[2][3] Scientist Alex Marsh has invented a powerful paralytic-hypnotic nerve gas for the military that he has been testing on sheep in the Mojave Desert.

Although Carol feels the project is both dangerous and immoral, Alex continues his testing, vowing not to stop until he has found a way to eliminate the loss of life in war.

Breaking into the house Alex attempts to speak to a terrified Carol, but can only scrawl a note in shaky handwriting that simply reads "TOM SERUM HELP."

Although Carol pleas for Alex to surrender, the mutated scientist whose mind has become warped lunges towards them and is promptly gunned down in the surf.

Screenplay writer Harry Spalding said that 20th Century Fox initially refused the project but passed it on to Robert L. Lippert's Associated Productions, which had made low budget movies for them in the past.

[6] Raymond said in an interview that "shortly after completing" Hand of Death, she had a serious car crash which severed her nose and resulted in multiple plastic surgeries.

The "Barometer" shows how financially well new releases are performing during their first week, with a score of 100 indicating "normal" gross box office receipts.

BoxOffice magazine, in a review in its issue of March 19, 1962, called it "program filler from the word go" and which will cause the more "discriminating" audience members to "squirm with disgust."

As for acting, though, the anonymous reviewer says that Agar is "appropriately grim-faced" and "Miss Raymond is a proper feminine foil and the supporting actors are good.

"[19] Warren notes that the film "begins reasonably well (...) but when the plot becomes clear, with Agar simply killing a bunch of people before he himself is shot, most audiences lost interest.

"[8] Similarly, Bruce Elder at AllMovie points out that by the time it was released, "this kind of movie was rapidly losing its traditional audience, as earlier examples from the genre (...) began showing up regularly on television.

In an interview, Agar said that his son, age 2 or 3 at the time, "came onto the set with his mother and heard his dad's voice coming out of this monster get-up - it scared him half to death!

"[8] Senn agrees, writing that "Though it's doubtful filmmakers intended to send a racial message, this seemingly insensitive device speaks volumes about the way many whites viewed African American men in the early 1960s.