Le Faiseur d'épouvantes

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 séance, 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.

I saw this when it first came out in the theatres, with my sister---we loved it and were blown away!! I've since owned it on VHS, and now have the wonderful DVD that was just released. Honestly, given the year it was made and such, it's not a bad film at all, and is one I regularly watch!! Sure, it's a preposterous story, and the effects come off a little dated, but I thought the ensemble acting was great---loved seeing Ann Southern, Stella Stevens, Susan Strasburg, Tony Curtis Et Al tackling this unique idea for a horror film. I thought many, many scenes were intense (the séance scene is a highlight!), and loved how William Girdler interpreted the story. I actually rate this very high, and only ding it because of the slightly dated effects. "Hamlet", it ain't , but it's a very enjoyable horror-romp for the evening, perfect popcorn fodder!

How can I begin to describe this amazing film? Random images pop into my head from memory... Tony Curtis as a dashing fortune-teller and huckster, prancing around his San Francisco bachelor pad wearing a sorcerer's outfit... one of his elderly female clients being possessed by an Indian spirit and being tossed down a flight of stairs... (you don't even need the pause button to see that the stunt "double" going down the stairs is a big dude in a dress and wig!!)... Burgess Meredith muddling through one of his last film roles, playing a senile old coot with amazing realism, to no one's surprise... an Indian shaman with a Yiddish-sounding New York City accent and a penchant for stale one-liners... a naked midget dressed up like an evil reincarnated Indian fetus covered with goo... a topless Susan Strassberg hovering in the fourth dimension and firing lightning bolts at the evil spirit using electrical energy from a huge 70's-model computer... YOU MUST SEE THIS FILM!!

Based on the novel by Graham Masterton, "The Manitou" is another of those absolutely wacky movies that one simply has to see to believe. It's bizarre, it's fanciful, it's often very (intentionally?) funny, and it features an amazing ensemble of veteran talent that plays everything with incredible sincerity. It marked the filmmaking swan song for the late, great B movie director William Girdler, who'd given us such classics as "Grizzly" and "Day of the Animals", who died in a helicopter crash while scouting locations for a follow-up flick. Girdler really outdoes himself here what with the level of cheese and sleaze.

An engaging Tony Curtis plays phony psychic Harry Erskine, whose good friend Karen Tandy (Susan Strasberg) is suffering through one hell of a problem: a hump growing (and growing) on her back is not a tumor as doctors initially believe but an honest to God fetus, the reincarnation of a 400 year old, all powerful Indian medicine man named Misquamacus. The doctors, faced with the knowledge that their attempts to operate on Karen have met with disaster, are forced to acknowledge that things out of their field of expertise are going on. So a determined medicine man named John Singing Rock (Michael Ansara) is called in.

In addition to the aforementioned actors, Stella Stevens, Ann Sothern, and Burgess Meredith turn up, and while some film lovers may be dismayed to see so many fine actors slumming away, the truth is these performers play this material for all that it's worth. Also appearing are Paul Mantee, Jeanette Nolan, Girdler regular Charles Kissinger, and Felix Silla. Co-written by Girdler and co-star Jon Cedar (who plays one of the doctors) with Thomas Pope, this production treats us to scenes such as an old lady (Lurene Tuttle) levitating, the appearance of a lizard like demon, the floor of a hospital turning into a walk in freezer, and a priceless, amazing finale featuring a topless Strasberg and lots of irresistible "special" effects.

This is certainly slick looking stuff, with good widescreen cinematography by Michel Hugo, and thunderous music by Lalo Schifrin. Basically, everything *and* the kitchen sink are thrown into this mix for the sake of an entertaining show, and fans of the actors and the genre are sure to be endlessly amused. Movies like this don't come along that often, so we have to appreciate them when they do turn up.

Eight out of 10.

I found The Manitou to be quite an interesting, if not cheesy film. It starts off quite well and the pace moves along nicely as the story draws you in. The first half is dedicated to the story and what happens before the demon is born. The second half deals with what occurs after he is born and climaxes with a cheesy sci-fi ending. The acting is very solid throughout and the characters believable. The highlight of the film is supposedly when the demon is born, as he breaks out of the "fetus" attached to the woman's back. I didn't find it particularly impressive though. I did however enjoy the story about the Indian spirit and how this would be his fourth or fifth incarnation. I've always had a soft spot for mythology and "demon births", probably from watching too many Xena: Warrior Princess episodes.

The film is spoilt mainly by the ultra cheesy ending, that looks like something out of an old Star Trek episode. Up until that point I thought the story worked well as a serious film, but the ending brought it into cheese territory and ruined it for me. It's not that I don't like cheese, but you can't just introduce it in the last 10 minutes of a film and get away with it!