User Reviews

Sergio Garrone tries to juice up the old gothic horror/mad scientist deal get up by adding gore and nudity, but still manages to bore the life out of me.

The whole deal is that Klaus Kinski is a scientist whose wife has been horrifically scarred in an accident that also claimed the life of her brilliant scientist father, Ivan Rassimov, who is a character called Ivan Rassimov and not the actor Ivan Rassimov. Kinski of course has one of those labs you get in old mansions that's full of bubbling flasks and electricity,and this is where he conducts his skin graft experiments, using local girls. I'm getting bored writing this review.

There's an Igor character running around the place, a couple of girls, one of which is searching for her missing sister, and some guy. Other things happen that you've seen a million times before but Garrone throws in a lesbian sequence, treachery, and Kinski talking to a toy doll but also pads things out with the girl going to the police over and over again, and the medical procedures taking forever. Does it matter if the film bored me? Would that deter others from watching it anyway? Some people love this film and think it's some sort of classic. Maybe instead of an opinion, a brief description of the film and where to find it would suffice. Or is it better to hear the opinion of someone whose watched hundreds of these rather than, say, Mark Kermode?

I don't know. There's another film called Lover of the Monster which was made using the same sets and the same actors. I'm going to watch that one, even though this one bored me, so I'm ignoring my own opinion too.

Klaus Kinski plays an evil scientist named Nijinski who wants to restore beauty of his disfigured wife.With the help of his hunchback he kidnaps young women to steal their faces."Evil Face" by Sergio Garrone is a dull Italian horror film with a bit of gore and lesbian sleaze.The characters are often wandering around doing nothing.There are some huge lapses in logic and several characters are extremely dumb.The cinematography is lazy and uninspired too.Fortunately "Evil Face" never reaches the dullness of Garrone's annoying Nazisploitation flick "SS Experiment Camp".It's always great to see Klaus Kinski in the role of villain.I have seen much worse Italian horror films,so I can recommend this one for fans of Italian horror.6 face transplants out of 10.

Titled on my box as, The Hand That Feeds Death, but a more accurate translation, I believe is, The Hand That Feeds The Dead. Either way, of course nothing to do with the film in hand. Another confusing aspect to this title is the fact that director Sergio Garrone managed to complete another film the same year, called Lover Of The Monster, that had almost the same cast, same locations and more or less the same story. using much of the same footage. Add to that the fact this was made by the Italians with the Turkish, it is no wonder it seems a little off kilter. More than that it seems to switch from one location to another, day to night and almost story to story in the blink of an eye. On the positive side we do have Kinski (brilliant at the very end with lipstick bloodied lips) lots of gore (transplants) and a fair amount of flesh (young and female) and although it seemed ridiculous from the outset, I enjoyed it. It is bright, colourful and cheery with a really impressive laboratory with blood being pumped hither and thither. Silly yes, boring no.

You don't hear much about them anymore, but from the 50's, to fairly recent times, Facial Transplant horror films were a thriving sub-genre.

Beginning with "La Yeux Sans Visage" (eyes without a face/Horror Chamber Of Dr. Faustus) by Georges Franju, these continued onward with "Awful Dr, Orloff" by Jess Franco (who has made quite a few, including one of the most recent, "Faceless"), "Double Face" by Riccardo Freda, "The Devil's Commandment", and "The Hand That Feeds The Dead". "THTFTD" was unknown to me at first viewing, but this is one of the great facial transplant movies. Klaus Kinski is in fine form as our "mad scientist", attempting to correct a past mistake. The laboratory he uses is also one of the best ever, just eye-popping. Very obscure in America, but available subtitled from the usual sources. This is one of the greats, and almost nobody even knows about it.

--Judexdot1--

The Hand That Feeds the Dead apparently is often confused with a film called Lover of the Monster. That's not at all surprising; they're both directed by Sergio Garrone, feature basically the same cast (both headed by Klaus Kinski), both were released in 1974, they both feature similar plots and even some of the same footage. Unfortunately, they're also both rubbish. After seeing Lover of the Monster recently, I had it in my head that at least it couldn't be worse than The Hand That Feeds the Dead - but I was wrong, as despite a very nice title; this film is utter dross. The film takes place in the nineteenth century and focuses on a doctor by the name of Prof Nijinski. He stumbles upon an old laboratory in his basement and begins experimenting with life and death (yadda, yadda). Of course, the experiments go wrong and end up messing with the doctors head.

