Orion Pictures, 1981
starring: Michael Caine, Andrea Marcovicci, Annie McEnroe and Bruce McGill
written and directed by: Oliver Stone

the plot: Jonathan Lansdale (Caine) is a successful comic artist with a beautiful wife, Anne (Marcovicci), and an adorable daughter. But tragedy strikes when Anne causes a bizarre car accident that claims Jonathan’s right hand. Lansdale’s recovery goes slowly, and Anne pressures him into moving the family to New York so she can attend a New Age university in the city. Unable to draw, Lansdale becomes depressed, and an attempt to pass his comic strip on to another artist ends in disaster. Through it all, Lansdale is plagued by visions of his missing hand and frequent blackouts, after which he cannot recall his activities. As his marriage becomes more strained, Lansdale accepts a teaching job in California in order to get away. But his visions persist, and he slowly begins to suspect his severed appendage is following him around and causing mayhem. An affair with a pretty but dim-witted student (McEnroe) perks him up, but Lansdale’s friendship with a townie (McGill) further complicates his life and makes him angrier. The blackouts grow more frequent, Lansdale grows more paranoid, and it seems as though his missing hand is always just out of sight. When his wife and daughter venture to California for Christmas, Lansdale discovers the horrible secret behind his blackouts and learns the true fate of his hand.

why it’s good: Oliver Stone wasn’t far into his cinematic career when he started drawing controversy—and critical acclaim—for his films. By the time he released big-budget movies like “JFK” and “Natural Born Killers” in the ’90s, Stone was considered a serious filmmaker, albeit one with some slightly loopy ideas. But “The Hand” makes the case for a fun game of what-could-have-been. It’s a capable, creepy thriller written and directed by Stone, with a cameo by the auteur, to boot. In the hands of any other director, and without Michael Caine to anchor the film, “The Hand” could have turned out like any other schlocky horror flick coming out in the midst of the slasher film boom. But Caine’s performance gives “The Hand” an emotional depth and psychological resonance that it probably doesn’t deserve, and Stone’s above-average direction and tight script (there’s nary a loose end by the film’s close) give it a surprising sort of legitimacy. The rotted, bug-infested hand is pretty creepy, too, and thanks to some nice makeup by effects guru Stan Winston, the deadly digits never look too campy. But “The Hand” is always at its best not when the titular appendage is choking unsuspecting victims, but when Caine is wrestling with all the traumatic changes his character faces. His struggles to accept the loss of his hand and salvage his marriage are palpable, and his fight with a phantom limb plays like a logical extension. Stone keeps things ambiguous right up until the climax, though the requisite twist ending does kind of ruin all that. Maybe it’s a good thing Stone got out of horror flicks and into political films—though he may want to consider an all-zombie sequel to “Nixon.”

why you should own it: “The Hand” is a decent horror flick and worth a rental, but it’s by no means a classic. Stone aficionados should check it out just for a glimpse at the director’s early work, and for his surprisingly long cameo as a drunk bum. Warner Bros.’ DVD is without extras, though it does come as part of the “Twisted Terror” collection, featuring “Dr. Giggles” and Wes Craven’s “Deadly Friend,” among other movies.