The Manitou

[Warren H.]

Gee, I wonder if I've had more comments than anyone else.  I wonder why, in this review, you didn't mention the doctor exploding when his computer terminal (or whatever it was) blew up.  That was hilarious!

[Squishy]

Based on a novel by Graham Masterson, who basically rewrote the same damn story over and over with a different cultural background ("Tengu," "Djinn," even "Revenge of the Manitou").
The same doctor Warren H mentions gets his fingers bit off by a superimposed plastic lizard before he gets popped. Poor guy, bad day at work. Directed by William Girdler, who also gave us "Grizzly," "The Devil's Asylum," and "Day of the Animals" before dying in a chopper accident scouting locations for his first big-budget feature. Miss him.

[adam]

I watched this recently.I had not seen it since it played in the theaters.It was pretty cool seeing bare boobs in a PG movie whaen I was just 7 years old.Tony Curtis made it enjoyable

[Normajeane]

Oh my God!  I had totally forgotten about this movie.  After I saw it (originally - God Forbid, every time someone in my family got a zit it was EWWW!  THE MANITOU!  Great family fun!

[chad edwards]

I simply love movies in general so I don't get any great joy out of bashing even the worst film. But this is a bad movie. There's just no getting past that. However, director William Girdler did his best to disguise the film's shortcomings(there are plenty), and you've got to hand it to him because one way or the other he convinced big name stars like Tony Curtis, Burgess Meredith, Stella Stevens, Susan Strasberg, and Ann Sothern to appear in the film. It's difficult to say which one of these remarkably talented performers comes off best, but you've got to hand it to all of them, they each keep a straight face in just about every scene they're in!

[Chadzilla]

Ah William Girdler, I just love his movies to pieces.  The Manitou has always been great fun.  I love the part where Mrs. Kearns falls down the stairs and its blatantly obvious that its a really big dude in a dress, hell it's funnier than the big white guy in a dress stunt double gag in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!  This is one so-bad-it's-great movie that I can never get tired of watching.  Hell there are even some moments in the movie that are actually pretty scary (i.e. the head coming out of the table during the seance).  Ah Bill, why'd you have to go and die, I know you would have gone places in Hollyweird.  I still firmly believe you would have been another Carpenter or Hooper, given the same time and money and chances as those gentlemen.

[Thunderwolf]

I have seen "The Manitou" a number of times since 1986 and found it interesting.

You mentioned in the index of comments the that Graham Masterton wrote a second book entitled "Revenge of the Manitou." Did you know that Masterton Wrote also wrote a third volume based on his origional characters?
This book is called, "Burial: a Novel of the Manitou."

Yes, Misquamacus returns to plague mankind a third time. As uaual our friend Harry comes to the rescue. The book is rather long, but I found it interesting as well.

I will not give away the (cemetary) plot but I feel that The third book does show how vivid Masterton's mind is as he uses an historical reference to The Battle of the little Big Horn that took place, according to the author, on Sunday, June 25, 1876.

I like the stories of Masterton. I give the movie "The Manitou" 4 stars, but what we are dealing with, once again, is Hollywood.

As a spiritual person I would be very careful what I went looking for in a darkened room. There are things that no one should make an attempt to call forth.

[Jeff]

I was lucky enough to find a copy of the Manitou.  I showed it to my 4 sons.  We were wondering whatever happened to Joe Gieb, the reincarnated shaman.  Does anyone know?  Does anyone care?

[steve]

when i first saw the movie i thought it was good and i like the sp. effics in the movie i would like tobuy a copy

[Kim]

This morning I noticed a little bump on my neck and thought, "What is that, a pimple?".  Then I thought, "Oh, it must be an embryonic Manitou".  THEN I tought, "Where the hell did that come from?".  So glad I'm not completely nuts.

Great site! K

[Daniel]

Wow! Memories. I saw this movie actually after reading Revenge of the Manitou. That book scared me; then I read The Manitou and saw the movie. It would have been great to see a movie of Revenge of the Manitou. Good to read that there is a 3rd book; I will look into it.

[Randall Frost]

I was a wee lad of eight when I saw this movie, and it freaked me out! My older brother was fond of making me watch bizarre stuff (i.e. he snuck me into "It's Alive" and was all p**sed when I ran out crying... yes, those scars run deep).

Anyway, my memories of "The Manitou" have squatted in the back of my mind among our things I'm not really sure were real or bad dreams after eating expired Twinkies (including such noteworthies as the Star Wars Holiday Special).

So thanks for posting the review and confirming that that was something I really saw and not the weird workings of my imagination. Poor Burgess...

[Byron]

Hey, how come you didn't put Michael Ansara's name with an exclamation point?  Or even mention him?  He does Klingons, Native American medicine men, and the voice of Mr. Freeze.  This guy is B-movie mastery made flesh.  

Hmm...did he ever do work with Tim Thomerson?  That would be so much fun...

[Ed Christo]

Joe Gieb currently works down at Six Flags,where
he appears in the HANNA BARBERA PARADE as Scrappy
Doo.
THE MANITOU is right up there with CUBE and
WITHOUT WARNING(1980)as one of my ultimate
favorite movies of all-time.

[Ernst Bitterman]

I can't remember which story this was in, but I'm pretty sure that H.P. Lovecraft at one point explained that Miskatonic (the river and the university in steep-gabled, dream-wracked Arkham) was a corruption of the local native name Misquamacus.  So the writer of this item is not only a bit of a hack (see other comments), he lifts material from his betters.  Charitable folk would call it an homage.