The Manitou

It’s NOT QUITE OSCARS MONTH at Mondo Mondays, featuring a star-studded cast of Oscar-nominated actors appearing in mad Mondo movies that are definitely not ready for the Academy Awards!

Starring Oscar-nominees Tony Curtis, Burgess Meredith and Ann Sothern!

“Evil does not die … it waits to be reborn.” A confused woman gives birth to a vengeful 400-year-old demon from a tumor growing on her back, and then things REALLY get weird in this infamously wacky all-star ‘70s horror shocker featuring THREE Oscar-nominated actors desperately trying to keep a straight face amidst all the absurdity! What surgeons thought to be a tumor growing on the neck of patient Karen Tandy (Susan Strasberg) is actually a fetus growing at an abnormally accelerated rate. But when Karen reaches out to former lover and phony psychic Harry Erskine (Oscar-nominee Tony Curtis) for help, she discovers that the tumor/fetus contains the living body of a 400-year-old Native American shaman attempting to reincarnate himself through her in order to take revenge for the destruction of his people. As Karen goes “full Exorcist” and gives birth to an angry monster that takes over the hospital, it seems likely that no one will survive the shocking rampage of The Manitou! A totally camped-out combo of body horror and demonic possession hooey, The Manitou also features a strangely star-studded supporting cast including two-time Oscar-nominee Burgess Meredith, Oscar-nominee Ann Southern, Michael Ansara and Stella Stevens.  From the director of Grizzly and Day of the Animals! (Dir. by William Girdler, 1978, USA, 104 mins., Rated PG)