Oliver Stone's second feature film, The Hand is an effective horror yarn based on a novel by Marc Brandell. In an early scene the psychological themes that weave through this narrative are highlighted. Jonathan Lansdale's (Michael Caine) daughter, Lizzie (Mara Hobel), pokes the tail of a lizard, as her stick gets closer, the tail writhes. She questions her fathers explanation that it is reflex, as it stops once danger (the stick) is moved away. The original title of the novel was 'The Lizard's Tail', and it is this that sets up the idea of amputee psychological connections; an exploration of ideas perpetuated, and fetishised by the real-life condition experienced by amputees, phantom limb syndrome. (This is a condition where the sensation of - in this example - hand and fingers, can still be felt, despite the limbs absence.)
Caine is a comic book artist, and in a freak car accident, he loses his right hand. After a search the hand is never discovered. With his career over, he moves away from New York to teach, his wife Anne (Andrea Marcovicci), and daughter stay behind. As Jon embarks on a sexual affair with one of his students, Stella (Annie McEnroe), and as Jon's angers erupt, it seems that his hand carries out revenge. The most effective scene in the film, one that is clearly, and brilliantly directed, acted and lit, is in Jon's cabin garage, police stand around sweating. They report a funny smell, and Jon is quizzed as to what is in the truck of his car. It's a thoroughly atmospheric sequence.
The plot is, of course, completely silly, but it actually works quite well. It does have moments of great mood, helped by James Horner's score, and the visual effects by Carlo Rambaldi - the severed hand mostly effective, as "good-FX-their-the-time. Embellishing the phantom limb syndrome concept is a delicious little idea, and perfectly fits within the context of many horror films of the time. It has elements of Stephen King, James Herbert, and certainly takes influence from the famous EC comics of the 1950's, and this modern mixture of efficient horror, gore, and a little splash of Jungian psychoanalytical character psychosis works well as an adequate chiller.
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