Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Excellent but underrated film

Don't Believe the Hype

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

A team of young archaeologists who disturb the burial site of an evil Seminole witch doctor. He returns with a vengeance in the form of an animal and knocks off most of the cast. DEATH CURSE OF TARTU is made B-movies are truly made for! From the ridiculous dialogue, to the ludicrous acting, and unbelievable situations. The 50s and 60s were saturated with films of this ilk. It's these kinds of films that set the bar for B-movies today.Despite all the cheesiness, the landscape of the locations were beautiful photographed. Pop this in on a Friday night and enjoy making fun of it with your friends.

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....

Death Curse of Tartu is set in the Florida Everglades where Ed (Fred Pinero) & his wife Julie Tison (Babette Sherrill) are anthropology teachers who are educating some teens out in the field. They are supposed to meet up with Ed's mate Sam Gunter (Frank Weed (!) who is also listed in the credits as 'Animal Trainer') who isn't where he 's supposed to be, like a typical woman Julie begins to worry for no reason but it seems that she might be right to worry as they discover an ancient tablet of rock with some ancient writing on it which talks about an incident some 400 years ago when some local witch doctor named Tartu (Doug Hobart) died & put a curse on the land (well, he probably put the curse on the ground before he died), the curse states that anyone who violates his burial ground will meet a horrible death at the hands of an animal, or something like that. Ed, being the level headed guy that he is, thinks it's nonsense but when two of his students Tommy (Gary Holtz) & Joann (Maurice Stewart) are attacked & killed by a shark he might have to rethink...Written & directed by William Grefe Death Curse of Tartu is quite simply one really bad film, it's as simple & straight forward as that. The script is a joke, it's awful it really is. For a start it is incredibly boring to sit through, there are so many drawn out scenes & sequences here it's conceivable the term 'padding' was coined for this film while most of it is just dull people walking through the Everglades getting from 'A' to 'B' & not doing much when they eventually get there either. The 60's inspired dialogue is embarrassingly bad, did people really talk like this even in the mid 60's? I have my doubts with lines like 'Cindy your a real drag' inspiring bouts of laughter from me. Damn, I hate this film. The character's are poor, the whole film is utterly predictable & without any sub-plots extremely one dimensional & dull. Nothing is explained that well, the whole nature theme is muddled & has little impact & it lacks any decent exploitation elements. Death Curse of Tartu is an absolute waste of time with no redeeming features, do yourself a favour & don't bother.Director Grefe sure knows how to put his audience to sleep, this thing is so boring it makes a party political broadcast look exciting. There are constant boring shots of the Everglade area & some of it's wildlife. The murders are all committed by animals as in the curse but don't expect much violence or gore. There is one funny bit at the start though when a huge Python literally jumps out of a tree & wraps itself around someone, I didn't know snakes had the ability to jump sideways out of trees, did you? I also have to mention the almost constant sound of drums in the background, after about an hour of it it was really getting on my nerves.The budget for this might not have been as low as one thinks, I mean it was hot in colour wasn't it. Then again considering what ended up on screen I'd imagine that's where most of the money went. It's a pretty shabby film set almost entirely in the Everglades & it has an awful soundtrack as well. The acting was poor & there's nothing else to say.Death Curse of Tartu is one seriously crap film, it's just that it's so slow & tedious to watch. The stupid, dull, boring & one track storyline doesn't help much either when I think about it. Not good folks, not good at all. Probably best to avoid this one.

The "Something Weird" DVD edition of "Death Curse Of Tartu" is almost impossible to over recommend. Along with the second feature(Sting of Death) you get some truly hilarious commentary between director William Grefe and Frank Hendenlotter. Plus some great extras. The best "Something Weird" has to offer.