The Manitou (1978)

A strange growth, which has appeared on the neck of a woman named Karen, confuses tumor experts- as it appears to be a developing fetus.Then, her boyfriend- a skeptical tarot card reading conman, with a scarily accurate record- witnesses her speaking in tongues, while in bed one night, and believes that some sort of black magic is afoot. Especially after one of his clients utters the same words- Pana Wichi Salitou- before throwing herself down a flight of stairs.After a little research, they discover an old native legend which talks about how Shamans can travel through time and be reborn, by releasing their Manitou (Immortal Spirit) and impregnating themselves within a man, woman, or animal, at any point in the future or past.They now believe that a 400-plus year old spirit of a Native American Medicine Man has impregnated himself into their friend...and it is about to reborn...out of her back...So the boyfriend travels to South Dakota in order to solicit the help of a modern day Shaman named John Singing Rock, with hopes he'll be able to send the ancient spirit back from whence it came, and save Karen's Life.He explains to them that he may not have what it takes, because every time a Manitou is reborn, it gains more strength. And if it's powerful enough to impregnate itself into someone, it's likely been reborn 4 or 5 times over...and, thus, quite powerful.However, it's only once he gets there that Singing Rock realize how powerful the Manitou inside Karen really is. And what ensues up until the end is downright bizarre, confusing, hilarious, and pretty implausible...but totally f*cking awesome, at the same time.Midgets coming out of women's backs (like mushrooms popping through their volvas); reptilian demons; frozen nurses; exploding typewriters; and a naked laser battle in space, are all, seemingly, elements of the pre-apocalypse...and lead up to a cameo by Satan himself (also known as the Old One).What an amazing film. Weird. Yet, Amazing. The ending is so wild, it's simply not possible to predict the direction it ends up taking. I love Shaman vs Shaman battles, and was about to get p*ssed off when I suspected everything was about to go the white male saviour route...but couldn't stop laughing at what was to actually follow.Weirdness aside, it's most redeeming quality is that it makes somewhat of an attempt to portray Indigenous Culture in a positive light (i'll let you be the judge, as to whether the ending f*cks all that up, or not haha)...so that's pretty cool too.Whether you like Shaman vs Shaman battles; enjoy a good body-horror; or just like to get your weird on...this is the film for you.Watch it on Columbus Day for added effect.7 out of 10.

The Manitou (1978) * (out of 4) Karen (Susan Strasberg) begins to have what appears to be a tumor grow on her back but it soon becomes clear that it's some sort of fetus. Her friend and psychic Harry Erskine (Tony Curtis) manages to find out that the fetus is actually an Indian medicine man growing so he calls in another medicine man (Michael Ansara) to try and destroy it.THE MANITOU was based on a very popular novel but whatever the book had going for it certainly didn't follow to the screen. Cult director William Girdler was killed before this movie was released so sadly this was the last film he worked on. Rumor has it that his screenplay took three days to complete and that's probably true because there's some pretty silly stuff going on here. For the most part the film appears to be THE EXORCIST with a bit of STAR WARS thrown in for good measure. Does that sound crazy? Well, THE MANITOU is a pretty crazy little movie.The biggest problem I had with the movie is that it simply ran on way too long, took itself way too serious and it just wasn't scary at all. The movie contains non-stop dialogue with Curtis talking to countless people about what's going on. I'm going to guess that this here was meant to make the viewer feel more tension whenever the final battle happened but the director never really builds any suspense or tension. Even worse is that this dialogue scene just move at a snail's pace and the film gets very tiresome. The entire plot is rather stupid and especially towards the end when all sorts of strange things begin to happen. The snow storm in the hospital was just the start of things but once space gets involved you can't help but throw your hands up and roll your eyes. The final battle with the medicine man will bring up memories of THE EXORCIST but this film never comes close to that level of scares.The film, like many of Girdler's pictures, offers up a great cast of characters. Curtis was clearly just picking up a paycheck as he pretty much sleepwalks through the role. Perhaps he too just realized how dumb the plot was and didn't take it too serious. Just take a look at a scene early in the movie where an old woman become possessed in his apartment. The "comic" nature to how Curtis acts makes him look pretty bad even if it was what the director was asking for. Strasberg is good but isn't really given much to do. I also thought Ansara was good in his moments. Stella Stevens and Jon Cedar are also on hand as is Burgess Meredith who also comes across rather comical when he didn't need to be.THE MANITOU is a deadly dull movie that can't even work on a "so bad it's good" level because of how slow it is. There's a lot of campy stuff going on here but sadly it just never adds up to anything entertaining. I will say the movie looks very professional, which is a credit to Girdler's talents but sadly the end result is just a complete mess of a film.

Definitely not the type of movie I expected from Tony Curtis. It is a good one though. This film is based in the occult world of the American Indian medicine man. A white woman is infected, possessed, what have you, by a powerful 400 year old Indian medicine man who just happens to not like the white man very much (can't really blame him huh?). The bad medicine man is reborn from the back of the woman Michael Ansara is hired to stop the reincarnation of this malevolent person. He draws a circle around the bed to contain the spirit reborn and with some chanting the moment. This old guy then summons an ancient Indian god, spirit, I couldn't figure it out. This entity bites the hand of the doctor who tried to perform the original operation on the woman. Taking him for treatment Tony tries to return by the elevator and ends up in a frozen tabloid caused by the bad guy since he has broken the magic circle. So the old medicine man ends up trying to call in the great evil, Satan, Beelzebub, take your pick. Tony comes up with the idea to turn on all the electronics in the hospital and focus the energy on the bad guys. Michael tries to use the manitous from the machines to combat the evil spirit but is unsuccessful because he is Indian and not white. tony steps in and succeeds in destroying the evil medicine man and manages to save the girl as well. Not a bad film all in all.

Karen Tandy (Susan Strasberg) finds a lump growing in the back of her neck. It turns out to be a fetus of a 400 year old medicine man waiting to be reborn! (Seriously!) She gets old boyfriend Harry Erskine (Tony Curtis) to help. He gets John Singing Rock (Michael Ansara) a modern age medicine man to help him battle it.I read the book this was based on in 1978. The book is fun, silly, well-written and gory. The movie is fairly faithful to the book but what works as a story sure as hell doesn't transfer to the screen well! For starters it has a LOUD overbearing music score at the beginning which doesn't fit the movie and almost drowns out all the dialogue! On the other hand that's a good thing because the dialogue here is truly horrible--full of stupid lines that are made all the funnier by the actors saying it straight-faced. On the positive side some of the special effects are actually pretty decent--especially for a 1978 film. At the end things go REALLY out of control with a nude Strasberg floating in outer space zapping at the villain with rays from her hands! (Don't ask). Also the acting is pretty good. Curtis is just OK but Strasberg is good and Stella Stevens, Ann Sothern and Burgess Meredith throw in strong performances in small roles. Basically this is another movie so bad it's good but not bad enough to be REAL good. Still, it has its moments.