Line #19 Film/TheCrawlingHand


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_crawling_hand_1963.jpg]]
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3	A 1963 low budget SciFiHorror film directed and co-written by Herbert L. Strock, starring Creator/PeterBreck, Kent Taylor, and Rod Lauren.
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5	Astronauts keep going crazy and blowing up on their way back to the ground, and scientists can't figure out why. The latest astronaut to fall to this mysterious syndrome manages to contact his scientist superiors just before doing himself in; he alternates between pleas to "push the red" SelfDestructMechanism and violent urges to "Kill! Kill!" Finally the "red" is pushed, the astronaut is [[SpecialEffectsFailure blown to shards]] and the scientists are still stumped.
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7	Meanwhile, in California, young med student Paul Lawrence is frolicking on the beach with his girlfriend when they happen upon the severed arm of the dead astronaut. Against his girl's wishes, Paul returns to the beach and takes the arm home with him (for what reason, [[TooDumbToLive we're not told]]). Soon, it becomes apparent to everyone (in the audience, at least) that whatever malediction had possessed the unfortunate astronaut [[EvilHand still possesses the arm]], which promptly [[OrganAutonomy goes on a killing spree]] (said spree resulting in a grand total of ONE death). Paul himself is [[ClearMyName a prime suspect in the murder]], but the two scientists arrive with their own theories. Then the mysterious murderous force begins to [[PeoplePuppets infect Paul as well]], and he attacks a MaltShop owner and his own girlfriend. After [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing what he's doing]], Paul takes the hand out to a junkyard with the intent of destroying it, and between a fever of over 100 and some hungry cats, the evil is defeated... [[LamePunReaction er, handily]].
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9	For the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode see ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S01E06TheCrawlingHand here]]''.
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11	----
12	!!This film contains examples of:
13	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Well, not ''exactly'' brainwashed, but similar. Definitely crazy though.
14	* ClearMyName: While Paul does attack a couple of people during his "infection", he is not responsible for the single successful on-screen murder.
15	* CreepyShadowedUndereyes: The alien horror produces this effect in its hosts when it infects them.
16	* TheEndOrIsIt: The bumbling ambulance drivers somehow manage to lose the killer hand in the film's closing seconds.
17	* EldritchAbomination: Only implied; apparently it's some evil alien spirit or similar that takes over astronauts and turns them into krazy killers. It's also contagious.
18	* ICannotSelfTerminate: Because my body is being [[PeoplePuppets controlled]] by an alien energy being. Push the red!
19	* JurisdictionFriction: Invoked by the sheriff, but all the scientists want is the severed hand. And a little cooperation from the [[{{Pun}} long arm]] of the law.
20	* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: At one point Paul and his girl argue over whether she should have brought her swimsuit on their date; their friend suggests their love is indeed true; "You two sound like a married couple already!"
21	* LooksLikeCesare: Paul has the messy dark hair and CreepyShadowedUndereyes of this trope after being possessed by the hand, which helps underscore how he's not in his right mind.
22	* OrganAutonomy / EvilHand: The astronaut's severed arm, still possessed by the EldritchAbomination, is capable of independent perambulation and attack.
23	* PeoplePuppets: The astronaut in the first scene and, later, Paul.
24	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The sheriff is hesitant to arrest Paul until he can find some decisive evidence as he knows being arrested for murder, even if he's eventually acquitted, can tarnish his personal reputation for the rest of his life.
25	* TheScourgeOfGod: The only victim of the killer hand (or any of its PeoplePuppets) to actually die is the booze-and-pill-fueled landlady.
26	* SoundtrackDissonance: Paul fights the old Malt Shop owner, they crash into the jukebox... Cue "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gJtCU0G2Is The Bird's The Word]]" by The Rivingtons.
27	* ThoseTwoGuys:
28	** The bumbling ambulance drivers.
29	** Also the two scientists, Peter Breck and Faux-[[Series/Batman1966 Gordon]].
30	* TooDumbToLive:
31	** And why, pray tell, is Paul so [[{{Pun}} dead-set]] on bringing that severed arm home with him? ForScience?
32	** Also the bumbling ambulance drivers (see TheEndOrIsIt). Whilst transporting the boxed-up arm away, the one chides his buddy for having "no curiosity" and eventually goads him into opening up the box, which would have freed the EvilHand... had it not somehow already escaped.
33	* {{Troll}}: Invoked; in an early scene, Paul's Swedish girlfriend notes playfully how she is soon to return home. After he has been accused of murder and is about to run away, she tries to snap him out of it by admitting that she had only been teasing him about going home.

Context Film / TheCrawlingHand