Scalps (1983) User Reviews

Not bad

[Tikkin · 5/10 · 28 July 2006]

I had always heard about Scalps as people say it's Fred Olen Ray's best horror flick. Well if this is his best, I'd hate to see the rest! The film starts off a little dull, but starts to get better as the group make their way into the mountains. The atmosphere is quite creepy in a low-budget kind of way and reminded me slightly of The Evil Dead, plus the location is similar to The Hills Have Eyes. I love the shot of the rotting skeleton when the car goes past, but no one sees it.

Once they have set up camp, the group hear mysterious drumming, see strange faces in campfires, and so on. There are some hilarious lines such as "I broke a fingernail!", and also when the girl says that the drumming is coming from hell. The scalping scene is probably the highlight of the film, and is brilliantly done - it really surprised me. When the girls throat is cut, she writhes around in agony and it looks realistic. Also the part where he removes her scalp is really cool. There's another good gore scene when a mans head is chopped off, but it's not quite as impressive.

Overall, Scalps is worth a watch if you can tolerate low budget horror. It's nothing amazing, but does have a low budget charm about it.

Watching a Fred Olen Ray film is like popping happy pills: They're not exactly healthy for your brain, but they make you laugh anyway.

[Vomitron_G · 3/10 · 18 January 2010]

If you want a fine example of 'bare bones (horror) film-making', "Scalps" is just as fine as any example. Not that it's a fine film, mind you. Everything about it, is rudimentary. Like if it was made by a brute. It looks like the editing was done with an axe, first having the film chopped to pieces and then glued together with Pattex super-glue. The camera work is limited to pointing it where the actor is when he speaks his lines (or when he does something). The audio work was limited to making sure it was at least recorded. This makes up for background noises being very inconsistent during simple conversations, when the camera switches angles. In an attempt to cover up the sloppy sound, you get many scenes where the musical score continues to play throughout several scenes where it doesn't even belong. While this becomes ridiculous too often, the score itself does have its moments. It's minimalistic and electronic, and at times manages to enhance the desert landscapes with an ominous atmosphere.

Essentially, "Scalps" plays out like mixing an ordinary slasher flick with an "Evil Dead"-ish 'vengeful spirits'-theme, set in a desert à la "The Hills Have Eyes" (at one point it even seems Fred copied the exact same 'passing through a tunnel with a car'-scene from the first "Evil Dead"). A group of young archaeologists set out to excavate an Indian burial ground. We all know you should stay away from such sites when you're starring in a horror movie. One directed by Fred Olen Ray, no less, so thankfully that also means naked boobs and gore... The boobs at display are fine, the attempted rape-scene too (yes, the spirits they awaken are not only angry, but also horny). The gore at display, while being raw and not of a high technical standard, is pretty cool too (heads being decapitated & scalped, throats being cut,...). It's bloody but very basic, yet not without charm. You can include not-so-effective 'possessed' make-up effects in the gamma, and one, incredibly puzzling appearance of a ghostly demon dude with an animatronic lion's head. A great source of incomprehensible laughter, but afterwards I learned that this was test-footage Fred never intended to edit into the movie. His producers decided otherwise. Another highlight in the SFX department is the exploding ghostly Indian head. Its evil, floating influence is felt & seen numerous times throughout the movie (not sure if that was intended either), but at one point it makes the stupid mistake to appear amidst a crispy campfire. Boom! Bye bye, ghostly Indian head. Good stuff.

The film's pace is pretty damn slow; obviously, as we're dealing with an early 80's slasher here. The performances aren't very convincing, as to be expected, but the young cast does manage to say things with a straight face. And that in itself is an accomplishment, as most of the dialogues are clichéd-driven, moronic drap. However, one girl manages to utter the most memorable line from the whole film: "Defiling the graves of the dead will only anger their souls!". Upon hearing it, it spontaneously evokes the viewer's urge to repeat it with a more firm, low-pitched, threatening voice. And so we did. Hilarity ensued.

I think that sums up about everything there is to say about Fred Olen Ray's "Scalps". He does try to make a serious-toned supernatural slasher, but delivers an inept piece of bare bones film-making. It's notable for the rudimentary gore effects and the occasionally atmospheric soundtrack. But, as so it goes with most of his other 80's horror/sci-fi outings, it's advisable to watch it with friends. That way you can have more fun with the 'bad movie qualities' it has. Make this film better, and share the laughter. And then go right ahead and watch his honest-to-god "Alien" cash-in "Deep Space" too. By then (1988), Fred had already learned to pick up the pace of a film, understood that his films needed more slimy tentacles & grotesque monster action and very well gained the budgetary means to hire The Great Charles Napier ("I've got a mouth that can open sideways too!") to spear-head the cast. It's the one film that proudly managed to put him on my B-movie map in my early days. If you really need to see one Fred Olen Ray film, then watch "Deep Space".

