Product Details

• Actors: Peter Breck, Kent Taylor, Rod Lauren, Alan Hale Jr., Allison Hayes
• Directors: Herbert L. Strock
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Rhino Theatrical
• DVD Release Date: June 11, 2002
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000067J09
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,996 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Crawling Hand" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

MST3K: THE CRAWLING HAND - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More spontaneous, April 23, 2003

By 

Martin Andrade "Media Gurgitator" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Crawling Hand (DVD)

Joel Hodgson has always been embarrassed by his early work. After a few seasons on Comedy Central MST and CO asked that their first year work not be rerun or used for all day marathons. They are the best judges of their work, and if you're not a huge MST3K fan I'd recommend taking their advice.

However, I personally enjoy the early years of MST3K. My personal collection includes taped episodes of the original KTMA channel 23 episodes where Joel and Co got their start.

The jokes are spontaneous, by not having a heavily scripted show one can almost relax a little bit, and see for themselves the .... in all its glory. "The Crawling Hand" is also one of my favorites from the first season due to the epic amount of word play and puns. There are several solid groups of bellyaching laughter when one pun after another after another are delivered by Servo and Crow. I also like the more homey feeling of the visual aspects of the film. I grew up watching MST3K on television with poorer picture quality and I get a bit nostalgic. But like I said earlier, Joel is the best judge of his own work, and if he is unhappy with the earlier episodes, I recommend you take his advice

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of their early best, July 12, 2011

By 

Jonnathan Ritland "Hank Peters, Italian Grocer" (Marysville, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Crawling Hand (DVD)

In this one an astronaut is coming back to earth, but is frightened he seemingly has no control over his arm, like its possessed. So after some delaying he decides to blow himself up to prevent himself from being totally taken over by whatever this is. Of course his hand survives (otherwise we wouldn't have this title), we get a young man who along with his girlfriend go to the beach and find wreckage of this crash, he finds the hand, leaves it, then comes back later to study it. Well of course it comes alive, tries to choke him and he becomes possessed and starts to go on a killing spree, though he really just lightly chokes his victims.

The movie itself does have elements of creepiness and a bit of good atmosphere, but the plooding pace and bad acting really bring it down. Even for an episode from the first season, Joel and his crew do a good job riffing it, yes Tom Servo's voice is different voiced by Josh Weinstein, so its deeper and more monotone but I actually enjoyed his version of Servo. I loved the numerous bad puns they let loose and my favorite line: "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the kitchen". I love the relaxed pacing of the early seasons, some aren't that good but ones like "The Crawling Hand" are to me comedic gold.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rough around the edges, but still quite enjoyable, July 10, 2002

By 

Jonathan Tavaris "J.T." (Sunrise, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Crawling Hand (DVD)

It's true that this episode from Season 1 of MST3K is rough around the edges, but that doesn't mean that it's not enjoyable. The biggest flaws are long silences, some unfunny riffs ("Sure, next you'll tell me there's a ring around Uranus!"), and a couple awkward host segments (especially the intro). However, the novelty of seeing a first season episode is enough to make this episode worth purchasing, and it's actually quite entertaining. There are some really memorable riffs in this episode ("It's the Crawling Bladder!"), and at times they keep coming steadily, like in later seasons. The episode does get off to a shaky start (the intro segment is sloppy, and most of the bad riffing seems to be concentrated within the first 30 minutes), but thankfully gets much better as it goes on. I wouldn't recommend this to someone new to MST3K (get Manos: the Hands of Fate and I Accuse My Parents first), but it's a real treat for MSTies.