Watch Death Curse of Tartu For Free

Waste of time

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

From my favorite movies..

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

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.

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

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.

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.