A good story let down by lack of budget.

[metalrage666 · 4/10 · 25 March 2013]

The overall problem with this movie from what I can see, was just a sheer lack of funds to be able to turn this into a real horror movie gem.

The story is great. Sure there are plenty of horror flicks out there that in some way revolve around native American burial grounds or mysticism, but for me this is the first movie I can recall seeing that has the spirit of an actual native American tribal chief getting his vengeance on those who are after fortune in lieu of respect.

The story is of a team of young archaeology students out on a dig who ignore local warnings of where not to dig, and unearth a whole heap of trouble in an effort to bring back some rare finds to help further their chance of a career. This angers the spirit of the former tribal chief, Black Claw, who in turn possesses one of the team and sets about killing the rest. As they're out in the middle of nowhere and miles from help there's a real sense of dread throughout the movie. Also Black Claw appeared quite merciless as he even killed the professor of the students when he turns up at the end to check on their progress.

I particularly liked the fact that this movie didn't involve the car suddenly running off the road or being forced off the road, it didn't involve religious hillbilly zealots, or anything that was the result of 1950's nuclear testing.

As I said before, the movie suffers a lot from a lack of budget and also from what appears to be time-constraints to do several takes on some scenes, as certain scenes seem rushed. The acting is not all that good, and the special effects are pedestrian, as does the editing between the night time or dusk shots taken on location and those that were done in a studio, however there are some genuine gruesome scenes in this movie that have been fully restored if you're lucky enough to get a copy of the re-released DVD to make this worth watching, if only for a chance to see a different story line.

A haircut anyone??

[lrc81 · 9 July 2004]

The movie starts with a guys head being chopped off, this happens in the very first scene so i guess it's a reminder of the movies R certification. Some students go on a expedition or as their teacher prefer to call it a field-trip. Close to their destination the car breaks downs and they go to a near by gas station, there they come across an native-American old man that warns them about the hills, about the killings that went on in the past. As you can expect, they aren't concerned with the warnings and continue their search for artifacts at what they now know to be an native-American burial ground. After a successful afternoon collecting artifacts, one of the guys is possessed by an native-American spirit, that gradually transforms him physically... let the scalping begin.

i found the gory scenes by far the best aspect of the movie. the location is also nice, reminding me of movies such as the "hills have eyes", the hot, dry california desert helps create some tension, the vulnerability of the open spaces. there's not much acting going on but the actors did a reasonable job. a good way to spend 80 minutes, if you're a horror fan.

Goofy Indian "Slasher"...

[EVOL666 · 3/10 · 9 February 2006]

I'm not trying to be a dick, but I have no idea why I've seen so many good reviews of this retarded film. There is really almost NOTHING going for it. I saw a few people post about the "soundtrack"...It's the same damn music looped over, and over, and over, and over (get the point?) for the first 30 minutes of the film. It actually becomes comical at one point - then it becomes really annoying. SCALPS isn't even in the "So Bad It's Good" category...It belongs in the same category as LUCKER: THE NECROPHAGOUS as an "It's So Boring I'm Half-Asleep" film. I'm not gonna spend too much time on this mess of a film...so here goes...

A bunch of dumbass's dig around on some Indian land - a bunch of boring stuff happens, then there are a few decent kill scenes. THE END...

I like schlock and goofy films, but I don't think anything happened of any interest in the first fifty minutes of this film. No, I take that back, there's some weird guy in a lion (tiger, leopard, whatever...) outfit that I never really understood in the beginning, and some old guy cuts his own throat with a knife because he's "possessed" or some such sh!t...after that you have a bunch of boring nonsense about guys with bad beards and girls with bad hair hanging out in the desert somewhere. When things FINALLY start to happen, there are actually 2 or 3 "decent" (and by decent, I mean there's at least some blood, and an above-average throat-slashing...)kill scenes, and I think all of one set of tits in a scene that is so dark, that even if they DO look good, you can barely see them. This one was just way too dull for my taste and can only recommend this to real Z-grade schlock fans or people that might wanna pull a MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000-style commentary through the film. 3/10

Scalps!

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 23 October 2020]

When will the kids learn? When an old man in a town warns you of great evil, perhaps he knows what he's talking about. When your college professor does the same thing, perhaps you should listen to him as well. But no, these kids just meander along and unleash the spirit of Black Claw and then all die one after the other.

Well, I guess we wouldn't have a month of slashers if these kids knew what they were doing.

