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3.8 KiB
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1 line
3.8 KiB
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Awful(and I mean AWFUL)horror flick using Native American folklore and undermining it for unintentional laughs is an embarrassing statement about Tony Curtis' career(this is the same actor who starred in SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS & SOME LIKE IT HOT). He plays a supposed fortune teller named Erskine(mostly working cash from wealthy old widows)whose lady love Karen(Susan Strasberg)has a growing fetus on her back(!). Come to find out the fetus(which is growing at an alarming rate)is actually the spirit of a powerful medicine man, Misquamacas! During a séance thanks in part to orchestrator, mystic Amelia(Stella Stevens, dressed in blackened face paint with gypsy garb)who was Erskine's teacher in the Tarot arts, the spirit of Misquamacas reveals himself which leads them to the home of Dr. Snow(Burgess Meredith, playing this doctor very quirky and evading with a sense of senility)who wrote a book on Native American folklore which mentions spirits invading the body of innocents so that could emerge into reality. Snow tells Erskine their only possible route to saving Susan is fighting fire with fire by calling on a living Native American medicine man. Erskine, after being rejected by other medicine men, gets deep-voiced John Singing Rock(..out of all the names the filmmakers could've come up with actor Michael Ansara is stuck with this one)to lend him a hand. We are informed through Singing Rock that Manitous(those spirits)can manifest themselves in anybody or thing. So even X-Ray machines have manitous(I kid you not). After, Singing Rock calls on the spirits of wind, trees, and just nature in general, his circle of dust surrounding Karen's bed seems destined for crossing since that thing growing in her back emerges from the skin as a Native American midget with a vile visage. Misquamacas calls on various demons to kill hospital personnel, makes the hospital operation room floor into an icy fortress, shakes Dr. Hughes'(Jon Cedar)room with Erskine, Singing Rock and others resembling lottery balls ready for plucking, and turns Karen's room into a place of stars with only her bed & Misquamacas visible. In a major climactic battle, when Misquamacas calls on the main Satanic demon to assist him, Erskine's love will help the computers' manitou spirits(!) within the entire hospital send volts through Karen's fingers(with her naked body exposed)with mankind's possible existence hanging in the balance. Whatever.<br /><br />The absolutely preposterous premise and horrendously awful special effects sequence in the major battle towards the end will surely make this a cult classic. No matter how terrible any film is, it's sure to find an audience willing to accept it into their arms with love. Not me. It's terrible in every conceivable way imaginable. I can not, for the life of me, understand why Curtis and Meredith would step foot in such a things as this. Using Native American folklore can certainly work in the horror genre, but in this flick it's embarrassingly over-the-top. I mean the scene where the midget Misquamacas spirit "exits" Strasberg's back I couldn't help but laugh..it's supposed to be horrifying, but winds up being jaw-droppingly hilarious. The scene where one of Curtis' clients is lifted off the floor, by Misquamacas, and sent down a flight of stairs while spouting Native American gibberish has to be seen to be believed. The effects sequence in Cedar's office where the floors twist is a show-stopping highlight because it is just so eye-openingly farcical. But the ending takes the cake..Strasberg firing bolts from over-powered computers possessed with spirits shooting at a midget Indian with scary eyes and a nasty cackle. The whole flick is played so straight, I just felt pity for all involved. How does a cast "get up" for a film like this? I think all who participated in this should have had electro-shock therapy, because they were certifiably insane. |