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Death Curse of Tartu
Curse of Death / Tartu: Curse of the Evil Dead
USA 1966
produced by Joseph Fink, Juan Hidalgo-Gato for Falcon Internatiuonal Productions, Thunderbird International Pictures
directed by William Grefé
starring Fred Pinero, Babette Sherrill, Bill Marcus, Mayra Gómez Kemp, Sherman Hayes, Gary Holtz, Maurice Stewart, Doug Hobart, Frank Weed, Brad F. Grinter
written by William Grefé, songs by Al Green, Al Jacobs, special makeup effects by Doug Hobart
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Archeologist Gunter (Frank Weed) is hell-bent to do some digging in a
certain part of the Everglades even his guide Billy (Bill Marcus) warns
him of and refuses to accompany him to. And while Gunter dig up indeed
find some remarkable findings, he doesn't even survive his first night,
being attacked and killed by a big snake - which is somehow exactly in
line with what Billy has told him, that a Native American witchdoctor,
Tartu (Doug Hobart) was killed here 4 centuries ago, and since his ghost
is roaming the area, turning into different animals to kill all the
intruders. The next day, the rest of Gunter's team, professors Ed (Fred
Pinero) and Julie Tison (Babette Sherrill) and their students Cindy (Mayra
Gómez Kemp), Johnny (Sherman Hayes), Tommy (Gary Holtz) and Joann
(Maurice Stewart) arrive on the site and are surprised to find no sign of
Gunter, just his findings. And while Ed goes about translating the
inscriptions on an ornamental stone that Gunter has dug up (and finds it
to tell above legend), the students all go to the lake to make out, and
when Tommy and Joanne go for a swim, they're both attacked and killed by a
shark, despite the fact that sharks are not freshwater fish. Now Ed and
company come to the realisation that Tartu's curse must be real and they
want to make a quick getaway to find their boat trashed. So they send off
Johnny to get help on foot, but he's killed by snakes. So Ed, Julie and
Cindy come up with the idea to find Tartu's grave, destroy his actual
remains and this way get rid of the curse, but Ed and Julie end up
captured in Tartu's burial chamber while Cindy's brutally killed by an
alligator. And as if that wasn't bad enough, then Tartu in the flesh rises
from his sarcophagus ... Now Death Curse of Tartu is
certainly no cinematic masterpiece in anyone's book, and frankly, anyone
reading the very speculative title and expecting the contrary is a bit of
a fool. And Death Curse of Tartu was also obviously made on a very
moderate budget that wouldn't allow for much above the very basics to tell
its story, and the result is thus a very small, almost intimate film, with
at best so-so special effects, a rather mediocre cast, and the best thing
to mention about it is probably its pretty impressive
Everglades-backdrops. And all that said, Death Curse of Tartu
actually manages to be quite a bit more entertaining (at least to trash
movie connaiseurs) than it ought to be, as it tells its very simplistic
and a bit ludicrous story with the necessary verve, moves along at a brisk
enough space, and just manages to utterly entertain - and thus turns out
to be almost unexpected genre fun.
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