From 1971 to 1978, William Girder directed a handful of modestly budgeted horror films (and a couple of action pictures). The best known of which is perhaps Grizzly (1976), the JAWS cash-in, but with a bear. But over the years, his work has developed a following, not least a very good website also solidly reviews his films. And there you can find out about the making of such drive-in classics as Abby or Day of the Animals.
While enjoying the few of his films I have seen, I have been wanting to see his final film, The Manitou, for years, based on its reputation (or lack thereof). And now, Anchor Bay has released this notorious film on DVD, and yep- all the rumours I have heard are true. This is truly a mind-numbing movie: a hallucinogenic mess of special effects, bad acting, and a complete lack of sense.
What did the legendary Lee Strasberg think of his daughter Susan, appearing in such films as these? While a fine actress in her own right, one wouldn't know it from the sparse film roles she did get... proof point here. She plays the hapless patient who has a strange growth coming out of her neck... which soon develops into a life-sized body of a demon from Native American folklore! So Michael Ansara shows up as a Native witch doctor (with this great big wig that could've inspired the genetically reformed Klingons) to rid the world of this monster.
This spin on The Exorcist takes the "demons run amuck" theme to a new plateau. Girdler adapted this film from a best-selling novel by Graham Masterson, which I haven't read, so I cannot attest to what liberties were taken here. However, what we get is a big-budget excuse for icky makeup (like when the creature gets old enough to detach itself from Susan Strasberg), and lots of special effects to keep things interesting enough so that people don't notice the plotholes (in this case, this film predated the usual Hollywood mindset by a couple of years). My favourite is when Tony Curtis and Michael Ansara open a hospital door, and the entire universe is inside! Oh, did I mention Tony Curtis yet?
What is a big-budget 1970's horror film without one bad performance by a golden age movie star who's seen better days? On a par with Richard Burton in Exorcist II: The Heretic and Bette Davis in Burnt Offerings... Tony is so mesmerisizingly, stupefying BAD in this... it makes his cornball appearances in that godawful "Hollywood Babylon" TV series look dignified. The Manitou is proof positive of the golden rule that most 1970's big-budget Hollywood horror pictures sucked (with only rare exceptions), all while the genre was being defined in the margins with such pictures as The Hills Have Eyes, Deep Red and -gotta mention this- Blue Sunshine.
What were they thinking? What happened? Did this whole movie go to peyote? But for all of that, this film is actually a very fast-moving experience, in spite of itself. You are so thunderstruck by this movie that you have a hungry fascination to see more, to see what on earth they're going to throw at you next. It may be a bad movie in a conventional sense, but it is a very enjoyable one at that. The very least must be said, that when William Girdler actually had something of a budget to play with, the result was imaginative in some unique way. In that regard, it is much more entertaining than another studio horror of the day like Prophecy, or the Rock Hudson classic, Embryo. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can open the third floor drive-in again and put this on in its proper environment.
Sadly, William Girdler passed away at the age of 30 in a helicopter crash while scouting locations for his next film. He nonetheless left behind a filmography much larger than any other directors of his age at the time. Naturally, the big "what if" question emerges, pondering how his career would have continued, but this cinematic swansong proves that it at least would have been unique.
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