I have to admit that the version I saw was sourced from a Turkish VHS and was cut down to about seventy eight minutes. I don't know exactly what was cut out, but I'm guessing it was all the good bits because we haven't been left with much. I'm sure that some of the gore was cut out because I didn't see much of it; there were a few skin graft scenes but overall the film is very lacking on that front. The period setting and obvious low budget gives the film something of a gritty feel that works fairly well with the plot but is nowhere near enough to save the production on the whole. Klaus Kinski is undoubtedly one of the major stars of cult cinema, but even his presence is not enough to lift this production; frankly he looked about as bored as I was. The pace is very slow and the editing is inept, which makes the film even harder to watch. I really didn't care what happened at the end and the climax was not interesting anyway. This film has vanished into obscurity since its release and I'm not at all surprised about that. The Hand That Feeds the Dead is nowhere as interesting as it sounds and is not recommended!

I watched Turkey version of this movie from a very old VHS cassette that was discovered, after the death of either Turkish co-producer or co-director, by a garbage collector in a pile of tapes and documents in front of his house. A second-hand bookseller pointed them to me.

The film was re-edited by co-director Yilmaz Duru and just 78 minutes. It seems that those other 9 minutes was very gory for the eyes of Turkish co-producer Tugra Film and they decided to chop that footage. There were neither "yanking the guts out of a dead puppy" by Kinski nor his "spending a lot of time running wild through the woods". He was more of a decent but passionate guy, anyway he was spooky.

There were some inconsistencies during the film, or better some long jumps in the narration. After the professor's henchman buries Daniel out somewhere in the garden, then all of a sudden in the next scene we see Daniel trying to free from sarcophagus in the cellar. And the film finishes right after Daniel runs out the manor through the woods and collapses crying on the grasses.

The film is also one of the attempts by the Turkish actor Ayhan Isik, who died relatively early and was very famous and loved in his home country, to expand abroad through European co-productions. Henchman Erol Tas was also among the popular Turkish supporting actors of his time, frequently portraying the villain.

"The Hand that Feeds the Dead" is blessed with an enticing title and the presence of cult icon Klaus Kinski, but it's basically nothing more than a cheap, uninspired and exploitative rehash of the French horror milestone "Eyes without a Face". That doesn't necessarily have to be a negative thing, because many decent and entertaining horror flicks are derivative of that same classic – for example Jess Franco's "The Awful Dr. Orloff" or the British sleeper "Circus of Horrors – but this is a prototypical example of a rip-off that doesn't contribute anything to the genre whatsoever. Kinski stars as Dr. Nijinski, former acolyte of the brilliant Professor/Baron Ivan Rassimov who allegedly stood on the verge of a tremendous surgical breakthrough before he got killed in an all-devastating fire. The same fire also heavily mutilated the beautiful face of Rassimov's daughter (who also happens to be Nijinski's lover) and that's why Nijinski now attempts to finalize Rassimov's experiments. The work requires for Nijinski to lure unsuspecting girls to the castle and for his hunchbacked slave to kidnap innocent victims from the nearby village. "The Hands that Feeds the Dead", like many of its supportive characters, appears to be in a constant comatose condition. The period decors and filming locations are definitely adequate, but the pacing is dreadfully slow and the events are painfully dull and predictable. Half of the film is sheer padding footage, varying from pointless lesbian sex to endlessly overlong footage of bubbly potions and flashy machinery inside a pathetic wannabe laboratory where supposedly the skin and facial transplants take place. Oddly enough, the actual transplants are simultaneously gross and boring. The make-up effects are repulsive, but the extreme close-ups of the skinless faces seem to last eternally. Klaus Kinski obviously also wasn't the least bit interested in this film, and gives away the most indifferent performance imaginable. Those incredibly overlong transplantation sequences, for instance, plainly don't even star him. With his ego and reputation, Kinski probably refused to waste his precious time shooting retarded footage like that, and thus all we ever see are the surgeon's hands and uniform.

Note: although not an actual character in the film, I assume that the chose to use the name Ivan Rassimov must be some sort of inside joke of the director, as Ivan Rassimov really was a respectable Italian cult/horror actor around that time and starred in, among others, "Jungle Holocaust", "Eaten Alive", "Spasmo", etc..

Klaus Kinski delivers a rather subtle performance here as a mad scientist dominated by his disfigured wife Tanja. With the assistance of his ace henchman, a brutish, limping dolt named Vanya (Erol Tas), he must procure victims to function as donor bodies in order to restore Tanja's beauty. A young woman named Katja (the appealing Marzia Damon) is certain that this couple murdered her sister, and intends to find out for sure. Meanwhile, a travelling couple named Alex (Ayhan Isik) and Masha (the gorgeous Katia Christine) must take advantage of Kinski's hospitality when their coach has an accident on a trail.

