Zotz! is a 1947 novel by Walter Karig and a 1962 movie, produced and directed by William Castle, about a man obtaining magical powers from a god of an ancient civilization.
The title was probably inspired by the month Zotz or Sotz of the Haab' Pre-Columbian Maya calendar.
Amongst science fiction fandom, the word refers to a useless, unwanted gift.
Ancient Eastern languages professor Jonathan Jones (Tom Poston) finds a magic amulet. Jones obtains ...
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Zotz! is a 1947 novel by Walter Karig and a 1962 movie, produced and directed by William Castle, about a man obtaining magical powers from a god of an ancient civilization.
The title was probably inspired by the month Zotz or Sotz of the Haab' Pre-Columbian Maya calendar.
Amongst science fiction fandom, the word refers to a useless, unwanted gift.
Ancient Eastern languages professor Jonathan Jones (Tom Poston) finds a magic amulet. Jones obtains powers to cause pain or slow movement, and even kill. He immediately suffers the consequences of his discovery: Jones realizes that when he points at another living creature, it causes a great pain. It is a metaphor of the age of nuclear weapons (the novel was written 2 years after atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
In the movie, Jones tries to warn Department of Defense and get rid of the amulet. But he is taken as a madman. Then the Soviet Union gets interested and the adventures begin.
During the initial theatrical run, theater...
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