User reviews

In the Florida swamps there is an Indian burial ground that is protected by Tartu,a 100 year old dead"witch doctor".He will leave his tomb in the form of an animal of nature to kill defilers of the grounds.(Okay, being part Indian I can tell you that the term "witch doctor"didn't apply to us. Medicine Man thank you).

You just know that some white men are going to defile the grounds with an archeological dig.The point man and a professor, his wife and 4 cannon fodders, I mean students, dismiss an Indian's warning about the curse of Tartu.So they go deep into the swamp to the grounds.There the obnoxious students make out, dance to bad rock and swim in the swamp. Yeah, that is always a smart move.

Ol' Tartu gets mighty upset with the gang and starts to bump them off one by one.The creepiest kills are via snake(yuck). Who will survive the creepy ordeal?

Well besides the aforementioned witch doctor screw up there are other pitfalls with this movie. First, there are really not many sympathetic people in this movie.You actually hope a few of them die violently because they are stupid/whiny etc.Being a goober is a requirement in these movies but this is pushing it.While the snake kills were scary, a freshwater attack by shark is kind of goofy (although gory for its time).The music is irritating and distracting.

On the flip side there are great location shots. The swamp and its denizens are creepy. The wind out of nowhere is pretty creepy too.Tartu as a corpse is great as well.Not a bad movie, just average. Give it a look and give it a 5.

One of my favorite drive-in classics has to be a 1966 gem made in Florida, DEATH CURSE OF TARTU. Something Weird Video, the wonderful distribution company that revived such great LBJ-era thrills as SCREAM OF THE BUTTERFLY and THE CURIOUS DR. HUMPP for videocassette, has continued their grand tradition on DVD. They took the trouble to grab hold of an original 35mm negative and give it the best possible Digital transfer.

DEATH CURSE OF TARTU concerns a group of young, under-equipped archeologists venturing deep into the Florida everglades in search of Tartu's tomb. Tartu is a long dead Indian who protects his tomb by allowing his spirit to take the form of dangerous animals. It's sort of like a cross between THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and ANIMAL PLANET. Whenever Tartu's murderous spirit is nearby, the soundtrack is filled with chanting, yipping Indians. On the same disc is another Sunshine State shocker by the same director, William Grefe - STING OF DEATH

1966's "Death Curse of Tartu" was a staple of late night insomniacs in the pre-cable days of television, along with other no budget wonders such as "They Saved Hitler's Brain," "Women of the Prehistoric Planet," and "Zontar the Thing from Venus." Although the plot dredges up the overworked 'Mummy vowing vengeance against all those who desecrate his tomb' from the Universal WW2 days, other aspects of this feature point toward the 'nature horror' cycle of the 1970s ("Frogs" or "Kingdom of the Spiders") and the 'teenagers in peril' subgenre of horror in the 80's. Yes, the acting is awful, there's little in the way of suspense, and the teens are required to do dumb and stupid things, but you still have to admire Miami-born writer/director William Grefe, already a veteran of four features (including DVD co-feature "Sting of Death"), but may be better remembered for later films such as "Impulse" (William Shatner), "Mako:The Jaws of Death" (Richard Jaeckel), and the ever popular "Stanley" (Chris Robinson). Like the Florida-lensed "Frogs," we are witness to a repetitive series of killings perpetrated by animals, despite the impressive image of Tartu's mummy, which unfortunately is only seen in its sarcophagus. The two bikini-clad lovelies get a real workout gyrating for the ogling cameraman like a 'Beach Party' movie, and one idiot falls prey to a shark while his girlfriend watches without once trying to exit the water! (she gets it too). No doubt the swamp scenes were shot not far from the famous Ivan Tors studios in North Miami (the site of the TV series FLIPPER), which also served as the main location for Chris Robinson's deserted cabin in "Stanley" (the only interiors filmed were of Tartu's tomb). At 84 minutes, my VHS print appears to be missing some footage, as I never saw any spiders, though the web fronting Tartu's tomb gave me hope. No matter how bad this film may be, its frequent showings have earned it a kind of respect that only horror fans can bestow, and those who weren't familiar with it from the late 70s may be immune from its charms. Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater aired it twice, July 2 1977 (preceding 1944's "The Invisible Man's Revenge"), and March 11 1978 (following 1968's "The Hand of Power").

