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Idle Hands
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
In "Idle Hands", Seth Green and Eldon Hensen, draping long, dark trenchcoats over an arsenal of automatic weapons, enter a Colorado high school, bent on vengeance, and Devon Sawa gets caught in the crossfire...
D'oh! Actually, "Idle Hands" bears absolutely no similarity to the above description, but that didn't stop a gaggle of moronic critics from making such a baseless, asenine comparison to the Columbine incident. Actually, "Idle Hands" is about Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa), an extraordinarily lazy high schooler whose idle right hand becomes possessed and, as the...whatever-it-is goes, does the devil's work. Just as Anton realizes that he's responsible for a series of murders in his sleepy little hamlet, the evil-hand bloodlessly offs his two best friends, Mick and Pnub (Green and Hensen, respectively). Mick and Pnub, nearly as universally unmotivated as their murderer, decide the jaunt to the afterlife is too inconvenient, so they stay Earthbound and help Anton deal with his increasingly-out-of-control hand and improve as Anton's chances with his long-time crush, Molly (played by Jessica Alba, who thankfully doesn't try to act much here).
Although pretty much universally panned by critics, even by those who didn't inexplicably compare the film to Columbine (there's very little blood aside a couple of quick splashes, and not a single gun is fired), I really got a kick out of "Idle Hands", one of the few shining stars in the largely mediocre horror/comedy genre. "Idle Hands" pays homage to a seemingly endless series of well-loved horror films without ever becoming too derivative...they're more like celluloid winks than shameless cutting and pasting. Too many comedies try too hard for laughs, and "Idle Hands" rarely goes down this road. Most of the humor stems from bizarre situations and how the characters handle them, not from simple slapstick or one-liners. It's not 'scary', if that's what anyone is expecting (?), but "Idle Hands" takes a bunch of horror conventions, puts a comedic spin on them, and ended up as one of my favorite movies I own on DVD. It's really disappointing that a completely unrelated 'tragedy' had such a negative effect on its theatrical success, as I think it would've really taken off otherwise. Oh well...
Video: Both anamorphic widescreen and full-frame versions of "Idle Hands" are available on this disc, on alternate sides. As would be expected from a day/date disc of a recent theatrical release, it's close to flawless. Blacks are solid, fleshtones and the rich Suspiria-inspired colors are accurately represented, there's no visible grain or edge enhancement...very nice. Dust and the like are minimal, although slightly more than I generally expect from such a recent release. I only mention that so I'm not completely positive (evil grin), but really, "Idle Hands" looks extremely impressive overall.
Audio: Dolby 2-channel Surround and DD 5.1 tracks are available for your listening pleasure... Bass range is pretty nice, particularly when any of the loud, crunchy hard rock songs from the soundtrack are featured. The rears are used effectively, and
Supplements: Nice and loaded... First and foremost is the commentary with Seth Green, Elden Henson, and Rodman Flender, which is by far my favorite of the 100+ commentaries I've sat through, and this is one of the few discs I've watched with the commentary on more often than not. Despite having listened to it six or seven times, I still find myself laughing whenever I put it on. Commentary is also available when watching the darker, more menacing alternate ending (non-anamorphic, though letterboxed). Although the ending in "Idle Hands" itself seems more in line with the rest of the film, the alternate ending is very intense, filled with well-done effects, and definite viewing. The quality is a little rough, though better than other work print footage I've seen. Since a higher quality clip from this segment was in the theatrical trailer, I was hoping for more, but...I can't gripe too much. Two split-screen storyboard comparisons -- one for the sawblade attack and the other for the knitting needles/"cuff me" scene -- are brief, but informative, particularly since they weren't followed too closely. A "making of featurette" is also included, and although it suffers from the Too Many Clips Syndrome so typical in featurettes, some of the behind the scenes footage and the bits with Christopher Hart (the hand) are pretty interesting. Rounding out the supplements are trailers for "Idle Hands" (full-frame and fairly low quality) and "Can't Hardly Wait" (letterboxed and much nicer looking) and above-average cast/crew bios.
Conclusion: Don't be turned off by the "Can't Hardly Wait II"-style cover art or the negative reviews. I vastly preferred the original, but everything else about this package is pretty hard to turn down. I guess Columbia figured that despite its poor box office performance, "Idle Hands" would find a wider audience on video/DVD, and with a feature-swamped disc that looks and sounds this great, it's a pretty good bet that their gamble paid off. I should probably rate this as 'Highly Recommended', but I'll bump it up to 'Collectors Series' sheerly because of the high replay value and, of course, Jessica Alba.
