(Button generously stolen from Vincent's Handmade Art. Check it out, it's total win!)
I don't understand how my body works. The last two days I've been fucking just out of it. My body was drained and I just felt like dying all day. My temper was short. All that good shit. Well, last night I stayed up late (god bless you caffeine) and I only get maybe 4 hours of sleep? 5? and here I sit wide awake and extremely alert.
Just goes to show you I guess. Less sleep is better. Especially when you're watching...
Let's recap the synopsis of this movie for a moment (taken guiltlessly from IMDb):
"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."HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
That is easily the greatest synopsis for a movie ever.
Going into this movie I expected the insane. That is really the only direction this movie can go. And after watching it...as insane as it was...it played it completely cool. For a story that is completely crazy this movie tells is straight faced. I will admit that I'm gullible. If someone tells me a story with a straight face, I'll believe it. My mind is open, anything's possible. This is one of those movies that does that....except there's no punchline.
The more I think about it, the more I feel it relates to Hellraiser. Perhaps Clive Barker loves this movie and was heavily influenced by it? I don't know. Just watching that Native American being "born" out of the back of that woman just felt Hellraiserish. Even Hellraiser's story is incredibly imaginative and The Manitou is just that...imaginative.
I think my favorite scene is when Tony Curtis (oh yeah, he's the star by the way) goes out to seek the help of a real medicine man. The Indian is really hesitant and tells him no. Then out of nowhere he tells him his fee and that he wants the money to go to the Indian educational fund. Then Tony Curtis asks him what's in it for him and the Indian replies, "I'll do it for Tobacco. I'm running a little low." HAHAHAHA!!! Yes! That rules.
I should also point out something about the DVD. I bought the DVD a few weeks ago and as I'm watching it I have to say that I'm really happy with the picture. For a movie from 1978, they did a hell of a job cleaning this thing up. (granted, I am watching it on an old tube TV too but still) I watched John Carpenter's Halloween last night and the picture on that movie, although pretty decent, still wasn't near as good as The Manitou. Halloween still had that grain, those little dark flashes that pop up while watching a movie in the theatre, but The Manitou looks fantastic. And I appreciate the Widescreen. This movie needs it. It's that epic.
Before I end this post, all I have left to say is the last 15 minutes of this movie will blow your mind. The action. The dialogue. The solution to their problem. The use of the word Manitou. Holy fuck. This movie is amazing.
HOOOBOY! Look at that Kill Counter! 475!! I'm just a couple Friday the 13th's away from my personal goal of 500! I might have to up that to 750 by month end. This is crazy!
ReplyDeleteThey're not horror, but if you watch any random spaghetti western (say, Django), the kill-counter will LITERALLY shoot up a hundred strong! Django, a single, 90-minute western has a body count past 140!
ReplyDeletehaha good point. I'm actually being pretty liberal with my kills. They aren't very accurate. I only count kills that I see (and if it's very very strong that they are most likely killed off screen) although, I try to leave the off screen deaths alone. I don't count people that've been dead already. I don't count any monster deaths (zombies/vamps). AND I don't always pay attention so I know I miss quite a few.
ReplyDeleteBut still...I figured most horror movies average about 6 or 7 kills. At that rate with all the movies I had guessed I would be watching this month, I figured I'd be close to 500.
I was wrong. And that's ok, because that's a lot of dead bodies.
The Manitou sounds terrific. I'd never heard of it before but when I was reading your tweets, I was VERY jealous.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout-out! I've always been curious about The Manitou, glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteVincent and Stacia - Manitou is awesome. It was on Instant for awhile so keep your eyes peeled, it could come back at any time.
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