Search - Idle Hands [Widescreen/Fullscreen] on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Humor, Profanity, Substance Abuse, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1999 DVD Release: 08/31/1999 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 32 mins Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Members Wishing: 8 Genres: Comedy, Horror, Horror Comedy, Teen Movie, Gross-Out Comedy See Also: Idle Hands [Fullscreen], Idle Hands [UMD for PSP]

Teenage burnouts and post-modern slasher films are both raked over the satiric coals in the blood-soaked comedy Idle Hands. Anton (Devon Sawa) is a cheerful but exceedingly non-ambitious 17-year-old stoner who lives to stay buzzed, watch TV, and moon over Molly (Jessica Alba), the beautiful girl who lives next door. However, it turns out that the old cliché about idle hands being the devil's playground has a kernel of truth after all; there's a demonic beast living in his house that has already decapitated Anton's mom and dad (though it takes him a while to notice), and now the Dark Lord Himself has taken possession of Anton's right hand. Before he's entirely aware of what's happening, Anton's demon hand has killed his two best friends, Mick (Seth Green) and Pnub (Elden Henson), though both come back as zombies to keep Anton company. Can Randy (Jack Noseworthy), local metalhead and expert on all things Satanic, figure out what the Evil One has planned next for Anton's digits? Will traveling demon slayer Debi (Vivica A. Fox) vanquish the possessed in time? And most important, will Anton get to go to the big dance with Molly before his hand starts causing trouble again? Director Rodman Flender certainly knows the genres he parodies here; he cut his teeth in horror working for exploitation legend Roger Corman and directed the film Bloody Mutilators as well as episodes of the TV series Tales From The Crypt, while more recently he immersed himself in teenage culture directing episodes of the TV series Party of Five and Dawson's Creek. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Devon Sawa - Anton Tobias
Seth Green - Mick
Elden Henson - Pnub
Jessica Alba - Molly
Christopher Hart - The Hand
Vivica A. Fox - Debi
Jack Noseworthy - Randy
Steve Van Wormer

This demented little horror comedy received something of a special treatment from Columbia TriStar, perhaps as a way of making back some of the money the movie failed to earn at the box office. The disc is a dual-sided, single-layer disc, with a full-screen transfer on one side and an anamorphic, widescreen transfer on the other. Extras include trailers, a deleted scene (with director's introduction and commentary), cast and crew notes, and a short promotional featurette. Director Rodman Flender and actors Seth Green and Elden Henson provide a commentary that sometimes focuses, and sometimes rambles off into odd corners (one such ramble gets into a discussion of 2 Live Crew.) The commentary is entertaining, but hardly essential, and viewers are not likely to learn much. The widescreen, anamorphic transfer (which is at slightly under 1.85:1) is excellent, if slightly soft. The color scheme in the movie is deliberately odd, with a lot of oranges, reds, and greens, which are handled extremely well -- no bleed, edge enhancement, or compression artifacts visible. The few black areas to be found (mostly in Jack Noseworthy's tank top and truck) are nice and solid, but the original movie has very little in the way of shadows. Contrast is good overall, thanks to the lighting. The full-screen transfer retains the positive qualities, but is of course heavily cropped, though Flender seems to have chosen to shoot as much as possible within a safety area to avoid heavy pan-and-scan work. The audio is offered in both Dolby Surround and Dolby 5.1 versions, with the latter having far better clarity and separation, and serving the music and sound effects much better than the former, which has a slightly muffled sound to it. The audio is good, but far from spectacular, with some decent Surround use, but most of the action happens across the front stage. Dialogue is mostly clear, and mixed high enough that the periodic sound bursts aren't too painful. English subtitles are available, but no other languages are offered. All in all, an odd little horror film that references more than a few horror classics (as Flender admits) -- and an okay disc. ~ Steven E. McDonald, All Movie Guide