‘This is horror!’
Death Curse of Tartu is a 1966 supernatural horror film about group of student archaeologists who venture into the Florida Everglades to look for fossils but come across an area cursed by a Native American witch doctor.
The movie was written and directed by William Grefé (Mako: The Jaws of Death; Impulse; Stanley; Sting of Death). The Falcon International Productions movie stars Fred Pinero, Babette Sherrill, Bill Marcus and Mayra Gómez Kemp.
The movie was allegedly written over twenty-four hours by Grefé and shot several days later when distributors requested a second feature to double-bill with his Sting of Death.
Plot:
Archaeologist Ed Tison and his wife Julie take four students into the Florida Everglades to search for Native American artefacts. They discover the burial mound of Tartu (Doug Hobart), a Seminole witch doctor.
Four hundred years previously, Tartu vowed that if anyone ever disturbed his grave, he would return and kill the desecrators.
Unfortunately, the grim legend becomes reality when the spirit of Tartu is resurrected and stalks the archaeology students by transforming himself into a shark, a snake, and an alligator…
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Reviews:
“Sadly Grefe makes little of the fact that the avenging spirit is an Indian, the one interesting feature of the plot. The result is a routine outing that lacks even the verve of William Girdler’s similarly motivated The Manitou (1977).” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror
” …manages to deliver where it should and serves as both an early example of William Grefe’s career as well as the development of the Nature Gone Wild genre than would become so prevalent in the 1970s, particularly in the wake of Jaws in 1975. Overall a solid and really enjoyable slice of trash.” Bad Movies for Bad People
“Overall this was an asinine film with pretty much no redeeming qualities. Everything about this story is bad […] Most of the film is made up of the characters wandering around doing nothing in the Everglades.” Cinema Freaks
“The characters are pretty annoying and the plot has no surprises, except, perhaps a moment when two students get killed in the same attack (instead of the usual one-at-a-time). But it feels like it was made in a genuine attempt to entertain its audience, and the flashes of gore, and the fabulous bikinis, should at least keep viewers awake.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers
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“The makeup on the mummified Tartu — created by Doug Hobart, who also plays him — is pretty memorable. There’s some cheap gore (a mutilated human arm) and some laughable props (a phony spider in a cave), and the soundtrack is extremely grating on the nerves.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In
” …the movie was shot in the Florida Everglades, so the swamp looks quite convincing indeed. Also, some of the attack scenes have a certain visceral impact, particularly when the snake repeatedly bites one of the teens in the face.” Dave Sindelar, Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings
“Death Curse of Tartu follows a template that has been in wide use among lousy American horror movies since at least 1922’s The Headless Horseman — hook the audience in with something cool early on, so that maybe they won’t notice you boring the sh*t out of them until at least the end of the second act.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
Choice dialogue:
“I can’t argue with evil spirits.”
Release:
In the UK, Death Curse of Tartu was released by Grand National Pictures on a double bill with The Flesh Eaters.
Cast and characters:
Fred Pinero … Ed Tison
Babette Sherrill … Julie Tison
Bill Marcus … Billy
Mayra Gómez Kemp … Cindy
Sherman Hayes … Johnny
Gary Holtz … Tommy
Maurice Stewart … Joann
Doug Hobart … Tartu
Frank Weed … Sam Gunter
Brad F. Grinter … Explorer (uncredited, director of Blood Freak; Flesh Feast)
Filming locations:
Everglades National Park, Florida
Technical specs:
1 hour 24 minutes
Mono