The set-up and the story (by director Sergio Garrone) are largely routine, in this umpteenth variation on the old "Eyes Without a Face" tale. But there are still pleasures to be had. The film, a period piece, looks pretty good (Kinski's lab is a standout), and there's a steady parade of attractive ladies (also including Carmen Silva as Sonia) to maintain viewer interest. Also, people who like their period pieces / mad scientist yarns to be on the trashy side will be satisfied, as there is a notable amount of both sex and gore. Squeamish people will want to avoid this for the repeated shots of surgical procedures, but voyeurs will love the ample nudity and the lovemaking scene that takes place around the 50 minute mark.

The performances are actually all pretty decent. It's nice to see a more restrained performance from Kinski that even contains some pathos at the end. Christine is fun to watch, especially towards the end. Isik is amiable, and Tas is amusing as the almost mute thug who is regularly tortured aurally by a device that Tanja employs.

Although obviously not very well known, this is now available on DVD and Blu, so interested viewers can check it out for themselves.

Seven out of 10.

(1974) Evil Face/ La mano che nutre la morte/ The Hand That Feeds The Dead (In Italian with English subtitles) HORROR

Written and co-directed by Sergio Garrone that has married couple of Alex (Ayhan Isik) and Masha (Katia Christine) going on a honeymoon. Until their horse carriage flipped over, killing only the driver. They are then taken in and taken care of by the baron and doctor, Prof. Sergej Nijinski (Klaus Kinski). Living with them also includes a prostitute/ hostess, Katya (Marzia Damon) and an aspired novelist, Katiuscia (Carmen Silva) who is in search for her sister, she suspects that the doctor has something to do with it. And the doctor's wife, Tanja Nijinski whose face has been disfigured as a result of the fire that killed her father.

I recently viewed the Italian film 🇮🇹 The Hand that Feeds the Dead (1974) on Tubi. The plot revolves around the daughter of a renowned professor, left disfigured by an experiment gone awry, resulting in her father's demise. The professor's dedicated student, who later marries the daughter, embarks on an unwavering quest to find a cure for her disfigurement.

Directed by Sergio Garrone (Django the Bastard) and featuring Klaus Kinski (Nosferatu the Vampyre, 1979), Katia Christine (Spirits of the Dead), Marzia Damon (Sex of the Witch) and Carmen Silva (The House of Exorcism).

This film is skillfully executed, albeit somewhat predictable, offering an enjoyable viewing experience. The meticulously crafted sets, especially in the laboratory scenes, enhance the film's overall quality. The surgery sequences are both intense and visually graphic, even if the blood appears more like red paint. The makeup effectively captures the authenticity of the disfigurements. True to classic Italian cinema, there's a generous dose of nudity, including girl-on-girl scenes. The storytelling skillfully conveys a sense of desperation, culminating in a fitting ending.

In conclusion, The Hand that Feeds the Dead is an entertaining movie reminiscent of Vincent Price's works from the same era. I would rate this a 7.5/10 and highly recommend it.

This is another collaboration between crazed German actor Klaus Kinski, hack Italian director Sergio Garrone, and beautiful Dutch actress Katia Christine, and it is a marginal improvement over their other collaboration "Amanti di Mostro". The story is superficially similar to the other film. Once again, Kinski is a mad scientist married to Katia Christine, and once again he is carrying on the work of his late father-in-law (named "Ivan Rassimov" in this movie, which is perhaps an inside joke since Ivan Rassimov was a familiar character actor in Italian exploitation films during this era). But instead of Kinski turning himself into Mr. Hyde and attacking all the half-naked,local women, this movie has an "Eyes without a Face"-type plot where Kinski uses his Igor-like assistant to kidnap all the half-naked, local women in order to transplant their flesh onto his disfigured wife.

