Death Curse of Tartu / Sting of Death (Special Edition)

Fans of 60's horror will eat this one up. Something Weird dishes up two William Grefe "classics", one of them not seen in decades. This is one of the best Something Weird DVD's yet and I've seen a lot of them. Great fun!

First up is DEATH CURSE OF TARTU about a mummy who wreaks vengeance on people who have invaded his Everglades territory. Tartu mostly just lies in his tomb and instead transforms into varous animals (snake, gator, etc.) to eat and attack his victims. Great location color photography, amusing characters and real animals make this one a real hoot. There's a fun and informative commentary track with Grefe and Frank Henelotter as well which is highly recommended. Grefe comments that he told one terrified actress to go into the snake-infested water for a scene by telling her "Don't worry. We scared all the snakes away." Hahahaha!

The second flick on the DVD is Grefe's first and rare horror film, "STING OF DEATH" which is about a jellyfish man that attacks a bunch of stupid people in the Everglades. The creature just wears a scuba diving suit with flippers and a giant inflated trash bag on his head. You will not believe your eyes - trust me! You ain't seen anything like it. One great highlight is an attack on a sinking boat where all the passengers fall into the water and are "attacked" by jellyfish (floating inflated baggies). There's also a Neil Sedaka song played at a poolside dance where all the girls can shake their bootys at the camera. Meanwhile, the jellyfish man is swimming in the pool, but no one sees him! This hilarious 1965 epic was never sold to television and was thought lost for years. Another great commentary track by Grefe and Henelotter - both have fun and joke about the ineptness of some scenes, but always in reverance - and they also go into how the negative of the film was almost completely molded away before SW got ahold of it in the nick of time. It's truly fascinating to hear about how these older films could be lost, destroyed and gone forever --- there's no big "negative library" out there for these low-budget gems. Many are out there just rotting away - negatives missing ---- surviving prints in awful shape. Even Grefe pleads with listeners to help find one of his "lost" films, "Devil Sisters", since no print seems to have survived. Thank Something Weird for preserving this kind of horror history.

There's some great extras on this DVD as well - other Grefe trailers including "Mako Jaws of Death" and "Stanley", a 30 minute reel of scenes from a gory exploitation adventure called "Love Goddesses of Blood Island", and a hilarious short called "Miami or Bust" which starts off as a travelogue but ends up as a riotous poolside dance/striptease by one of the ugliest women I've seen on one of these things in a long time. Man, when she pouts her lips and tries to look seductive, you may want to have a puke bucket handy. Great stuff!!!

If you are into trashy horror pictures from the 60's/70's, you'll love this duo DVD. Both films look great, very colorful. On one commentary track, Henenlotter and Grefe talk about going to 42nd Street in the 60's and 70's to see countless movies like this every day. It was a great time for exploitation, horror and sleaze fans - triple features and more, changing daily. And as Henenlotter says "Unlike today where there's nothing out there I want to see." How true! If you agree with this statement, then make a date with Tartu and the jellyfish man! "Jilla jalla jella!"

If you were a kid in the 60's then you might have gone and seen some double features at your local drive in that will remind you of the trashy fun on this dvd.They are a lot of fun to watch especially sting of death.The scene with the glad bag jellyfish cracked me up.The quality is excellent on these movies, and if you want to have some fun, pop up some popcorn, crack up a couple root beers and prepare to be entertained, just leave your brain behind and youll have a great time.

Another quality jam-packed disc from the happy folk at Something Weird. Both movies here are 'the pits'. The oft seen "Tartu" is the best print I've come across and "Sting Of Death" is even better. I admire Mike Vraney and his gang for the ingenius way they market this crud and make like they are 'lost' classics. "Lost?"...perhaps! "Classics?"....perhaps not!The reason they are "lost" is because they were junk then and they are junk now. Worth watching once, but there is nothing here that Roger Corman hasn't done better. The saving grace on this DVD, as on most SWV product, is the BONUS stuff. An inspired 27-minute gore flick called "Love Goddesses Of Blood Island" takes us into 'Blood Feast' territory and a 12-minute short they call "Miami Or Bust" starts off as an amateaur travelogue of Miami Beach in the 60s for the first couple of minutes, and then we go to some guys back yard to see a babe, who looks a bit like 'Devine,' strip off and dance by the swimming pool. The director's commentaries are, as usual, more interesting than the movies themselves and there are a number of trailers as well. Overall quality and value for money....excellent. The 5 Star rating is for the DVD quality and content. The movies themselves get 1 star. I'm sorry gang....but the Seawasp tells it like it is!!