The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
So bad it makes early Emmerdale look good? Perfect
If some things are so bad they’re good, maybe some things are so bad that they become superb. This is where I rejoice that we can celebrate the truly appalling. Somehow, during my late-night TV years before I discovered getting up in the morning and acting normal, I missed the show Mystery Science Theatre 3000, but I’ve put that right since it arrived on Netflix and relaunched with a new cast. The premise is simple: characters watch bad movies and TV, and ridicule them. It’s like it was made for me.
During this life-affirming experience, I encountered the episode featuring the 1966 American horror film Manos: The Hands of Fate. Everyone who has seen it is grinning now.
With a budget of thruppence and a talent for recruiting naïve would-be actors, Harold P. Warren – writer, director, producer and fertiliser salesman – made a masterpiece of dreadful cinema. It has everything: stilted performances, a weak plot, a script that makes early Emmerdale look good, technical problems that were simply ignored, a hilarious fight between unenthusiastic female acolytes of a demonic villain and, best of all, Torgo, a perverted satyr played by a man who was actually high on drugs the entire time. It’s accidental genius.
As a former film reviewer for the Evening Telegraph, I saw many varied films. I have especially painful memories of Free Willy 3: The Rescue; Robert De Niro’s turn in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle; and (I’m cringing) Steve Berkoff’s Russian accent in Rancid Aluminium, the nadir of the brief trend for British gangster flicks.
None of these come close to Manos, a film that scores zero per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. It competes for the title of worst-ever movie with Ed Wood’s science fiction production Plan 9 From Outer Space, which I also love.
This isn’t just some cult thing. This is genuine enjoyment, because I firmly believe there is beauty in ugliness. Every creative endeavour can be appreciated if you look at it the right way, and have a positive attitude. So bad it’s good? There’s no such thing, as long as there is creativity, and maybe a sense of humour.
This is where I rejoice that we can celebrate the truly appalling