D'oh! Actually, "Idle Hands" bears absolutely no similarity to the above description, but that didn't stop a gaggle of moronic critics from making such a baseless, asenine comparison to the Columbine incident. Actually, "Idle Hands" is about Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa), an extraordinarily lazy high schooler whose idle right hand becomes possessed and, as the...whatever-it-is goes, does the devil's work. Just as Anton realizes that he's responsible for a series of murders in his sleepy little hamlet, the evil-hand bloodlessly offs his two best friends, Mick and Pnub (Green and Hensen, respectively). Mick and Pnub, nearly as universally unmotivated as their murderer, decide the jaunt to the afterlife is too inconvenient, so they stay Earthbound and help Anton deal with his increasingly-out-of-control hand and improve as Anton's chances with his long-time crush, Molly (played by Jessica Alba, who thankfully doesn't try to act much here).
Although pretty much universally panned by critics, even by those who didn't inexplicably compare the film to Columbine (there's very little blood aside a couple of quick splashes, and not a single gun is fired), I really got a kick out of "Idle Hands", one of the few shining stars in the largely mediocre horror/comedy genre. "Idle Hands" pays homage to a seemingly endless series of well-loved horror films without ever becoming too derivative...they're more like celluloid winks than shameless cutting and pasting. Too many comedies try too hard for laughs, and "Idle Hands" rarely goes down this road. Most of the humor stems from bizarre situations and how the characters handle them, not from simple slapstick or one-liners. It's not 'scary', if that's what anyone is expecting (?), but "Idle Hands" takes a bunch of horror conventions, puts a comedic spin on them, and ended up as one of my favorite movies I own on DVD. It's really disappointing that a completely unrelated 'tragedy' had such a negative effect on its theatrical success, as I think it would've really taken off otherwise. Oh well...
Video: Both anamorphic widescreen and full-frame versions of "Idle Hands" are available on this disc, on alternate sides. As would be expected from a day/date disc of a recent theatrical release, it's close to flawless. Blacks are solid, fleshtones and the rich Suspiria-inspired colors are accurately represented, there's no visible grain or edge enhancement...very nice. Dust and the like are minimal, although slightly more than I generally expect from such a recent release. I only mention that so I'm not completely positive (evil grin), but really, "Idle Hands" looks extremely impressive overall.
Audio: Dolby 2-channel Surround and DD 5.1 tracks are available for your listening pleasure... Bass range is pretty nice, particularly when any of the loud, crunchy hard rock songs from the soundtrack are featured. The rears are used effectively, and
Supplements: Nice and loaded... First and foremost is the commentary with Seth Green, Elden Henson, and Rodman Flender, which is by far my favorite of the 100+ commentaries I've sat through, and this is one of the few discs I've watched with the commentary on more often than not. Despite having listened to it six or seven times, I still find myself laughing whenever I put it on. Commentary is also available when watching the darker, more menacing alternate ending (non-anamorphic, though letterboxed). Although the ending in "Idle Hands" itself seems more in line with the rest of the film, the alternate ending is very intense, filled with well-done effects, and definite viewing. The quality is a little rough, though better than other work print footage I've seen. Since a higher quality clip from this segment was in the theatrical trailer, I was hoping for more, but...I can't gripe too much. Two split-screen storyboard comparisons -- one for the sawblade attack and the other for the knitting needles/"cuff me" scene -- are brief, but informative, particularly since they weren't followed too closely. A "making of featurette" is also included, and although it suffers from the Too Many Clips Syndrome so typical in featurettes, some of the behind the scenes footage and the bits with Christopher Hart (the hand) are pretty interesting. Rounding out the supplements are trailers for "Idle Hands" (full-frame and fairly low quality) and "Can't Hardly Wait" (letterboxed and much nicer looking) and above-average cast/crew bios.
Conclusion: Don't be turned off by the "Can't Hardly Wait II"-style cover art or the negative reviews. I vastly preferred the original, but everything else about this package is pretty hard to turn down. I guess Columbia figured that despite its poor box office performance, "Idle Hands" would find a wider audience on video/DVD, and with a feature-swamped disc that looks and sounds this great, it's a pretty good bet that their gamble paid off. I should probably rate this as 'Highly Recommended', but I'll bump it up to 'Collectors Series' sheerly because of the high replay value and, of course, Jessica Alba.
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