Product Details

• Actors: Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens, Jon Cedar
• Directors: William Girdler
• Writers: Jon Cedar, William Girdler, Graham Masterton, Thomas Pope
• Producers: Gilles de Turenne, Herman Weist, John R. Woodward
• Format: NTSC
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 28, 1994
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008EYCL
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #111,585 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Lurid, ludicrous, and laughable (and those are the good parts), The Manitou is one of those movies that asks more questions that it answers. For instance, were respectable actors like Tony Curtis and Burgess Meredith so in need of a payday that they agreed to take part in this nonsense? Does the film fall into the so-bad-it's-good category, or is this horror story just plain horrid? Viewers will draw their own conclusions, assuming they can get through this 1978 tale about a centuries-old, evil Indian medicine man who returns to wreak all sorts of vengeful havoc on an unsuspecting populace. The setting is San Francisco (a place you'd think would be more tolerant of such alternative lifestyles), where Karen Tandy (Susan Strasberg) seems to have been chosen at random as the host for the manitou's latest regeneration. When she goes to the hospital complaining about a tumor growing on her back (it starts out grapefruit-sized but enlarges at an alarming rate), doctors determine that the thing is in fact a living fetus. But their decision to bombard it with x-rays may not be the wisest course of treatment. When they then fail to cut it out (manitous apparently don't like scalpels), bogus psychic Harry Erskine (Curtis), Karen's love interest and a fellow who spends most of his time duping gullible old ladies, starts investigating alternative methods of extermination, seeking out a fortune teller (Stella Stevens) for a séance that goes very, very wrong, consulting a doddering old professor (Meredith, camping it up), and finally bringing in a contemporary medicine man (Michael Ansara) to try to keep the malevolent Misquamacus at bay. There are a few scary moments and a couple of nice set pieces, but horror fans will find The Manitou extremely tame by new millennium standards; and the climactic battle between good and evil is so silly as to beggar description. "If only we had some authority!" worries the Curtis character when he realizes what they're up against. A good script and better acting, direction, effects work, and all the other elements of a decent movie would have helped, too. --Sam Graham

Stills from Manitou (click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pana Witchi Salatu!, November 30, 2002

By	Christian Hokenson (Burbank, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Manitou, The [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Normally I wait for three risings of the sun before writing a review like this...

I was about eight years old when I saw this... My mom had no problem taking me to horror films since she loved 'em too... We saw this one on a double-bill with "The Swarm."

"The Manitou" should be released on DVD, no doubt about it, but then most of William Girdler's films should be, if nothing more than for the funtime feeling of pure camp they give off. Sometimes nothing beats a good bad film, and "The Manitou" succeeds on almost every level! San Francisco new age liberalism is parodied here (well, maybe on consciously) as is disco culture, and the cast features wonderfully rich acting by Tony Curtis and Susan Strasberg (all Method here). The rest of the cast Stella Stevens and Burgess Meredith all ham it up spectacularly, and Michael Ansara gives the film a wonderful turn as John Singing Rock, who normally waits three risings of the sun before taking on ANY job. The effects are pretty cool for what is considered a B-movie, and the demon spirit, Misquamacus (who's Manitou-spirit is growing like a fetus on Strasberg's neck) is amazingly revolting. Just when you think the movie cannot go far enough in dazzling set pieces (the old lady who floats to the staircase while chanting "mana witchi salatu," the ebony Indian (not Native American in 1978) head rising from the seance table, the growing tumor, the ice storm in the hospital (complete with a fridgid beheading) the movie ends with a psychic war (with cheesy laser beams ripping from fingertips) between good and evil in the nude!

Classic cinema, not to be passed up! Makes a great rainy Saturday movie, and someone (Anchor Bay, or hey! Even Criterion (ha ha)) really oughta release it on DVD with plenty of extras.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beads and Rattles In San Francisco, April 24, 2002

By	Bruce Rux (Aurora, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manitou, The [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Everyone criticizes this movie to its face, but they secretly like it on the late-late show in the privacy of their homes. It's a "guilty pleasure" piece, awaiting rediscovery in a less judgmental and more fun-loving age.

Susan Strasberg has a tumor growing on her neck, that turns out to be a fetus. The doctors can't remove it, and it's killing her. Her old faux fortuneteller boyfriend Tony Curtis finds bizarre supernatural phenomena occurring around him, and does some homework with a few of his old occult friends, discovering that the fetus is the reincarnation of a powerful Indian medicine man named Misquamacus, who is out for some old-fashioned magic revenge against the White Man. How to get rid of Misquamacus, before Strasberg dies giving him new life? Why, fight fire with fire, of course - get another medicine man.

The only thing killing this movie is some really bad special effects work - though some of the effects are actually quite good - and uneven direction and script. It has an all-star cast of surprising names, though Curtis and hired medicine man Michael Ansara really steal the show.

The movie's greatest strength is the dialogue and the characters. The faithfully adapted script comes from Graham Masterton's generally better-accepted novel, and Masterton has an absolute gift for making the absurd credible.

No, this movie is hardly anyone's idea of a masterpiece, but it's a great late Friday night popcorn watcher. Give it a chance. Enjoy it in the spirit in which it was made, and you'll have a good time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trash...But Really Great Trash., April 2, 2007

By	Chip Kaufmann (Asheville, N.C. United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Manitou (DVD)

The post-EXORCIST 70s produced a variety of quirky, old-fashioned horror films with big name stars whose careers were winding down but who were happy to still be working and who added a touch of class to the proceedings. PSYCHIC KILLER with Jim Hutton, TOURIST TRAP with Chuck Connors and SHOCK WAVES with John Carradine and Peter Cushing immediately come to mind. And then there's THE MANITOU.

I saw this movie when it first came out in 1978 and thoroughly enjoyed it. There's something for everyone here... black magic, Native American lore, cool 1970s furnishings (check out Tony Curtis' pad -er- apartment), possession, a seance, demonic birth and a STAR TREK like finish. It's like a summing up of the themes of 1970s horror films with a few well placed shocks and one truly memorable sequence. Curtis takes the Bob Hope approach (complete with quips) to his role as a fake mystic who is suddenly confronted with the real thing. Susan Strasberg makes a suitably vulnerable heroine and Syrian born Michael Ansara is quite believable as an Indian medicine man (no Native Americans in 1978) brought in to fight the evil. Stella Stevens, Ann Sothern, and Burgess Meredith add fun to the proceedings and director William Girdler (ABBY, GRIZZLY) doesn't give you time to think long enough on how preposterous it all is. Sadly this film was to have been his ticket to the big time and would have been (it was a box office hit) had he not been killed in a helicopter crash while scouting locations for his next film.

Avco Embassy for whom the film was made was sold to Norman Lear in 1982 and this and other Avco Embassy films disappeared into ownership limbo. Thanks to Anchor Bay THE MANITOU and other 70s A/E films like MURDER BY DECREE and WINTER KILLS have made it to DVD in beautiful widescreen transfers. THE MANITOU may be trash but it's really great trash and I'd rather be watching it than any number of present day horror films. Its well crafted approach to its material (no matter how ridiculous) rather than explicit effects from suffering victims makes it a guilty pleasure that I'll be happy to return to.