''The Crawling Hand'' is a 1963 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

Herbert L. Strock Herbert L. Strock (January 13, 1918 – November 30, 2005) was an American television producer and director, and a B-movie director of titles such as '' I Was a Teenage Frankenstein'' (1957), '' How to Make a Monster'' (1958), and ''The Crawlin ...

, and starring

Peter Breck Joseph Peter Breck (March 13, 1929 – February 6, 2012) was an American character actor. The rugged, dark-haired Breck played the gambler and gunfighter Doc Holliday on the ABC/Warner Bros. Television series ''Maverick'' as well as Victoria Bark ...

Kent Taylor Kent Taylor (born Louis William Weiss; May 11, 1907 – April 11, 1987) was an American actor of film and television. Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more p ...

Rod Lauren Roger Lawrence "Rod" Strunk (March 20, 1941 – July 11, 2007), popularly known as Rod Lauren, was an American actor and singer. As an actor, he worked mostly in television, appearing in single episodes of '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', ''Comba ...

, Alan Hale and

Allison Hayes Allison Hayes (born Mary Jane Hayes; March 6, 1930 – February 27, 1977) was an American film and television actress and model. Early life Allison Hayes was born to William E. Hayes and Charlotte Gibson Hayes in Charleston, West Virginia. She ...

. It was later featured on the television shows ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...

'' (''MST3K'') and ''The

Canned Film Festival The ''Canned Film Festival'' is a comedy-based motion picture television series that was nationally Broadcast syndication, syndicated during the late night television, late night hours in the United States for a single season in the summer of 198 ...

''.

Plot

An astronaut, coming in for a crash landing, makes odd statements over the radio, including "my hand... makes me do things.... kill.... kill!" Strangely, by then, ground control was under the belief that he was already out of oxygen. Later, a naive young med student, Paul, discovers a disembodied hand near the crash site and takes it home as a grisly souvenir. He is not aware that the hand is possessed by a strange, murderous alien. First, the hand murders Paul's landlady. The police, led by a sheriff played by Alan Hale, begin to suspect Paul, especially as he begins to act more and more strangely as the hand begins to have more and more influence over him. The fictional federal agency responsible for space flight is called to the small town because fingerprints found at the first crime scene match the missing, dead astronaut. Paul, now under control of the arm, attacks other people around the town, including his own beloved girlfriend. Horrified at what he's been doing, Paul attempts to take the arm to the beach to destroy it, but he's confronted by the authorities. The arm, now wounded, is held down by some cats who try to eat it. Authorities collect the arm, and Paul, recovering in the hospital, appears to be forgiven. The orderlies charged with transporting the captured arm to the airport for transport to the federal agency open the box containing the arm, and the film ends with a quick zoom to the inside of the box and the sound of a scream as the words "the end" appear on black.

Cast

as Steve Curan *

as Dr. Max Weitzberg *

as Paul Lawrence * Alan Hale as Sheriff Townsend *

as Donna *

Sirry Steffen Sirry Steffen (born Sigríður Geirsdóttir, Anglicisation of names, anglicised as Sigridur Geirsdottir; 29 May 1938 – 1 February 2020) was a former Miss Iceland who appeared in American television series and movies in the 1960s. "Sirry Steffe ...

as Marta Farnstrom *

Arline Judge Margaret Arline Judge (February 21, 1912 – February 7, 1974) was an American actress singer who worked mostly in low-budget B movies, but gained some fame for habitually marrying. Early years Arline Judge was born in Bridgeport, Connect ...

as Mrs. Hotchkiss *

Richard Arlen Richard Arlen (born Sylvanus Richard Mattimore, September 1, 1899 – March 28, 1976) was an American actor of film and television. Biography Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Arlen attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served in Canada as a ...

as Lee Barrenger * Tristam Coffin as Security Chief Meidel *

Ross Elliott Ross Elliott (born Elliott Blum, June 18, 1917 – August 12, 1999) was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career in the Mercury Theatre, where he performed in ''The War of the Worlds'', Orson Welles' fam ...

as Deputy Earl Harrison *

G. Stanley Jones Gordon Stanley Jones (October 23, 1926 – December 30, 1998), sometimes credited as G. Stanley Jones, Stanley G. Jones or Stanley Jones, was a Canadian-born radio, film and television actor. Early life Jones was born in Toronto, Ontario, Can ...

as Funeral Director *Jock Putnam as Ambulance Attendant *Andy Andrews as Ambulance Attendant *

Syd Saylor Syd or SYD may refer to: * Syd (name), including a list of people with the name * ''Syd.'', taxonomic author abbreviation of Hans Sydow (1879–1946), German mycologist * Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ** IATA code for Sydney Airport, New Sout ...

as Soda Shop Owner *Ed Wermer as Prof. Farnstrom *

Beverly Lunsford Beverly Lunsford (January 5, 1945 - May 22, 2019) was an American actress best known as the female character, Shirley Fletcher, on the situation comedy television series, '' Leave it to Beaver'', starring Jerry Mathers. Early life Lunsford was b ...

as Patsy Townsend *Les Hoyle Note: character names are not indicated in on-screen credits.

Home video

* ''The Crawling Hand'' was featured in Episode 6 of Season 1 of the TV series ''

''. This episode was released on VHS by

Rhino Home Video Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...

in October 1999 and on DVD in June 2002, including the uncut film as a bonus feature.

In other media

Rick Moody Hiram Frederick Moody III (born October 18, 1961) is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel ''The Ice Storm'', a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 19 ...

's novel ''The Four Fingers of Death'', released in July 2010 by

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

, is a

metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...

al novelization of a 2025 remake of ''The Crawling Hand'' (which means that Moody's fictional 'novelization' is set in a future very different from that of the 1963 film).

References

External links

Mystery Science Theater 3000

*
Episode guide: 106- The Crawling Hand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawling Hand, The 1963 films 1963 horror films 1960s science fiction horror films American science fiction horror films American black-and-white films Films directed by Herbert L. Strock 1960s monster movies Films set in California 1960s English-language films 1960s American films