This is the first attempt I've ever made to watch Manos without the riffing. Different from Pod People, which is one of my favorites of MST3K, I knew I could watch Manos sans riffing and it'd be fine. This is an episode of that show which I used to put on if I wanted to fall asleep. It was a "secret weapon" in that regard.
Manos exists as the sole film made by Texas businessman Harold P. Warren. He supposedly took part in a bet that he could make a horror film, was part of a local acting scene, and said "fuck it I'll make a movie" and self financed it. Manos is amateur to the very definition, and as I watched it I did think, this has to be one of the most amateur films to exist, ever.
Manos is a bevy of questions. I suppose that's why it's so loved, talked about, and why it is a fan favorite. You have to, HAVE TO wonder about the choices made by the direction, the acting, the camerawork, the soundtrack, everything about it. Let me first give a very brief synopsis to what is a 65 minute movie.
Mike, his wife and daughter are driving long, get lost, and end up at a mystery building in the desert. They are greeted by the oddball caretaker Torgo, a twitchy and nervous man with enlarged thighs and knees(?!) Torgo expresses doubt about them being there, saying that "the master" would not approve, but conditions make the family stay. Soon enough, they meet the master and his harem of wives, and get thrown into a sinister ritual in this mystery spot.
But what the plot doesn't say is the rank, bizarre, shoddy isn't a strong enough word pure what the fuck nature of this movie. Whether it's the lingering shots of absolutely nothing happening, the terrible dialogue, the repetition of dialogue many MANY times with no explanation, or the lack of what I would call "a clear plot, story, character explanation or ANYTHING" this movie simply breaks all the established rules that have existed and will ever exist in film.
In the beginning of the film, I had a moment of questioning because it struck me that Torgo is actually made out to be a very sympathetic character. His many odd behaviors are never explained, but his motivation is, and it is probably the only clear motivation for anything in the entire film so it stands out. He wants a wife. Then, he is sentenced to death, or rather, bizarre slapping punishment, and he gets his hand burned off and simply runs away, meaning Torgo survives this film.
Later on, the Master is front and center as the main heavy in the film, and he's not a terrible actor but the script is terrible and there is never a hint as to a explanation for anything about him. The Master exemplifies one of the biggest takeaways of the entire film for me, which is:
They had no idea what they were doing. When there is a cut, when the plot takes a turn, you can practically hear the director, the actors, and maybe the best boy all sitting around, pitching ideas of what would be "cool" or "scary" if it happened next. You can feel the improvised nature of the film, the way they just sorta thought, "let's throw in a scene where the women fight, cause that would be funny right?" So, they turned on the camera and filmed it. Two minutes later "Cut! How about your character says 'Manos would be displeased' here?" It was all made up on the spot in other words, and it really fucking feels like it.
Manos is the epitome of what a true amateur experiment is. This is the type of film where I think almost anyone on the planet would say "I could do something better than that". It is laughably short and laughably long at the same time, as certain moments feel like they last an eternity. The only way it could be more amateur is if they literally didn't know how to turn the camera on, and then it wouldn't exist.
Manos is the type of film you watch and you know it is something else. It has a bizarre quality, and overall, I think the best thing about it is it's strange plot. If it was more straight and narrow about a killer or some shit, it would not be so compelling. I think one of the unspoken great things about this movie is that to me, it feels ahead of it's time because of the plot. The plot is straight out of a 70s film, take it from the expert: me. This is a forerunner to what would be later known and celebrated as "psychotronic film".
The experimentation of this and the bizarreness of the plot fits more in congruity with the 70s weirdness and experimentation of the decade, and in a way this is one of the few things I've seen which proceeds the type of film coming up in the next decade. Had this come out in 1976, for example, I do not think it would stand out so much. I think it would be another 70's "exploitation" flick and would be very forgotten.
Just another example of how this movie, despite everything, succeeds.
Manos: The Hands of Fate has a legacy, and that is one thing I struggle with. I wanted to go through all the movies on all three other sets and try to determine if any of them have a "legacy". There's plenty of cult films on the sets, but I think the closest would be They Saved Hitler's Brain, Slipstream, mayyyybe Abraxas? But nothing like this. Nothing else comes close to what this has: a fan funded documentary and two fan funded sequels. I intend on seeing none of these. Let the fucking thing stand on it's own!
I really don't know how to rate this one. As a film, it's not good. As an experience, it is great. It's very hard for me to separate the MST3K of it from the film, and the memories I have of the film from the film itself. I will land on 4 stars I think, and I will say: I don't think I'll ever watch this again without riffing.
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