It is boring. I felt un-entertained by this movie. The climactic scenes are a laugh. There is one decent attack scene by a large snake. Some extremely annoying female screaming. People who like junk movies won't even like this (I'm one of them).

You know how some low-budget, so-called "Grade Z" pictures are so bad that they become unintentionally funny, and hence mildly entertaining to watch, by virtue of the makers' sheer ineptitude? Ed Wood famously made some of those, but his glee as he stole and improvised his way to a finished film, captured so wonderfully by Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's semi-biographical movie, made Ed's schlocky movies barely bearable to watch with tongue firmly wedged in one's cheek. All of that is my way of saying this piece of schlock (could've used another word there), set/shot in the Everglades, has no such redeeming quality. The first half of "Death Curse of Tartu" is stultifyingly boring, not even good enough to be a near-silent screen travelogue of the Florida wilderness. The second half, which has some kinda nearly indecipherable plot about Indian curses and fantastic demonic creatures, is even worse because of the horrific writing (especially female characters' dialogue in between bleating screams), even worse acting (the male characters most certainly included), and all-around directing dysfunction. This review is meant to disabuse you of two notions, both quite common among viewers of movies such as this one: 1)Before it's viewing: It might be so bad it's good; uh, NOPE! And 2)Early on in its viewing: But surely it has to get better than this, right? No siree, bob, and please stop calling me Shirley. What no negative number ratings? -1/10 there, I did it.

The film is set in the Everglades and is about some silly Seminole chief rising from his grave to kill the infidels. However, while we see his mummy in the coffin several times throughout the film, he apparently can transform into a wide variety of creatures--such as an Anaconda, a poisonous snake, a shark and his original pre-death warrior form! And, in these guises, he slowly tries to kill off a group of teens and their adult chaperones.

This film is so awful that lovers of bad films might just want to seek it. Now it isn't as ineptly funny as PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, but it is pretty bad due to it's extremely amateurish production values. Aside from the cost of the camera and film, I can't imagine very much money was spent to make the film. The writing is very basic and the dialog not especially good. At times, it didn't look like they exactly knew what to do next, so they had the four teens in the film break into dance and lie around necking for extended periods! However bad the film is, though, it isn't nearly as silly and shoddy as the director's other "masterpiece", STING OF DEATH--a truly hilarious and, believe it or not, worse film!

I would include it to 10 worst movies I've ever seen - terrible acting, artificial dialogs, absolutely too much screaming. Those girls are in the jungle but with their hair style and clothing they look like they go to fancy party. 5 years of prison for director, 2 years for screenplay writer.

This movie was one of my first forays into horror and still leaves a strong impression. An original "slasher" and still well worth a look if you can get hold of a copy ...

I vaguely recalled this creepy movie from watching it years and years ago on Elvira's Movie Macabre. It was a movie I had no clue what the title was but certain scenes were forever burned into my memory. After the internet came along, I began searching for some of the old horror movies from my childhood. This one took some time finding because I could have sworn it was a B&W film. (If I had to guess I watched it on a B&W TV) After checking out several old movies including Omoo Omoo the Shark God and not seeing anything that I recalled, I literally stumbled upon Death Curse of Tartu for sale used on VHS one day and had in in my movie collection for probably a year before watching it. After the first few minutes it became clear this was the movie I had watched!!

Don't let others dissuade you, this is a GREAT spook movie! No where else will you see a beefy dead shape shifting Indian chasing teens through the Florida Everglades for disturbing his sacred ground with their go-go dancing in such vibrant color! (I actually turned the color to B&W the first time I watched this flick so I could watch it as I remembered it) The movie is obviously VERY low budget, but to me, it just adds to it's charm. As hokey as it is in parts, the death scenes are shocking and creepy. Naturally when SWV released this movie I HAD to upgrade. If you haven't had the pleasure and like fun, older spook flicks, I highly recommend this one.

This isn't a so-bad-it's-good movie, it's just unrelentingly awful. Terrible acting, effects, stock footage, and the ever repeating drum sample they use a million times. Stay far away from this boring trash unless you are desperate for sleep.

A real B-movie, with its intentions being that much bigger than its miniscule budget, DEATH CURSE OF TARTU is a fun flick to watch. It's not inept enough to be considered a PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE kind of movie but there are so many moments when it almost reaches the point of PLAN 9 that those who love really bad movies will like watching this one. For instance, the crocodile (or is it an alligator?) running after the screaming bimbo, who runs for several miles, only to have the croc right behind her. I didn't know crocs could run that fast. The living Tartu walking around with skin colored tights has to be seen to be believed. And the acting is uniformly bad. Hearing the drums every time Tartu started his killings reminded me of Gilligan's Island, which, in an odd way, sorta befits this unintentional comedy.

