Movies D-E
Death Curse of Tartu
by Shrub 01/29/05
Everglades terror! We start with a man (Sam) being dropped off in the swamp by a local guide. Sam asks the guide (Billy) to stay, but he’s scared and won’t stay due to old stories he’s heard of people dying out there, killed by a tiger. Sam brushes the stories off as an old indian legend (as everyone knows that there are no tigers in Florida!) and heads out to camp. Then we get about 10 minutes of ominous music and him walking around with a rifle. We begin to hear chanting, yelling and drums but never see where they’re coming from. We do see a long-haired zombie rustling in his coffin. A giant snake is slithering around and enters the campsite dropping onto Sam from a tree.
Cut to a Mr. Tison and his wife, accompanied by four of his students on a anthropology expidition, they are to meet Sam. Billy sets them up with a boat to get there and warns of the witch doctor that changes himself into animals to kill people. Upon arriving one of the girls is terrified by a skull on a stick. Mr. Tison exclaims: “How are you going to study anthropology if you’re afraid of a skull?” Also discovered are Indian signs on a unearthed rock. They are described as “groovy” and the group becomes enthused about their expidition.
The kids go off to roast marshmallows by the water, but really they justwant privacy to neck a while. This scene turns into a dance party accompanied by transistor radio. Yea! Swamp party! One couple decides to swim, and the other couple hears the drums and chanting. We never any Indians other than the old zombie, Tartu, the witch doctor. They start screaming when a shark fin approaches and you can imagine their fate.
Mr. Tison and his wife run towards the screaming and he becomes convinced that the legend of Tartu is true since sharks don’t live in fresh water. They remaining four survivors decide they have to scram, and fast. The living male student sets out for the boat and finds it sunk. He then has to trek off on foot to look for help. More everglades roaming and chanting followed by a snake attack that manages to be both brutal and hilarious.
With three survivors left, Mr. Tison decides that it’s time for a showdown and “only mother-nature” can stop Tartu. “We must destroy his re-incarnated body!” Confusing? You bet. This sucker is CHEAP, but of course, fun.
