‘Here lived a fiend of sadistic lust!’
Curse of the Stone Hand is a 1965 horror anthology film, sandwiched by a framing story that attempts to place the events of the two tales as having all happened in the same house.
The movie was created by American filmmaker Jerry Warren by editing together two 1940s Chilean films, La casa está vacía (“The House is Empty”), a 1945 film directed by Carlos Schlieper and La dama de la muerte (“The Lady of Death”), a 1946 film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen, based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘The Suicide Club’.
Warren combined sections of each film, and padded out the running time with newly filmed footage he shot with actors John Carradine, Bruno VeSota (as narrator) and Katherine Victor.
It was released theatrically in 1965 on a double-bill alongside Warren’s similarly constructed Face of the Screaming Werewolf.
Plot:
An avid gambler moves into a cursed house in which he discovers a set of sculpted stone hands in a wall niche in the basement. The hands somehow put a curse on the occupant of the house, and the gambler comes to a bad end financially. The gambler joins what he thinks is a gambling club, only to learn it is actually a suicide club.
The house passes down to a different family in time, and the new owner’s son becomes obsessed with the stone hands in the basement. He begins acting sadistically and develops hypnotic abilities, which he uses to control his brother’s fiancee. She manages to free herself from the spell, and the hypnotist is killed.
American Film Institute synopsis:
“Hands sculpted in stone, hidden in the niches of an ancient house, are regarded as sources of a curse by the present inhabitant, a country gentleman addicted to gambling; and indeed he does go to an early grave after experiencing bankruptcy. The house then passes to another family, one of whose sons becomes obsessed with the hands. This son develops sadistic tendencies and, acquiring hypnotic powers, finds himself exercising a mystical control over a brother’s fiancée. She repels him, however, and in doing so breaks the spell. The hypnotist, turning to the stone hands, is killed.”
John Carradine as The Old Drunk
Chela Bon as Beth
Carlos Cores as Robert Braun
Katherine Victor as Connie’s Sister
Bruno Ve Sota (narrator)
Ernesto Vilchesas as Uncle Huey
Judith Sulian as Mrs. Braun
Alejandro Flores as Charles
Horacio Peterson as Jamie
Filming locations (US section):
Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
Tech specs:
1h 7m (67 min)
Black and white
Mono
Free online on YouTube [1080p and 1080p Premium HD]:
More Jerry Warren movies:
CREATURE OF THE WALKING DEAD Jerry Warren’s monster mess – free online
HOUSE OF THE BLACK DEATH Lon Chaney Jr! John Carradine! Free on YouTube
TEENAGE ZOMBIES Jerry Warren trash – reviews and free online
MOVIES & MANIA provides previews of new films, our own movie reviews/ratings, and links to other reviews from trustworthy recommended sources - all in one handy web location. Plus, links to legitimately watch 1000s OF MOVIES FREE ONLINE via platforms such as Amazon Prime, Plex, Roku, Tubi and on YouTube. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a very tiny amount from any qualifying purchases.MAN BEAST Jerry Warren’s Yetisploitation – free on Plex and YouTube [updated]
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