ABSTRACT
The popular use of 'Red Right Hand' to shorthandedly signify ideas of evil', violence', horror', murder' and menace' is related to the highly performative, almost pantomime-like quality of the song's delivery. The publicity demands attached to the release of films like Ghosts of the Civil Dead and The Proposition, have also made the often media shy Cave wary of the medium. The reappearance of 'Red Right Hand' across a range of films and television shows demonstrate's its ability to signify a real feeling of danger while also containing this through a heightened sense of its textual performance. Cave learnt much about the business of filmmaking from his piecemeal contribution to Ghosts. of the Civil Dead, most particularly about the demands that would be placed upon him as a star associated with relatively low-scale film production. The Proposition is also one in a long line of Westerns that emphasise environment as much as character and narrative.