Sergio Garrone (to borrow a line from "Shock Cinema's" Steve Puchalski) probably couldn't successfully direct his own bowel movement, so it's impressive here that the direction at times approaches borderline competence (or maybe that should be credited to his Turkish co-director?). Kinski generally gave two kinds of performances in movies like this--scenery-gnawing or totally phoned-in. He definitely gnawed some serious scenery in "Amanti di Mostro", but here is performance is pretty much phoned-in (he also may have stormed off the set at some point because they seem to use a double for some of his scenes). If you're a fan of Katia Christine's acting, you'll enjoy this more than "Amanti" because she has much more screen time and essentially plays two different roles, one of which is deliciously evil. If you're more a fan of Katia Christine's body, however, you might prefer the other movie because she generally keeps her Victorian garments on here. There is as much nudity and even more gore than in "Amanti", but it all comes toward the end of the movie, by which time you may have already slipped into a boredom-induced coma.

Although the best thing about this might be the literal translation of the Italian title, "The Hand that Feeds Death", this was recently released on Region 1 DVD under the ho-hum title "Evil Face". I wouldn't really recommend this, but god knows I'VE seen worse movies.

If you're a horror hound, you'll enjoy watching the facial transplant sub-genre oeuvre of Georges Franju's "La Yeux Sans Visage" (aka, 1960's Eyes without Face, aka The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus), Jess Franco's "remake" with "The Awful Dr. Orloff" (1962), and his racier-gorier sequel-remake of that, with "Faceless" (1988). Then there's Hiroshi Teschigahara's Asian take on the genre with "Tanin no Kao" (aka, 1966's The Face of Another). Then there's Robert Hartford-Davis's take with the Derek and Donald Ford-penned "Corruption" (1968) starring Peter Cushing. One may also call up John Frankenheimer's "Seconds" (1966) with Rock Hudson, but that's a suspense thriller, not a gory-horror film -- and if you replace Rock with the Cage, and add over-the-top action, you'll get John Woo's "Face/Off" (1997).

Then there's this face ripper by Italian (sometimes Spaghetti Westerns) director Sergio Garrone -- a Turkish co-production alternately titled "Evil Face" -- that can easily be mistaken as the same old slash n' cheeks peel. Oh, but this face-cutting entry has two things going for it: the nudity and gore that's absent from its surgical precursors (well, expect for "Corruption"), and always-worth-the-ticket-price Klaus Kinski as its star. We know the drill with Kinski: Klaus is an all-in-or-nothing actor: for he was Nicolas Cage before Nicolas Cage. And Kinski never met a character with a kink he didn't like. And if not possessed with a psycho-sexual glitch, Klaus Freuds' em up, himself: for even though he referred to most of his horror oeuvre as "horrible movies," he still gave them his all.

Garrone utilized the Roger Corman-ethos of filmmaking with "The Hand that Feeds the Dead": he shot it back-to-back with "Lover of the Monster," his other, similar 1974 Kinski-Christine starrer. And as with the many Corman productions: you'll notice both Garrone-Kinski horrors utilize the same sets and actors, as well as a few scenes that are shot-for-shot identical. Not that it matters, since it's unlikely most people -- as with Corman's celluloid recycles -- seen both films back-to-back during their initial 1974 drive-in days.

THE PLOT

After world-renowned surgeon Baron Ivan Rassimov suffers a horrifying death in a laboratory fire, Tanja, his daughter (the makes-your-heart-weep Dutch beauty Katia Christine, adored for her many French and Italian films from the '60s through the '70s for the likes of Gordon Hessler and Louis Malle), lives in seclusion and wears a veil to conceal her own facial mass of scars.

An ex-student of her father's, Professor Nijinksi (Klaus Kinksi), married Tanja (out of loyalty; but also of kink) and carried on Rassimov's skin-grafting experiments -- with the goal of restoring Tanja's face. However, as with most of these mad-doctors restoring beauty or reanimating the life of a loved one: the flesh, the blood, or some mixture of bodily fluids from beautiful (never the physically unblessed, natch) victims are needed to complete the experiments. To that end: Kinski and his "Igor" venture into the local village to kidnap women and peel off their faces (via graphic, and very impressive, in-camera effects by the great Carlo Rambaldi of "Alien" and "Dune" fame).

WRAPPING IT UP

"The Hand that Feeds the Dead" is easily found as a Blu-ray/DVD released in August 2020 through Charles Band's Full Moon Direct imprint. That cut is now easily streamed on your favorite platforms.

If you peek under "critic reviews," you'll find my impressions of Kinksi's '60s horror films "Double Face" and "Slaughter Hotel" (both 1968), and his later sci-fi'er with Harvey Keitel, "Star Knight" (1985). While at B&S About Movies, search for my Kinski tribute features "Drive-In Friday: Klaus Kinski vs. Werner Herzog" and "Drive-In Friday: Kinski Spaghetti Westerns," for a night of viewing.