Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

SanteeFats 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.

bregund I read The Manitou in the 1970s when it was first published, and I enjoyed the book, many of the scenes in the book were quite memorable since they stuck in my head all these years. Harry Erskine is a well-defined character, and the plot is engaging and moves pretty quickly. I actually never knew they made a movie until I saw it on Turner Underground on TV last night.First of all, the film is quite faithful to the book, much of the dialogue and the scenes are lifted right from the pages. And you can't go wrong with San Francisco, point the camera in any direction and you have your backdrop. I think Tony Curtis makes a decent Harry Erskine, but the clothes they have him wearing are a little ridiculous, oh well, it was the 70s. Michael Ansara makes a perfect Singing Rock, and unfortunately just about any 70s actress could have played Karen Tandy, since she is largely a host for all the mayhem that follows. Even Burgess Meredith shows up as an anthropologist, lending the film some much-needed plausibility.So what's wrong with the film? Even though the book was entertaining, some things just don't translate to film; the idea of the white man's manitou for example, which is carefully explained in the book, is impossible to portray visually without appearing laughable. And the makeup for the native American witch doctor is awful; we're supposed to be terrified of him, but the director stages the scene with incongruous and implausible behavior by the actors: for example, the witch doctor is standing there, within the circle which he cannot break, and a bored orderly is assigned to "guard" him, while the bloodied body of another orderly lies in the corner covered with a sheet. The doctor threatens to call the police on the witch doctor. The witch doctor sends a superimposed human being in a lizard suit after the hospital doctor. Despite traveling hundreds of miles to see Karen, and fully aware of the witch doctor's imminent "birth", Singing Rock isn't watching over Karen, he's fast asleep while the witch doctor emerges from her back. None of it works.With better acting, directing, screen writing, and effects, this could have been a standout movie; as it is, it's the film equivalent of disco music: fun and flashy but ultimately empty. I think this film is ripe for a remake, if they're not considering it already.

Aaron1375 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.

BA_Harrison When the immortal spirit of Misquamacas, a 400-year old medicine man, selects the neck of Karen Tandy (Susan Strasberg) as the ideal place to be reborn, her ex-boyfriend (and professional mystic) Harry Erskine (Tony Curtis) enlists the help of Indian magic man John Singing Rock (Michael Ansara) to help try and defeat the evil creature.Although Graham Masterton's very creepy supernatural story The Manitou works brilliantly on paper, it doesn't translate quite so well to the big screen, with it's more grotesque and absurd moments appearing laughable rather than horrifying. That said, this film is still hugely enjoyable thanks to its somewhat camp/trashy vibe, bonkers special effects laden ending, and fun performances from a talented cast (that also includes Stella Stevens and Burgess Meredith in supporting roles).Curtis, as the film's unlikely hero, is great, putting in a deliberately theatrical performance that veers from semi-comedic buffoonery to stoic heroism, and he is given solid support from Ansara; however, Strasberg isn't really required to do much other than look scared and scream (oh, and flash her tits during the finalé). Stevens, however, is worthy of note, giving a decent turn as a medium who decides to give up the business after a face-to-face encounter with the evil Indian spirit.The film's special effects range from the very impressive to the quite embarrassing: Tom Burman's deformed shaman make-up is damn creepy and Misquamacas' eventual emergence from Karen's massive tumour is nice and gloopy (also, keep an eye out for a terrific blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment when a frozen nurse gets her head knocked off!!!); in contrast, the optical effects during the film's climax are utter rubbish—cheesy blue-screen stuff, a few trippy kaleidoscopic visuals, and some lousy lightning bolts.It's a damn shame that The Manitou wasn't a huge success, because it might have kick-started a series of Masterton movies in the same way that Carrie did for Stephen King. If you haven't read any Masterton, I highly recommend his novels; The Pariah, in particular, would make a superb film if tackled in the right manner.