The Manitou

In the midst of her desperate search for a cure, Karen Tandy (Susan Strasberg) finds herself at the mercy of fate as she battles a peculiar affliction: a tumor on her neck that refuses to be silenced. Her journey takes her to the hallowed halls of a San Francisco hospital, where Dr. Jack Hughes (Jon Cedar) uncovers a shocking truth - the tumor is, in fact, a growing fetus. As Karen agrees to undergo surgery to remove the anomaly, she turns to old acquaintances for solace, including Harry Erskine (Tony Curtis), a fortune teller with questionable morals. Under his roof, Karen's nocturnal whispers echo through the night, uttering an enigmatic phrase that will soon become a harbinger of doom: "pana witchy salatoo".

As her operation goes awry, leaving the surgeon's hands shaking and his own hand sliced by a scalpel, Karen's world begins to unravel. Meanwhile, one of Harry's clients falls victim to a mysterious seizure, levitating out of a room before crashing down the staircase. Convinced that Karen is under attack from dark forces, Harry seeks the counsel of former psychic Amelia Caruso (Stella Stevens) and her partner MacArthur (Hugh Corcoran). Together, they join forces with Mrs. Karmann (Ann Sothern), Amelia's aunt, who claims to possess knowledge of the ancient arts.

Under the cover of a violent thunderstorm, the group attempts to draw out the malevolent force afflicting Karen through a seance. However, their efforts are foiled by the tempestuous weather and Mrs. Karmann's cryptic declaration that the entity they're dealing with resembles a wooden statue of an Indian. Harry, Amelia, and MacArthur then turn to Dr. Snow (Burgess Meredith), an aging anthropologist who regales them with tales of 400-year-old Indian medicine men wielding otherworldly powers.

As their quest for answers takes them to the doorstep of John Singing Rock (Michael Ansara), a reclusive medicine man, Harry and his companions are met with a mixture of curiosity and hostility. Despite the initial resistance, the medicine man's counsel proves crucial in unraveling the mystery surrounding Karen's affliction, which he attributes to the existence of manitou - spirits that permeate every aspect of their surroundings. However, his services come at a steep price: $100,000 and tobacco, a sum that will test Harry's resolve as he navigates the treacherous world of ancient mysticism and modern desperation.

As Harry and John arrive at the hospital, they take swift action to contain the malevolent force possessing Karen's body. With deliberate care, they draw a circle of fine sand around her bed, a symbolic barrier designed to restrict the spirit's influence and prevent it from wreaking further havoc. Through Karen, the entity reveals its true identity as Misquamacus, an ancient Native American shaman seeking vengeance against the white colonizers who ravaged North America and eradicated its indigenous peoples. With calculated precision, Misquamacus warns John against assisting Harry and Karen, cautioning him to remain neutral in the face of this supernatural conflict.

As John prepares to confront the growing power of Misquamicus, he calls upon the collective strength of other manitou, but his efforts are met with silence. Undeterred, he resolves to stop Misquamicus' malevolent momentum and resist its manipulation. However, the shaman proves to be a formidable foe, effortlessly animating a dead nurse to terrorize others before killing a male nurse and bursting forth from Karen's neck like a vengeful specter.

Misquamicus then unleashes an ancient Indian demon known as the Lizard of the Tree, its very presence erasing the protective sand circle and exacting harm on Dr. Hughes. Harry takes his colleague to the lower levels for medical attention, but upon his return, he finds the entire floor transformed into a frozen landscape, with the receptionist petrified in ice.

As Harry approaches John, who sits solitary and somber amidst the icy silence, he discovers that Misquamicus has inflicted gruesome wounds on his face using surgical instruments. It becomes clear that John's reluctance to aid Harry is rooted in his own vulnerability to the shaman's manipulation.

Their discussion is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Misquamicus amidst a snowstorm conjured by the summoning of another demon, the Star Beast. In the ensuing chaos, Harry seizes an opportunity to strike back, hurling a typewriter at the entity with precision, momentarily weakening its powers and allowing them to escape.

Harry's strategic thinking leads him to propose using the manitou of electrical equipment surrounding them to their advantage. John agrees, albeit reluctantly, and suggests that he will act as a medium for these entities to manifest themselves. As they devise their plan, the room is rocked by a violent earthquake, which John reveals to be a harbinger of the Great Old One's arrival - a powerful demon summoned through the portal opened by Misquamicus.

As Harry's determination ignited, he ordered Dr. Hughes to activate the hospital's machinery in a deliberate attempt to harness the mystical energies coursing through the premises. Meanwhile, he and John embarked on a perilous journey towards the fabled Misquamacus, their path illuminated only by the faint glimmer of hope. Upon arriving at the foreboding location, they stumbled upon Karen, her consciousness trapped within a realm of surreal illusions born from the very fabric of space itself. John's valiant efforts to tap into the machine manitou proved futile, his defeat serving as a bitter pill to swallow. Yet, Harry refused to yield, employing every ounce of cunning and guile to divert the attention of the spectral forces while beseeching Karen to awaken. Her gradual return to consciousness marked the beginning of a profound transformation, as she tapped into the mystical energies coursing through the machine manitou, finally vanquishing Misquamacus and the eldritch force lurking beyond the portal's veil. As the tumult subsided, Harry and Karen were reunited in a moment of poignant reconciliation. With John by their side, they shared a somber farewell, as Harry escorted his ally to a waiting cab bound for the airport, expressing heartfelt gratitude for his unwavering support. John reciprocated with a measured tone, cautioning that their paths might yet intersect once more, for although Misquamacus' physical form had been vanquished, its ethereal essence remained, forever lurking in the shadows, ready to strike again.