This Fred Olen Ray written and directed film isn't bad. It's a different location for a slasher, the Native American mythos are intriguing and hey - that's Superman as the professor! No, really, that's Kirk Alyn, the original movie serial Kal-El, as Professor Machen*, who works alongside Forest J. Ackerman, who plays Professor Trentwood. And oh yes - Dr. Sharon Reynolds is Carroll Borland, whose look as Luna, the daughter of Bela Lugosi's Mark of the Vampire inspired plenty of undead femme fatales.

I don't know of too many other movies that have a lion-headed ghost, much less a moment where the image of an old man inside a bowl of soup causes someone to slice their own throat, but there you go. Scalps is there for you, answering the call of a movie you never knew you wanted but now you will always feel like you need.

*Aldo Ray and Robert Quarry were also up for this role. I mean, those are great picks too.

I wanted to like this more

[acidburn-10 · 5/10 · 21 May 2021]

This is not a high calibre Slasher movie by any means, it's a very cheesy movie that tries its best to compete with some of the better horror movies of its time, but falls quite flat due to its tedious padded out pacing & questionable acting, that's poor even by this genre's standards, yet quite amusing at the same time with almost no conversation between these actors coming across at all natural, but the characters are quite likeable & a bit more fleshed out than being the usual cannon fodder.

The plot is pretty basic - a group of college kids go out to the desert to dig for ancient Indian artifacts deep in the desert mountains. But before long one of them becomes possessed by an evil spirit and starts picking off the teens one by one.

Yet there is a certain charm to the whole thing that does boast a decent yet eerie atmosphere, thanks to its setting in the desert with a very amateur guerrilla style filmmaking vibe to this movie and sometimes that can work & in this case, it kinda does, despite its shortcomings. Also the splatter & gore during its final third was worth the sluggish pace (almost).

Overall this is not that great of a movie & I really wanted to like this more, with its strange editing choices & boring pace, it does pay off towards the end, you just need patience to get there.

Nothing happens for most of the film

[zombieoutbreak-74199 · 2/10 · 21 May 2021]

You have to wait 40 minutes until something interesting happens. There's a kill in the beginning of the movie then they walk, talk, dig, and camp. There's eerie music that plays constantly to make up for the lack of plot/story. Only 2 people get scalped then the movie ends after waiting an hour and a half. Don't listen to what the other reviewers are saying. There's nothing exciting or special about this snooze fest.

Technical issues sink an okay early 80's gore film

[dbborroughs · 3/10 · 2 November 2008]

Fred Olen Ray's first "big" commercial release (it was the film that made me aware of his existence) stars Kirk Alyn a an archeology professor who has a group of students go out to a forbidden Indian burial ground where one is possessed by the spirit of one of the dead natives. Clearly shot on the cheap with almost no sound effects in the film, sequences appear to have been shot with sound when they happened or silent with a music score laid over them. It produces an odd effect and makes the film seem more like a home movie then a professional film that was written up in the magazines like Fangoria upon its release. The oddness of the sound is what kind of wrecks the film because otherwise this is a perfect example of the gory horror films that were being cranked out by the smaller producers, with a stereotypical plot, a big star (former Superman Alyn who over acts) and some, for the time, good gore effects. Honestly this is almost an okay little film, but its technical limitations make this something thats more likely to put to to sleep rather then send a chill up and down your spine. 3 out of 10

Must See Horror

[D_R_A_C_U_L_A1 · 7/10 · 7 September 2003]

This movie does have some lighting problems and editing probs, but it is still a great horror movie. Anyone that is a true genre fan should see this movie. It really does have a nice creepy atmosphere and who cares if the make up and effects aren't up to Hollywood standards, this is true 80's horror. The acting is great, the music is great, there is some great gore scenes and a very convincing rape scene. I dont know why this movie has such a low rating, this movie is definately worth the price of the rental and the time to watch it. SEEK IT OUT!!!!!!!!

decent Fred Olen Ray, pure drive -in

[trashgang · 4/10 · 23 May 2011]

When you see the name Forrest J Ackerman and Fred Olen ray then you know that you are in the Drive-in atmosphere. And let me say, that's exactly what we are looking at. It's made in the middle of the slasher heydays but it isn't really a slasher. Why Fred gives away the decapitation in the beginning is still an unsolved question because it almost the best part of this flick. What's weirder is the fact that before the begin credits you have only a score combined with the images. Once they start talking you're in for bad sound and bad editing. Some parts were filmed without extra light which gives you too dark images. Some parts of this flick is filmed on bad reel, other parts are better, it's just like they used different reels to add it on the DVD. The effects are sometimes ridiculous like the pop up of the Indian ghost with white eyes but others are done well. The scalping is done really good and the beheading is also okay. But overall you have to take a lot of talking before the movie really starts going. It reminded me a bit of the story of Evil Dead, here they use some Indian sticks to wake up old spirits and they get possessed by them killing their friends. This is a pure example of what Drive-in is all about. It's watchable still today if you're looking for old horrors but don't expect too much of it.

