And in the end killer is fingered Perry Stewart THE HAND: Starring Michael Caine Written and directed by Oliver Stone Playing at several theaters Running time: 104 minutes Rating: R (language nudity violence) There are times when it seems as though The Hand is a first-rate psychological thriller masquerading as a second-rate fright flick In the end (or actually long before the fadeout) it is the fright flickery which wins out Obscuring a fine performance by Michael Caine and blunting what might have been a leg upcareerwise for under-exposed talents like Andrea Marcovicci and Annie McEnroe is enough graphic gore to warrant lumping The Hand with the Friday the 13th crowd Caine is a cartoonist whose Conan-like strip is sparsely syndicated but earns him a comfy income and a cadre of cult admirers His marriage to Miss Marcovicci a petulant yoga practitioner is begining to unravel New strains are placed on their relationship after he loses his right hand in a car crash which director Oliver Stone depicts with blood-spurting tendon-shredding realism The severed appendage is never found hut Caine dreams he sees the partially decomposed hand crawling out of a roadside pasture anctback to his art studio Later as the pressures of work and marital discord take their toll Caine fantasizes that the hand actually commits acts of violence A wino who pesters Caine is throttled by the hand A seductive coed in his art class is strangled as is Caine's presumed rival for her affections Miss Marcovicci visiting her es'-' tranged spouse and breaking the news that she plans to leave him for her yoga instructor is savagely beaten by the hand Caine pursues the fleeing member and engages it in (Forgive me) hand-to-hand combat Is it all the fantasy of an emotionally disturbed man? That question is cleared up in predictable fashion only to be muddied again in an epilogue featuring Viveca Lindfore as a Strangelove psychiatrist counseling the apparently institutionalized Caine (Why is her character billed as "doe-tress" rather than doctor?) I hate to verbalize this thought but that question-mark ending does leave room for a sequel Miss Marcovicei who played the title role in the short-lived stage musical Nefertiti is effective if unsympathetic as Caine's spouse Newcomer Annie McEnroe as the sweetly amoral art student who seduces Caine digs a little deeper and brings a vulnerable quality to the character And that's filmmaker Stone in a meaty director's cameo as the profane derelict who is the hand's first victim When The Hand is bloody it is very bloody Even so there won't be enough for true aficionados of that genre Similarly there is just enough gore to alienate the class thriller audience Stewart: o o o 0 0 0 0 a : le end N I ingered MS out of a roadside pasture amtback to k his art studio Later as the pressures : ) of work and marital discord take ! their toll Caine fantasizes that the hand actually commits acts of vio- : ‘ A lence 0 0 t 1 A wino who pesters Caine i s throt- I I tied by the hand A seductive coed in : ' his art class is strangled as is Caine's 11111111 S presumed rival for her affections o Miss Marcovieci visiting her es'-' aeli tranged spouse and breaking the : by news that she plans to leave him for ral her yoga instructor is savagely beat- lin- en by the hand Caine pursues the : ViO fleeing member and engages it in 1 (Forgive me) hand-to-hand combat IS it all the fantasy of an emotional- ly disturbed man? That question is cleared s as cld up in predictable fashion on- )sy- ly to be muddied again in an epilogue as a featuring Viveca Lindfore as a Stran- 3 nri 0 tli ul le th et se it rn ot fo di is to th Iii co to Pt ti in St te to 77111t):1 coir il N4 1‘1 A 4 k tx't i 4 ' -I