green and The Offspring in the same flick, you’re going to have a good time.

Intermission!

• Nice freaky Se7en-style opening credits there
• I’M UNDER THE BED on the ceiling is not a comforting way to fall asleep
• Haha cat scare already
• I like how the diagetic music cuts in and out depending on whether Anton is wearing his headphones (with a cassette player, even)
• “Come on man, I’m comfortable!”
• Sliding in and out of a basement window is the only way
• “Nice try but they aren’t even my pants.”
• Don’t smoke nutmeg and oregano, seriously
• Anton making his sandwich with a bloody knife
• And then a random eyeball shows up
• Haha pushing the dog before you as a shield
• “CPR man, I saw it on Baywatch!”
• “Ant? They were killed by ants?” “Don’t be stupid. Do you have an evil aunt?”
• CAT AIRBORNE!
• Heaven’s music sounds like Enya
• “Tell me everything you know about the devil.”
• Knitting is a good anti-hand strategy
• Tasers to the face can kill
• “Those things won’t even cut my bagel!”
• “Look at me! I’m Leatherface!”
• It’s not really that big of a deal to cut off your hand. There’s barely any blood.
• BAD MOVE ANTON
• And with that angel costume, a million crushes on Jessica Alba were born
• “Maybe we should clean it first.” “Hey yeah! And while we’re at it, we can clean the whole f-ing house! This ain’t our mess.”
• “No Kevin Costner speeches, let’s go!”
• The hand sharpening its fingernails
• PUPPET MAYHEM… is pretty funny
• “It’s Mighty Joe Bong!”
• Severed hands can get stoned, apparently
• “I’m glad everyone is OK, but that was weak.”