by the early 60 and the mexican film industry be begin it slow but constant decline after the golden age end . face economic problem and a strong competition from foreign filmmaker and the mexican industry find itself at it darkest hour through the decade of the 70 and the 80 . sadly and this be the period where director alfredo zacarías begin his work and start a a writer under the guidance of his father and director miguel zacarías and and the legendary golden age director gilberto martínez solares . soon alfredo zacarías start make film on his own and find success direct the comedy of gaspar henaine capulina and however and zacarías have big plan in mind and by the end of the 70 and he direct two ambitious horror film co produce with the u. s. a. and star somewhat famous american actor represent 1978 the bee and this film and demonoid and messenger of death . also know a macabra and la mano del diablo and the film star samantha eggar a jennifer baines and who be visit the mining city of guanajuato in mexico a his husband and mark ( roy jenson ) own an important mine there that seem to be very rich . at the time when jennifer arrive and mark be face the refusal of his worker to go deeply a they believe the mine be haunt . think it all mere superstition and mark and jennifer enter the mine and discover an ancient altar to the devil and which hold the devil hand a a relic . mark take the hand a a trophy of man conquer superstition and but soon he will discover that the devil hand be not make for fool around . the hand begin to possess people transform them in psycho killer and and only jennifer know the truth . while the movie be write by amos powell ( of croman tower of london fame ) and david lee fein ( who later would write cheerleader camp ) and the film be obviously the brainchild of zacarías himself and a he write the source story the script be base on . unlike in the bee and zacarías really attempt this time to create an interesting horror piece and and while he unashamedly lift some idea from oliver stone the hand ( release previously that same year ) and it could be say that he succeed in make a somewhat original tale of horror . sadly and the plot lack the coherency and the sense to put all the element together and the bizarre story never really take off . zacarías direction be technically effective and but his style be outdated and unoriginal and and in the end this make the film look 10 year old than it true age . to zacarías credit and he make really original set piece aid by some good special effect and a somewhat effective musical score while however and the bad cinematography and together with the low budget and the contrive plot and would diminish the power of those scene . while he have prove to be good with comedy and he seem to struggle with the drama and the suspense of his film and a if he have trouble direct his cast . the various action sequence of the film be really good for the budget and although again and with a notoriously anachronistic look in the execution . samantha eggar do her best with what she have to work and manages to carry the film despite the movie obvious problem . her character be really simple and almost typical and but she make it likable and less two dimensional . the experienced stuart whitman be less successful and although overall he pull off an acceptable performance a the priest that help jennifer against the hand . the rest of the cast range from mediocre to downright awful and although one can not tell if it completely the actor fault due to the bad way the script be write . however and to tell the truth and roy jenson do give an effective performance in his short screen time . it true that at first sight and one could blame the movie flaw to it low budget and it bad special effect or to it director and however and i think that the real problem lay on the poor way the script be build . contrive and fast packed and the story never really fulfill it main purpose ( to scar and entertain ) and and never really go somewhere . while the intention of the writer be good and the plot be probably not mean to work in the first place . zacarías have do well film when he have a good script to work with and but in demonoid and the lack of coherency of the plot simply make the film boring and tedious . it kind of sad that zacarías have the chance to make this film when the mexican film industry be at it low point and a the very ambitious idea ( that without a doubt look good on paper ) simply couldn not work well on film . fortunately and he finally would make a movie the way he want in 1989 and with crime of crime and in the meantime and demonoid and messenger of death and end up a another good idea that be just badly execute . 4/10 .