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.

William Girdler is an odd case of a competent filmmaker who even showed a stylish visual sense from time to time. Yet most of his films are terrible. This isn't a case of a spectacularly untalented filmmaker accidentally making outsider art, like Andy Milligan or Ed Wood. Girdler was consistently, quite nearly a good director. Odds are, if he had lived longer, he would have actually developed talent. With "The Manitou" he graduated from the world of low-budget genre rip-offs to the world of slightly higher budget genre rip-offs. "Grizzly" was "Jaws" with a bear. "Abby" was "The Exorcist" with (offensively stereotypical) black people. "The Manitou" is also "The Exorcist" but with Indian mysticism and bits of "Star Wars" thrown in for phone.Based off a novel by hack horror author and sex manual writer Graham Masterton, the movie begins when Susan Strasberg discovers she has a thing in her neck. At first, it appears to be a tumor. As the growth continues to, uh, grow, baffled scientist realizes a fetus is developing inside her neck. Attempts to remove the growth results in disaster. Strasberg's friend Tony Curtis, a phony medium, soon discovers that the tumor is actually the reborn spirit of an ancient, evil Indian shaman. Once the spirit reaches maturity and enters our world, things gets craaaaazy."The Manitou" escalates in ridiculousness as it goes on. This is impressive, considering the movie begins with an Indian shaman being reborn through a tumor on a lady's neck. First off, it cast an aging Tony Curtis as a romantic league, in a relationship with the noticeably younger Susan Strasberg. Wearing a succession of unflattering tight shirts, Curtis cons old ladies with chicanery so hackneyed and obvious only a delusional old lady would believe it. The first sign that "The Manitou" will be rife with unintentional hilarity is when one of Curtis' elderly clients begins to chant in ancient languages and float inches above the floor to her death. The second big laugh comes when Curtis' hippy-dippy friends make the top of the villain's head appear. Just the top. When a surgical laser goes ballistics, the audience is far more likely to laugh then scream. Everything in "The Manitou" is pitched at a hysterical level.About an hour in, "The Manitou" leaps from campy to goofy. A greasy-haired, dark skinned dwarf crawls out of Strasberg's back. The character's attempts to fight him off prove unsuccessful. The reborn shaman summons an evil spirit, which is shown by having an actor in an unconvincing giant lizard costume slither around on the floor. He freezes the entire floor of the hospital, including the present staff. Tony tosses a typewriter at the little person, which melodramatically explodes. (Because everything, even man-made objects, has manitous, you see.) This prompts the Manitou to toss decapitated heads, snow, and wind at the heroes. In its last ten minutes, "The Manitou" completely looses its mind. Curtis and his ethnic Indian friend open a doorway to outer space. Electric energy shoots through the hospital and explodes a doctor while Misquamacus laughs uproariously. A giant eyeball floats behind them, shooting beams of light and asteroids at everyone. The naked Strasberg rises from her bed, shoots lasers out of her hands, and beats the evil back. This is the kind of wacked out, hilarious imagery only seen in seventies B-flicks. God bless 'em.Despite its unforgettable moments, much of "The Manitou" drags. Really, up until the last half-hour, the film is massively boring. Curtis slums about, disinterested. Strasberg spends most of the story bed-ridden. The sleuthing and studying of American Indian spiritualism mostly amounts to people sitting around and talking. Only Burgess Meredith's amusingly kooky cameo enlivens this portion of the film. Even then, Meredith delivers dialogue about the Indian population that is fairly offensive. Also offensive: The film's resident stereotypical medicine man character who is played by Michael Ansara who was, of course, Syrian. Heck, even the evil Misquamacus is played by an Italian, short actor Felix Silla. Honestly, if you fast-forward until the latter section of the film, you wouldn't be missing much.There's very little intentionally good about "The Manitou." Lalo Schifrin's score is decent, incorporating traditional tribal music in with his usual action style. Michel Hugo's cinematography is quite lovely. While the digital effects are laughable, the practical effects actually aren't bad. Though the images Girdler presents on screen are absurd, there's no denying the guy had a flare for the dramatic. You're unlikely to forget "The Manitou," or at least parts of it anyway. Bad movie lovers should check it out, for sure.

I saw this movie thirty years ago and recently it was on again and it's just a bad as I remember. Not only is the premise ridiculous so is the script, direction, and acting. What were Tony and Susan thinking? If you like really bad flicks watch this one he-he! A woman has an Indian spirit thing growing in her back and when it comes out of here in the hospital the lack of shock or horror on the faces of the people watching is truly just bad acting and bad direction. A guard is sitting against and open door trying to sleep while this blood covered Indian midget thing is feet away from him and he casually looks at it and yawns and it's just stupid.

When I watched this on television years ago it simply screamed made for television movie to me. The quality of the film, the incredibly cheesy story that tries in vain to be serious and the stable of actors one expects to see in a made for television movie. However, it was apparently a film that got a film release and that is kind of sad considering how weak the film is as a horror movie. You would expect more blood, more frightening scenes, this one just does not have it at all. It seems almost like a lifetime channel movie of today in its production values and plot. The plot is simple enough to explain, seems a demon like creature called the manitou is growing on Tony Curtis' wife and he must try to stop this evil entity before it is to late. I also recall it being some sort of Indian legend and there may have been an Indian in the movie to help out, but do not quote me on that one. In the end a very light and frothy horror movie that does not contain really all that much to justify that R rating.