In “The Beast With Five Fingers,” the severed hand of a dead piano player comes back from the grave to… play the piano some more! There’s plenty of melody in those ghostly tunes, even though the hand appears to be a left hand. If that were true, wouldn’t it just be playing the bass notes? Aah, I ‘m overthinking it, again. A dead hand plays the piano and all I can think of is “It’s the wrong hand!” Hey, is that a class ring on its finger?
I shouldn’t be so quick to point fingers. The music the hand plays turns out to be Bach’s Violin Partita in D minor – but it’s Brahms’ transcription for the left hand! Those movie makers think of everything.
The hand actually came back to do more than play a few scales. It’s a dangerous hand, a killer hand – even more killer than aces and eights, known as the “dead man’s hand.” That’s the hand Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota – but I fear I’m losing my grip on the article.
When you get your hands on this film, you might want to hold hands – if only to make sure your left hand knows what the right hand is doing. Then put your hands together for the filmmaker, Robert Florey. No need to give him a hand, he’s already got an extra. Now, hand me a bottle of wine.
What better wine to pair with the five-fingered beast than Owen Roe’s Sinister Hand Grenache? I could hand you a lot of digits – 70% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 3% Mourvedre, 2% Counoise – but let’s just say the label pictures a severed hand. There’s a gruesome story that goes with it, too, if you click their link.
Handing out some more wines:
Two Hands Wines – You’ll need both hands to handle this Australian negociant’s whopper Shiraz.
Six Hands Winery – The fingerprints of the Sacramento River Delta are all over these wines.
14 Hands – A Washington winery named for the height of the wild horses which once populated eastern Washington. 14 hands is not very tall in horse jargon, but it’s a lot of hands by anyone’s count.
Sleight of Hand Cellars – You’ve gotta hand it to Washington – another hand-related winery. Don’t try and palm a bottle on your way out of the tasting room for a five-finger discount.
Purple Hands Wines – This Oregon producer shows what happens when hand meets grape.
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