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The Manitou

Directed by William Girdler

PG

1978 1h 44mHorror, Science Fiction

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.

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Cast of The Manitou

Tony CurtisHarry Erskine
Michael AnsaraJohn Singing Rock
Susan StrasbergKaren Tandy
Stella StevensAmelia Crusoe
Jon CedarDr. Jack Hughes / Writer
Ann SothernMrs. Karmann
Burgess MeredithDr. Snow
Paul ManteeDr. McEvoy
Jeanette NolanMrs. Winconis
Lurene TuttleMrs. Herz
Hugh CorcoranMacArthur
Anne Newman Bacal10th-Floor Nurse
Jan HeiningerWolf, an orderly
Michael LarenMichael, an orderly
Cindy StanfordNeighbor
Felix SillaMisquamacus
Charles KissingerAnesthesiologist
William GirdlerDirector / Writer / Producer
Graham MastertonWriter
Thomas PopeWriter

The Manitou Ratings & Reviews

Matthias_812April 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.

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