Quick Links'Idle Hands' Is Very '90s 'Idle Hands' Shines Because It Was Different From Its Horror Movie Counterparts 'Idle Hand's Financial Failure Was Out of Its Control
In the horror comedy Y2K, director Kyle Mooney, with a screenplay assist from Evan Winter, takes us back in time as society was preparing to conquer the Year 2000 problem as they put 1999 behind them. Y2K plays on the fear that technology would take over as soon as the ball dropped and 2000 kicked in and turns that fear into a hilarious reality. It's a true tonal blend, something that can be hard to do successfully. Sometimes, in films like these, the horror is legit, but the comedy is lacking, or the horror is too tame, but the jokes land with more ease. Mooney is successful at blending both, much like director Rodman Flender was back in 1999 with his very own horror comedy.
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When watching Y2K, you'll see similar aesthetic vibes shared by the horror comedy Idle Hands, a film released 25 years ago that the kids in Mooney's film would likely want to check out. Idle Hands emerged during the teen movie boom of the late '90s and when the horror genre was thriving among the demographic. It should've been a massive hit, but it turned into a huge financial bomb and was met with mostly negative reviews from critics. That should've been the end of the story, but Idle Hands had cult classic written all over it, and in the years since its release, it has gained a sizable following much larger than those involved with the film ever dreamed of.
'Idle Hands' Is Very '90s
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Idle Hands
Release Date April 30, 1999 Cast Seth Green , Devon Sawa , Jack Noseworthy , Elden Henson , Vivica A. Fox , Jessica Alba Runtime 92 minutes Main Genre Comedy ✕ Remove Ads
Written by Teri Hughes and Ron Milbauer, Idle Hands offers up what could be the consequences if one fully embraces slacker culture and chooses to do absolutely nothing with their lives. The movie follows Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa), a lazy stoner teenager whose hand becomes possessed and takes on a life of its own. Anton's hand wishes to go on a killing spree, making him unwillingly kill his parents and his two best friends, Mick (Seth Green) and Pnub (Elden Henson).
In true An American Werewolf in London fashion, his best friends return from the dead and try to help their buddy with his problem. Anton's solution is to cut his hand off, but that only makes it continue its murderous rampage on its own, which could also put his crush, Molly (Jessica Alba), in danger. Oh, did we mention a druidic high priestess going by the name Debi LeCure (Vivica A. Fox) is also trying to hunt down the spirit causing the hand position? Yeah, it gets really whacky, but it's a hell of a lot of fun.
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Idle Hands works because it speaks to horror fans who wanted something a bit less conventional. Even though Scream reinvigorated horror movies in 1996 and poked fun at many of the clichés of the genre, it also sparked the rise of a slew of imitators. This led to movies such as I Know What You Did Last Summer, Disturbing Behavior, and Urban Legend, which are fun in their own right but also familiar in their execution as by-the-numbers slasher movies.
Idle Hands was decidedly different, playing more to the sensibilities of Sam Raimi's 1981 horror film The Evil Dead while sharing even more in common with his more comedy-focused sequel, Evil Dead II. The movie felt like it was meant for the late-night crowd who might catch it in the middle of the night on cable or who were destined to worship at midnight showings with a like-minded crowd. Idle Hands was meant for the audience members who embraced their inner weirdo and weren't afraid of showing it.
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This can be seen in the film's central character. Anton isn't a weirdo by any means, but he spoke to the teenager of the time who may have had a singular focus. Anton feels like a character who could find a direction if he chooses to, but in the meantime, he just wants to smoke his weed, hang out with his friends, and long for the girl who may be out of his league. It's entirely relatable, which is why the film and the character have endured with fans over the years. His friends also share a similar interest, although, through their dialogue, they speak as if they're a notch above Anton, "criticizing" his day-to-day activities while also engaging in them with their best friend. In a nutshell, the characters were real in a way that may not be noticeable to some but entirely identifiable to people who knew people like that or may have been walking the same path at that stage.
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A heap of the film's praise goes to Sawa, whose underrated physical performance is 100% committed and gives the film some of its biggest laughs. Watching the actor is exhausting in the best way, before he severs the hand from his body, Sawa channels some of the best silent actors of the past as his struggles with controlling his "co-star." He makes his hand feel like a separate entity he can't control and, as a central horror movie protagonist, he proves to be one of the more interesting of that era. He's not the "final boy" in the traditional sense because what he's battling is himself, and by the time he separates himself from it, it becomes a battle with an extension of himself. In another callback to Evil Dead II, when Bruce Campbell's Ash battles with his possessed hand, Sawa can proudly say that he stands up against Campbell in the battling evil hand department.
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There's also Alba's Molly, gleefully playing the girl next door who may not be as goodie-goodie as she comes off. This role may be a bit problematic today because she is viewed as an object of teenage male fantasy but, at least on screen, Alba seems in on the joke. In all actuality, that's why the entire cast shines here. They obviously knew what kind of movie they were making and understood the assignment. Also, it would be a shame not to mention the actor who had to take on the task of Anton's hand after it was severed. The hand acting goes to Canadian magician Christopher Hart, who is no stranger to the craft, as he portrayed The Thing in Barry Sonnedfeld's Addams Family films. If there was anyone meant for this part, it was certainly Hart.
'Idle Hand's Financial Failure Was Out of Its Control ✕ Remove Ads
Idle Hands was a critical and financial failure upon release, grossing $4.2 million on a $25 million budget, registering a dismal 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. It should be noted that this film was not made for critics and was intended for the audience that was meant to support and embrace it. That being said, The Los Angeles Times picked up what it was putting down by writing, "What Idle Hands lacks in originality, it makes up for in energy and insolence. It takes guts for a movie to indulge as much as this one does in proto-hippie humor and you find yourself tickled, in spite of yourself, by the movie's nerve, if not its jokes."
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As to why the film didn't resonate financially, the big factor that most seem to agree with is that its promotion and release were shortchanged due to the tragic Columbine High School massacre, which took place the very same month the movie was released. Columbia Pictures considered delaying the film because of it but opted to cancel its premiere instead. Many theaters, especially locations in Colorado where the shootings took place, made the decision not to screen the film, which more than hampered its box office potential. Idle Hands was even discussed in Congress when Senator Joe Lieberman called the film "Another grossly violent film targeted at teens that uses killing as a form of comic relief."
As society learned, art, films, and music didn't influence this kind of behavior, and they did not deserve to be on trial. Once Idle Hands was removed from the tragedy and made its way to home video, the movie found its audience, and it's an audience that has grown with each passing year. The appeal of Idle Hands is so strong today that Sony Pictures has greenlit a remake starring Finn Wolfhard that could very well prove, if successful, just how much the original film has endured over the years. It's well-made insanity that embraces its horror and comedy elements in equal measure to make a film that was destined to wear its cult classic status proudly on its sleeve. Idle Hands is streaming on Prime Video.
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