Sometimes I think back on articles and stories I reported on years ago and wonder what became of the movies I was so gung-ho about. This story is deserving of another write-up, a follow-up to my 2011 article Manos: The Hands of Fate Sequel Coming in 2011.
It seems that the sequel, titled Manos: The Search for Valley Lodge, has been one hundred percent scrapped despite all of the key elements being in place and a handful of shots having been filmed in 2010. The sequel to IMDB’s #12 Worst Film of All Time was rumored to star former WWE Superstars Gene Snitsky and Maria Kanellis; as well as three cast-members from 1966’s Manos: The Hands of Fate – Jackey Neyman, Tom Neyman, and Bernie Rosenblum. The plot was kept mostly under wraps, but a website (TorgoLives) was launched which featured a variety of clues. After that, though, nothing was heard until this time last year…when “Debbie,” actress Jackey Neyman put rumors to rest.
In a personal blog entry dated 12/13/2013, Neyman clarified that the upcoming sequel had been cancelled due to disagreements and confrontations between the cast and crew. An excerpt reads: “It started with a self named star, director, writer, and producer who said he wanted to make this epic film. Funny thing is, both my dad and I said yes to this one. This fellow got us to agree to all sorts of things and without any firm promise in return. My dad was to do a cameo as the aged Master and I was to star as current day grown up Debbie. He was quite persuasive at first but, in a short time we began to question why we had become involved. We did some filming in Oregon in May of 2010 and then did some more filming in El Paso Texas in December of the same year. Things went down hill after that with money issues, disagreements and many of the other perils that relationships have. It ended completely with [with that].”
Doing some research for this post, I noticed that Jackey Neyman has a new credit on her IMDB page, credited as the deity Manos that the cult worships in the first film in a new film, a prequel titled Manos: The Rise of Torgo. I know that IMDB isn’t the most reliable source for up-to-date film work, but given Neyman’s devotion to the cult film, it could turn out to be true.
Manos: The Rise of Torgo does have an official Facebook page, though, and it pinpoints Cheeseballs creator David Roy as the movie’s writer and director. Cast members include Neyman, Joe Grisaffi, Danny McCarty, Elizabeth Redpath, Lance Henry, Christina Stroup, Taylor Webb, Amanda Diane, Sarah Wyckoff, Cody Davis, and Matt Rogers taking over the role as Torgo. Two trailers have even been released to YouTube…and they look just as bad as the 1966 critically and socially panned movie. This prequel is sure to find an audience based on the “appeal” of the first movie, but I’m probably going to pass on this unofficial installment in the budding and ever evolving Manos saga.
