Manos: The Hands of Fate is a 1966 American no-budget horror film written, directed and produced by Harold P. Warren, who also starred in the film. The film’s plot revolves primarily around a vacationing family who lose their way on a road trip. After a long drive in the Texas desert, the family find themselves trapped at a lodge maintained by a polygynous pagan cult led by a man known only as The Master, and they attempt to escape as the cult members decide what to do with them.

Warren was an insurance and fertilizer salesman from El Paso, Texas, who produced the film as the result of a bet with screenwriter Stirling Silliphant. He also starred in it, alongside El Paso theatre actors Tom Neyman and John Reynolds. Manos was made by a crew with little or no background or experience in filmmaking and a very limited budget at its disposal. Upon its theatrical debut, the film was poorly received, playing only at the Capri Theater in El Paso and some drive-ins around West Texas and New Mexico.

The film is notable for its technical deficiencies, especially its editing and continuity flaws, poorly-synchronized soundtrack and visuals, tedious pacing, abysmal acting, and several scenes that are seemingly inexplicable or disconnected from the overall plot, such as a nameless couple making out in a car and The Master’s wives inexplicably breaking into catfights.

color, mono, fullscreen, 69 minutes. DVD-R comes packaged as shown in color DVD case, wrapped in plastic!