Sometimes people ask me, "Hey Chim, what's the worst movie ever made?"
This question always gives me pause. I mean I've seen some real crappola and picking just one is kinda hard.
So to get a definative answer to this question, I've decided to go to the experts. And who are the experts you might well ask? Why the people who watch movies. And where do you find their opinions? Why at the Internet Movie Database, of course.
So I went to the
'Manos' the Hands of Fate
And yes, I have to concur, this is an exceedingly bad bad movie. Contary to popular belief, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is not the worst movie ever, even though many people you ask will say it is. It scored 93 points above MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE, so this gives you some idea on how bad this movie is.
If I might stick once again with the IMDb for a plot description. It is described as: "A family on vacation in the desert takes a wrong turn and ends up in an old dark house run by the creepy Torgo, who says he takes care of the place while The Master is away. As night falls the family is menaced by The Master and his wives, a supernatural cult that worships the evil deity known as Manos." I guess this is it in a nutshell, because so much convoluted and strange stuff happens that its just a bit tricky to figure out what is happening (if you can manage to stay awake that is).
And how bad is it? It has everything! Crappy dialouge and shoddy acting, day/night and other continuity errors, horrible dubbing and editing, and slow moving drawout driving scenes.
Even all the chick-fighting is sub-standard in this movie.
.....
After watching this movie, I had to ask myself, "gee Chim, just what goes into making a movie this bad?" Well apparently, the writer/director/producer was a fertilizer salesman from El Paso who made a bet with a visiting location scout Stirling Silliphant that he could make a popular horror film on an extremely minimal budget. The film was shot in two and a half months with a budget of about $19,000 and filmed with a handheld camera that could only record thirty seconds of film at a time. The film was shot without sound; all the lines were later dubbed by only three people - two men and one woman.
Needless to say the majority of the cast and crew never appeared in another movie after this and in fact four of them, John Reynolds (Torgo), Diane Mahree (Margaret), Joyce Molleur (Makeout Girl) and Sherry Proctor (one of the Master's wives) committed suicide shortly after the film was completed.
Of course, what stands out in the film, is the character of TORGO. I'm sure had John Reynolds not commited suicide, his character of Torgo would be today for Independant low-budget horror, what Micky Mouse is for that other movie company.
...... 
Yes, forget that dumbass couple and their whiny kid and a dumb dog,
...
The really story here is why does the Master get all the chicks? I mean sure he does have that snazzy robe with the hands...
..
How come Torgo can't have a wife? Just once... Poor Torgo!
For a while this used to be one of the rarest flicks to find, but then, thanks to the good folks from MST3K, who featured it in one of their episodes, it became widely availible (although in the MST3Ked version) and it's cult statis has been assured. In fact, it is one of the MST3K episodes that IS availible in commercial form. You can get it by clicking the cover pic below:
It's too bad so many of the crew checked out cause the ending just begged for a sequel! But hey, who knows maybe those dummies that have been making the CGI eye-candy fest remakes of the old William Castle flicks will get hold of this one....NOT!!!
