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The Manitou

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The Manitou
1977 theatrical poster
Directed byWilliam Girdler
Screenplay byWilliam Girdler
Jon Cedar
Thomas Pope
Produced byWilliam Girdler
StarringTony Curtis
Michael Ansara
Susan Strasberg
Stella Stevens
Jon Cedar
Ann Sothern
Burgess Meredith
CinematographyMichel Hugo
Edited byBub Asman
Music byLalo Schifrin
Production
company
Distributed byAvco Embassy Pictures
Release date
April 28, 1978
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish

The Manitou is a 1978 American horror film produced and directed by William Girdler. It stars Tony Curtis, Michael Ansara and Susan Strasberg. It was based on the 1976 novel by Graham Masterton, which was inspired by an old legend about the American Indian Manitou spiritual concept. Girdler died in a helicopter accident prior to the movie's release.[2]

Plot

A woman named Karen (Strasberg), who is suffering from a growing tumor on her neck, enters a hospital in San Francisco. After a series of X-rays, the doctors begin to think it is a living creature: a fetus being born inside the tumor. Eerie and grisly occurrences begin; the tumorous growth perceives itself – himself – to be under attack as a result of the X-rays used to ascertain its nature, which are starting to stunt and deform its development. The growth is the old Native American shaman, Misquamacus; he is reincarnating himself through the young woman to exact his revenge on white men who invaded North America and exterminated its native peoples. Karen's boyfriend, psychic fortune-teller Harry Erskine (Curtis) contacts a second Native American shaman, John Singing Rock (Ansara), to help fight the reincarnating medicine man, but the kind of spirits he can summon and control appear to be too weak to match his opponent's abilities.

Cast

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by AVCO Embassy Pictures on April 28, 1978, with "Evil does not die...it waits...to be reborn..." as the tagline.[3]

Reception

Critical reception for The Manitou has been mixed to negative. Variety gave the film a positive review, writing, "This bout between good and Satan includes some scares, camp and better than average credits".[4] Derek Adams from Time Out gave the film a positive review, praising the film's special effects and calling the film "a successful excursion, spoiled only by the director's habit of plopping in postcard views of the Golden Gate Bridge instead of exteriors".[5] Donald Guarisco from Allmovie gave the film a negative review, criticizing the film's script, and weak direction but complimenting the acting, special effects and ending.[6] It currently has a 43% "Rotten" rating on film review website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 4.6 out of 10, based on seven reviews.[7]

Home Media

The film was released on DVD by Momentum Pictures on October 24, 2005. It was re-released by Anchor Bay on March 6, 2007.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Detail view of Movies Page". www.afi.com.
  2. ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077904/trivia?item=tr0698094
  3. ^ Handlen, Zack. "The Manitou (1978)".
  4. ^ "The Manitou". Variety.com. Variety Staff. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  5. ^ Adams, Derek. "The Manitou, directed by William Girdler". TimeOut.com. Derek Adams. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  6. ^ Guarisco, Donald. "The Manitou (1978) - William Girdler". Allmovie.com. Donald Guarisco. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  7. ^ "The Manitou (1978) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  8. ^ "The Manitou (1978) - William Girdler". Allmovie.com. Allmovie. Retrieved 7 March 2016.


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