Manos: The Hands of Fate
1966 film by Harold P. Warren
Manos: The Hands of Fate is a 1966 American independent folk horror film written, directed, and produced by Harold P. Warren. It stars Warren, Tom Neyman, John Reynolds, and Diane Mahree. It was released on November 15, 1966. The film follows a family getting lost during their vacation road trip through the Texas desert and becoming stranded at the lodge of a polygynous pagan cult led by the Master who decides their fate.
Warren was an insurance and fertilizer salesman from El Paso, Texas, who made the film as a result of a bet with screenwriter Stirling Silliphant. Most of the remaining cast and crew had little or no background in filmmaking. The theatrical debut was poorly received, playing only at the Capri Theater in El Paso and some drive-ins around West Texas and New Mexico.
Manos remained in obscurity until 1993, when it was featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a television series based around mocking B movies, which became the show's most iconic episode. This developed its cult reputation as one of the worst films ever made. The film has been criticized for continuous deficiencies in editing, continuity, audiovisual synchronization, pacing, acting, and several inexplicable and disconnected scenes, such as a nameless couple repeatedly shown kissing in a distant car and the Master's wives breaking into catfights.
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