It was impossible for me to turn this off and leave it off. I kept going back to see if it could possibly get any worse. It did not disappoint me. Now, I have to admit to everyone right here that I have not seen every movie ever made, so I cannot definitively say that "The Manitou" is the worst movie of all time. I can however, say that it is without question the worst "big budget" type movie that I've ever seen. And yet I had to watch it to it's finish. It was truly mesmerizing in it's badness.<br /><br />A short outline of the plot would make no sense here, and now that I think of it, a long outline would make even less sense so I won't attempt it. There were so many wonderfully absurd lines of script that it was hard to keep track of them. Keeping in mind that this was made in the technologically challenged late 70's, one of my favorite lines was when Tony Curtis' character asks the hospital administrator about how much computer equipment is available that might be used to kill the evil spirit. When he asks, "That stuff has a lot of electricity in it, right??", I burst out laughing for at least the 20th time.<br /><br />As the credits rolled, I wondered exactly how much money did it take for Curtis to sign on to this project. To go from one of the greatest comedic performances of all time in "Some Like it Hot", to, well...this, is difficult to justify. I guess the sunset years of an actor need to be financed too, as is evident by a cast that also contains Susan Strasberg, Ann Southern, and Burgess Meredith. I certainly don't think any of them should feel embarrassed by making a film like this, I just hope they all got paid enough.