" idle hands " is distasteful , crass and derivative . 
if an original thought found its way into this horror-comedy it would die of loneliness . 
plus , you have to question the judgment and sensitivity of studio executives who would green light the release of a movie dealing with the slaughter of innocent teen-agers the week after the tragedy in littleton , colo . 
the movie is insulting to horror film fans and teen-agers . 
the plot , what little there is , deals with anton ( devon sawa ) , a high-school slacker who's hand goes on a murderous rampage after becoming possessed . 
along the way the hand kills anton's parents and his two best friends . 
the friends , also slackers , are so lazy that they return from the dead because the walk into the light was too far for them . 
that is the level of this's atrocity's humor . 
the movie treats death as a joke . 
 " idle hands " is gruesome and morbid . 
the performances are stereotypical and cartoonish . 
i realize this is supposed to pass for comedy , but recent events have surpassed what is on the screen . 
it is not the fault of the filmmakers that real life has overtaken reel life . 
and i can only presume that the writers of " idle hands , " terri hughes and ron milbauer , were trying to make some statement about today's young people and their values in a satiric vein . 
however , it's hard to laugh at death these days , especially ones involving young people . 
with the real horrors of the world put before us on television , a stale pastry such as " idle hands " should be held from release for a few weeks or months to give us time to catch our collective breaths . 
 " idle hands " is bad , no matter the circumstances in the world outside . 
but the context of recent events only heightens its shortcomings . 
the time is not right for this type of movie . 
and as far as " idle hands " goes , the time may never be right . 
this is a movie that shoud be consigned to the trash bin of cinema .