The Manitou
The Manitou
5.445%36%
A psychic's girlfriend finds out that a lump on her back is a growing reincarnation of a 400-year-old demonic Native American spirit.
Matthias_812 reviewedApril 3, 2025
The Exorcist on the West Coast. Released five years after the possession classic, The Manitou shares the premise of a bedridden woman possessed by a demon and must be exorcised of evil. But instead of Christian rites, Native American folklore and the possession is by a Native American demon fetus birthed from a tumor on the back of a woman. And I haven’t even mentioned the Star Wars-like cosmic space battle finale yet.
While the setup is slow, patience is rewarded as things escalate to full blown madness. For most of the film, you might wonder where the three million dollar budget went- until the final third, when a dwarf-like demon explodes from the woman’s tumor and the battle between ancient mysticism and modern science duels. The female host and short but buff demon fire lasers and fireballs at each other until one’s defeat.
Tragically, director William Girdler died in a helicopter crash at the age of thirty, just weeks before the movie’s premiere. But his vision lives on, cementing The Manitou as a cinematic oddity.