Mathias Nagy (rocdoc2004) An architect, Paul Carver, loses his family to a car accident in which he was the driver. Questioning his survival, he wanders aimlessly a while trying to deal with the guilt of their death, until the search for distraction has him flying to Morocco. Here he meets an Archaeologist (Otto) and his young assistant (Chantal). Before long strange events begin to conspire against him, forcing him to make a life changing decision, to choose between the "light" and "dark" forever.This is an entertaining and quite different light horror flick, unusual in that the vampire is a beautiful female without the typical "vampire" feature of sucking blood, although she still is the living dead. In my mind Marissa is more of a succubus, attempting to seduce her victims into a life of darkness, culminating in a death that would probably have them being her slave forever. Nonetheless while different, her demise is pure vampire tradition.The movie leaves little time for subtle development as Carver experiences some unusual situations and deep conversations pretty early on. After leaving his hotel to find a party being held by archaeologist Otto Gunther, Carver meets the mysterious Omar, who poses some deep considerations to him before disappearing. Then at a party the beautiful Marissa makes an appearance, but is gone all too soon. Carver is distracted by her to the point of having some very strange experiences, until finally their encounter is all to real. The first half of the movie works well, holding all the mystery as Carver's friends (and perhaps even the audience) wonder how much of his odd experiences are actually real. The lucky Carver gets to have his way with the beautiful Vampire and lives to tell the tale, although the pretty Chantal is keen to convince him that she is the safer choice for love. After a romp at the beach with her he feels better, but seeing the mysterious Omar again, he is distracted back into thinking about the deadly Marissa. Before feeling too conflicted though, Marissa puts Chantal in danger, and not having any of that Carver finally decides to put an end to their impossible relationship once and for all. Omar also gets his comeuppance in quite and entertaining scene. I thought the ending scene was a little odd, although the final line was a good one. All in all this was an entertaining and different light horror film that I enjoyed watching. This is hardly a masterpiece, but if you catch "The Hand of Night" late one night and you can afford to stay up to watch it, grab some snacks and I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

ultracat500 I saw this movie back in the late 70's, when I was in art school. I was home one day sick with a fever or something, and this movie came on. The fever and the weird images made for a one quite "singular" experience!! I recall laughing out loud at the bad acting and the cheesy costumes.But it was 'so bad it was good'!!! Which is why I'm giving it 9 out of 10. Oh hell, I'd give it 10 out of 10!! It's stayed w/ me all these years!! I even have drawings I made from it somewhere in a drawing book. I'll have to rent this again one day but it probably won't live up to my fond memories. :~)) (I keep trying to submit this review but there's a message that says I need 10 lines of text. I've counted this over and over and now it should come out to 12!!?)

Alex da Silva William Sylvester (Carver) blames himself for the death of his wife and children in a car accident and has given up with life. He goes to Morocco to hopefully recuperate but he seems to have gained access to the ethereal world that is ruled by Aliza Gurr (Marisa), a dead princess who has put a curse on men she encounters as she wanders around at night-time.It's not a particularly good film but it does hold an interest because of the different feel to it - it is set in Morocco with spacious vistas to take in and the storyline involves vampires in the desert.The cast are not particularly wonderful. Apart from Sylvester and Gurr, only Terence De Marney (Omar), who plays a vampire henchman, does not attempt an accent. However, this very obviously looking Brit does not convince as an arab. As for the others in the cast, Diane Clare (Chantal) clearly can't act and is the worst offender when it comes to failing with an accent - it's really quite annoying.Still, the film scores for being different - those poor gypsy belly-dancers!

HumanoidOfFlesh William Sylvester plays an architect Paul Carver,whose wife and children died in a tragic car accident.He goes on a business trip to Morocco and meets a stunning dark-haired female vampire named Marisa.The opening scene of "The Hand of Night" is wonderfully atmospheric and weird with the use of skulls and bloodied mechanical bats.The film was shot in Morocco,so the location sets are magnificent.Alizia Gur is particularly memorable as a beautiful vampire,who feeds on hope.Paul is also an interesting character.He is grief driven,defeated and obsessed with death.The score by Joan Shakespeare is quite eerie,but the direction is pretty weak and some scenes are very dull.6 Morrocan vampires out of 10.