Plot: What’s it about?
Norma (Sharyn Talbert) is cheating on her husband Thorpe (Hal Fletcher), but that’s no problem, as he is doing the same. In truth, both have several partners outside of their marriage and that trend shows no signs of an end. Even with the added activity, neither is too satisfied with life in their small Texas town. Their home is an eerie, isolated mansion and while it is often just the two of them, a visitor is soon to arrive. Norma’s stepsister Diana (Bond Gideon) stops in for a while and her presence does little to smooth out the household. In fact, the three spend most of their time in heated arguments of all kinds. Diana dislikes Thorpe at first, but she slowly begins to let down her guard and a kind of bond soon forms between the two. At the same time, Norma is starting to wonder about Thorpe’s plans and suspects some manner of insurance scam, though of course, she can’t be sure at the time. As she tries to investigate, she is unaware that her husband and stepsister have started to plot against her, in her own home, no less. Diana and Thorpe have been working on a plan to murder Norma, then begin new lives for themselves, much better lives. The plan involves collecting the life insurance on Norma, selling the rotten mansion, and getting a new plane, then embarking on this new lifestyle. But will Norma remain in the dark forever and if she does discover the plan, can she somehow turn the tables?
I’ve seen a lot of movies, including a lot of films that made no sense, but few can match the monumental incoherence of this picture. Hands of Blood, better known in most circles as Stepsisters never even tries to make sense, even for a second. The case gives the impression that this is a sick, twisted slasher with depraved sexual elements, but in truth, Hands of Blood never lives up to those promises. There is some blood and lesbianism involved, but Hands of Blood isn’t as sleaze laden as the case wants us to believe. I wish it was however, as the movie moves at a snail’s pace and has some of the most offbeat editing techniques I’ve ever seen. You don’t often notice good editing, but when its bad, you tend to take note of the mistakes. Hands of Blood seems to have been edited by someone with a blindfold on, to the extent that the storyline is often mangled by the editor’s poor choices. But to be honest, this lack of coherence kind of adds some fun to this dull production, which is sorely needed, to be sure. The premise is decent, but never delivers on the details and twists, which again, creates a kind of chaos within the picture. If the pace were more brisk and the blood & sex amped up, this one could have been quite good. But as it stands, I can only recommend Hands of Blood to truly dedicated genre buffs.
Video: How does it look?
Hands of Blood is presented in full frame. This was a low budget flick produced for the 70s drive-in movement, so don’t expect too much in this department. The print looks solid, but of course, there is a lot of grain throughout. This never softens the visuals however, at least not beyond the inherent level caused by the source material. I also saw some nicks and debris, but not as much as I had anticipated. In other words, you can tell this was shot on low end stock with minimal resources, but that’s unavoidable in this case. The colors and contrast are acceptable, given the source material involved, but the elements are on the flat side. So colors have a dull presence and contrast isn’t as stark as I would like. This movie is never going to look that good, but at least it looks reasonably clean in this presentation.
Audio: How does it sound?
This release uses the original mono track and while this isn’t a room shaking mix, it handles the film’s audio needs very well. This type of material doesn’t call for much in terms of dynamic sound, so the mono format is more than adequate in all respects. The dialogue is crisp, with no harshness or separation issues in the least. The sound effects have no problems either, as they come across in distinct and clear fashion. I found very little distortion present and the usual mono hiss is thankfully absent. You can tell this was a low budget production of course, but this soundtrack is still more than acceptable.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes a brief interview with director Perry Tong, which is worth a look for fans of the picture.