DEATH CURSE OF TARTU is available on Something Weird DVD and makes a great double feature with STING OF DEATH.

Once again, disturbing Indian burial grounds turns out bad for concupiscent teenagers, as students awaken an angry Indian mummy with the capability of transforming itself into an animal. Shot on a minuscule budget, using 'domesticated' predators (or stock footage), and 'starring' less than stellar thespians, "Death Curse of Tartu" is really only of interest to fans of bargain-basement horror films (or 'bad movies'). For the most part the film moves at a languid pace, as victims run from menacing but slow-moving animals (that still manage to keep up with their prey) only to be eventually caught and killed in a drizzle of very bright-red blood. The implacable mummy (which can also turn into a vigorous 'Indian' warrior) slowly eliminates the interlopers while the survivors try to stop the carnage. The titular monster is (for the nano-budget) reasonably well done but pretty much everything else in the film is borderline unwatchable (or in the case of the score, unlistenable). There are some 'camp' interludes, such as the groovy (a word actually uttered in the film) rock'n'roll bikini dance sequence, but overall, the film is neither weird enough nor imaginative enough to attain cult status and is destined to remain an obscure celluloid relic from the '60s.

A group of so called archaeologists desecrate the burial ground of 'Tartu' in the Florida Everglades. Dressed in the most inappropriate clothing possible the group set out to go on a 'dig'. The girls pack their bikinis so that the camera can ogle them while they dance to a couple of rock numbers penned for the movie. The music score used for the rest of the film is incredibly intrusive. After coming across several plastic skulls the six of them get the willies and sure enough Tartu rises from the tomb in various animal disguises to finish them off. The attacks with the snake and alligator are particularly hilarious and the amateurish acting doesn't help either. Eventually our leading man and woman are locked inside the tomb complete with fake cobwebs and toy spider. The body of Tartu undergoes a metamorphosis into his true native Indian self, although he wears flesh coloured tights to preserve his modesty. After an endless chase through the Everglades nature itself turns the tables on Tartu. A must for bad movie fans!

being released by Something Weird Video already labels this one as "bad" but unfortunately for the viewer, it doesn't fall under the category "so bad it's good". This one is so bad it's bloody awful! Loooooong passages of people trekking through bush and swamp, a soundtrack featuring chanting Indians that loops over and over and over and brutal acting make this one a snoozer BUT, it's in my collection and staying there. Long live SWV!! How is that I need to make this 10 lines when others have only posted 2? oh well, I will copy and paste.... being released by Something Weird Video already labels this one as "bad" but unfortunately for the viewer, it doesn't fall under the category "so bad it's good". This one is so bad it's bloody awful! Loooooong passages of people trekking through bush and swamp, a soundtrack featuring chanting Indians that loops over and over and over and brutal acting make this one a snoozer BUT, it's in my collection and staying there. Long live SWV!! How is that I need to make this 10 lines when others have only posted 2? oh well, I will copy and paste....

Four archaeological students along with their teacher and his wife go to the Florida Everglades. When there they unwittingly start making out and do go-go dancing over an ancient Indian burial ground. This awakens the vengeful spirit of Tartu (an evil witch doctor) who has been dead for 400 years. He possesses a variety of animals to attack and kill the group. Can they escape? Truly terrible acting and lousy "special" effects make this a bit of a chore to sit through. Still there are a few amusing bloody scenes (all within a PG rating) and it works on a Saturday afternoon matinée level. This is OK for kids and adults will like it too. Silly but fun.

It's the Florida Everglades. Tartu was a witch doctor some 400 years ago. Archaeology students disturb the burial grounds. Tartu returns from the dead to exact revenge by transforming into various animals.

This is a low budget horror. It seems to know the ingredients of the standard B-horror film but the filmmaker is using low grade materials and he's putting them together in a slapdash way. It's a bad B-movie. The over-acting, the cheap production, and the general amateurism could be fun camp but it's not good. For this to be actually good, they need to do some interesting transformation scenes. I do like the animals but this is what it is.

This is a very scary movie. It is well written. It is very will acted. And reason that a lot of people to not like it is because there are a lot of people with no taste.