Demonoid (1981) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The demonic hand transfers by physically latching onto a new person's left hand. When Mark opened the casket, the severed hand clamped onto his left hand and possessed him immediately. Later, when Mark's corpse attacked Sergeant Matson, the hand slammed through a door to sever Matson's own left hand and then gripped him, transferring possession. The hand can only possess a new host through direct physical contact with the left hand.

Foreshadowing: The cult's original rites involved severing victims' left hands as offerings, establishing the left hand as the vessel for the demonic force.

• possession transfer
• left hand
• demon hand
• host transfer
• cursed hand

The demonic hand granted Mark supernatural luck at the gaming tables as a lure to deepen the possession. When Mark won a fortune, he became more invested in the hand's power, which strengthened its hold over him. This was part of the hand's strategy to keep its host compliant while the possession grew stronger.

• casino winning
• luck
• demonic deal
• possession benefits
• mark baines

When Mark tried to sever his possessed left hand with a knife, the hand resisted and manifested supernatural power by burning him alive. The hand's demonic nature allowed it to protect itself through supernatural means rather than simply being cut off. This fiery death was the hand's defense mechanism against being separated from its host.

• mark death
• burning
• cursed hand
• severed hand
• self-mutilation

After the hand possessed Matson, it forced him to drive to a plastic surgery office where he held Dr. Julian Rivkin at gunpoint to cut off the hand. However, once free from Matson's body, the hand shot a nurse and then ripped Matson's own face apart, killing him. The hand immediately transferred to Dr. Rivkin as its new host.

• leo matson
• sergeant
• possession
• plastic surgeon
• demon hand

Jennifer was the original owner's wife who took the hand from the mine, making her directly connected to the curse. The hand seemed fixated on possessing her throughout the film, cornering her at her motel and later finding her at home even after being destroyed. Its relentless pursuit of Jennifer suggests she was either destined to be its ultimate host or the curse demanded revenge against her for disturbing the relic.

Foreshadowing: The hand's obsession with Jennifer began the moment they discovered it in the casket.

• jennifer baines
• target
• possession
• curse
• haunting

Three hundred years ago, a satanic cult in a Guanajuato mine built a hidden temple where they performed brutal rites involving severing victims' left hands as offerings to the Devil. These severed hands became cursed relics imbued with demonic power. The hand Mark and Jennifer found was one of these offerings, still carrying the malevolent spirit of the ancient cult's sacrifices.

• satanic cult
• mexico
• guanajuato
• temple
• left hand sacrifice
• origin

Father Cunningham's strong religious faith and will power allowed him to briefly resist the hand's control when it possessed him inside the church. Even though the hand turned him against Jennifer with a knife, Cunningham was able to fight back and stab his own hand to break the possession. His religious conviction gave him the strength to reclaim control, unlike the other hosts who were unable to resist.

• father cunningham
• priest
• resist possession
• faith
• religious will
• church

The demonic hand proved nearly indestructible. After Cunningham and Jennifer burned it with a blowtorch and scattered the ashes in the harbor, the hand somehow reassembled and survived. This indicates the evil spirit within the hand exists beyond physical destruction, able to reconstitute itself even after being cremated and dispersed. This explains why the curse has persisted for 300 years.

• immortal
• resurrect
• burning
• ashes
• harbor
• destroyed hand

After the hand transferred to Dr. Julian Rivkin following Matson's death, it forced him to sever his own left hand on train tracks. The possessed doctor became another vessel in the chain of violence, continuing the spree of possession and murder before the hand moved on to its next target.

• julian rivkin
• doctor
• plastic surgeon
• severed hand
• train tracks

The demonic hand drove its hosts to sever their own left hands in two situations: either when the hand wanted to escape a dying host (like Matson) or when it wanted to find a new host (like Dr. Rivkin cutting himself on train tracks). The hand seems to transfer more easily when it actively separates from a host rather than waiting for the host to die naturally.

• self-mutilation
• sever hand
• host death
• possession escape
• transfer

After the hand was supposedly destroyed and its ashes scattered in the harbor, Jennifer returned home believing the nightmare was over. However, the hand had somehow survived and returned to attack her, killing Jennifer in her own home. This brutal ending confirmed the curse could not be stopped through conventional means.

• jennifer death
• ending
• home attack
• killed
• demon hand return

The satanic cult specifically used left hands because in Christian and occult traditions, the left side is associated with evil or sinister forces. The cult performed their brutal sacrifices as offerings to the Devil, and the left hand represented the hand of darkness. This symbolism made the left hand the perfect vessel for channeling demonic power.

• left hand symbolism
• satanic ritual
• sacrifice
• occult
• dark forces