I have repeatedly come across comments that "Manos" is the worst movie ever. How can you resist and not see it for yourself? Even though I'm very poor with my free time and choosing what to spend it on, I couldn't resist my curiosity. I watched it, it's bad, very bad, but nowhere near the worst. I've seen a couple of thousand movies and some were quite worse than this one.
Basically, the idea and the script aren't that bad at all, the problem is that it was shot totally amateurishly, with an obviously ridiculous budget and equipment, by people who barely knew what they were doing. It's as if someone without any film experience filmed a home movie for the fun of it. It could pass as the first attempt at a feature film by first-year students, but mostly it looks to me like a recording of a theatrical performance of some amateur theater. Seen from the latter perspective, it is not so catastrophically bad. I wouldn't even rule out the possibility that it was done that way on purpose, because at times it has a vibe of a misunderstood art.
All in all, "Manos" is a very bad movie, but it's not bad enough to deserve the cult status of the worst, nor is it bad in the way that some movies turn the game around and fall into the "so bad it's good" category. Any way you look at it, it's a waste of time.
3/10.
Basically, the idea and the script aren't that bad at all, the problem is that it was shot totally amateurishly, with an obviously ridiculous budget and equipment, by people who barely knew what they were doing. It's as if someone without any film experience filmed a home movie for the fun of it. It could pass as the first attempt at a feature film by first-year students, but mostly it looks to me like a recording of a theatrical performance of some amateur theater. Seen from the latter perspective, it is not so catastrophically bad. I wouldn't even rule out the possibility that it was done that way on purpose, because at times it has a vibe of a misunderstood art.
All in all, "Manos" is a very bad movie, but it's not bad enough to deserve the cult status of the worst, nor is it bad in the way that some movies turn the game around and fall into the "so bad it's good" category. Any way you look at it, it's a waste of time.
3/10.