Perhaps Fred Olen Ray's best film?

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 8/10 · 4 August 2008]

"Scalps" is a bloody Native American slasher with a nice supernatural angle.Six archeology students head to the desert to search for Native American artifacts.Despite the warnings of DJ,the students disturb the ancient Indian burial ground and unleash the vengeful spirit of Black Claw.After possessing Randy,Black Claw hunts down the others with an arsenal of stone-age weapons.Despite its crude cinematography and editing "Scalps" is an overlooked slasher with some nasty bits of gore.The throat slashing and scalping sequence truly made me squirm in my seat.A combination of desert landscapes and sinister soundtrack gives "Scalps" a raw and nihilistic atmosphere of fear and despair.Unofficial sequel "Demon Warrior" was made in 1988.

We want the promised sequel!

[udar55 · 7/10 · 18 April 2011]

A group of college archaeologist students travel into the California desert to dig up Native American artifacts. Despite the warnings of town drunk Billy Ironwing, the group trespasses into a burial ground and accidentally unleashes the spirit of Indian shaman Black Claw, who possesses one of them and begins killing. I've had this Fred Olen Ray horror flick for over a decade, but never watched it until last night. It is certainly limited, but good fun thanks to some gory special effects (including a scalping that rivals MANIAC) and some goofy stuff (why is the shaman shown wearing jeans in the early bits). Fred certainly got better technically over time, but this still proves to be better than the stuff he is cranking out now (those horrible BIKINI T&A movies). The final credit promises a SCALPS II: THE RETURN OF D.J., but we never got it. C'mon, Fred, don't let us down! We need that before you stop making films.

Scalps

[Scarecrow-88 · 4/10 · 3 November 2008]

Director Fred Olen Ray has admitted that his movie, Scalps, concerning an evil Indian warrior spirit, Black Claw, who takes over the body of hunky Richard Hench who, in turn, begins murdering his fellow college classmates/friends in gruesome ways after excavating the ancient artifacts from a burial ground near a sacred area called the Black trees, was badly tampered with by rude investors("The guys from New York")making the entire experience an incomprehensible, incoherent mess. Ray, through great trouble, has tried to assemble a film in it's entirety using what materials were present, but Scalps(..sent to numerous foreign distributors who themselves edited footage out and into Scalps), he admits, is still an improper version of what he set out to accomplish. I thought the film itself was rather dismal, but his audio commentary was both fascinating and enlightening as he thoroughly explained the painstaking process he went through attempting to bring this film back to it's complete form. The photography(..Ray proclaims that he at least worked with 7 or 8 DP's)is often really ugly and the cast doesn't help the director out. From start to finish, the film is a trial to sit through. The pacing drags at a snail's pace, and the dialogue can make your ears bleed, but perhaps the writing is hampered by those who say the words. The Black Claw spirit carries the facial features of a grotesque witch you might find in a Grimm Fairy Tale storybook. The gore often delivers the goods, specifically the scalping scene and slit throat which gushes blood. There's also an impressive oozing bullet wound to the forehead as well. There's an unpleasant rape scene where Richard Hench's possessed Randy throws his girlfriend down, ripping her shirt and bra, while forcing penetration as she cries out in horror. Ray mentions in the audio commentary that he didn't want to create such a scene but wanted to distribute this film into theaters and that "the guys in New York" demanded nudity during the rape. I thought Forrest J Ackerman's cameo, plugging his MOnsters mag, was shameless and inappropriate(..and it was clear that Olen Ray doesn't exactly condone it in retrospect). Carroll Borland(..the *vampire* protégé of Lugosi's Count in Browning's MARK OF THE VAMPIRE)has a minor scene as a college dean furious with anthropology professor(..played by former Superman Kirk Alyn)for breaking certain rules regarding artifacts he possibly confiscated illegally. My favorite scenes in the film feature skeletal remains left burning in the sun as either a rat or desert tarantula crawl about over it. The history behind this film is far better than the product presented, but Scalps is a definite example of what can happen when a directors work is butchered by others. The beheading is rather limply presented. The music alternately works and/or is tiresome.

Scalps...Not a Cure for Hair Loss

[BaronBl00d · 13 March 2001]

Six young archeologists set off to the desert to find sacred Indian artifacts. One of the six becomes the spiritual embodiment of the infamous Black Claw and begins to murder(including scalping one) his friends. Though warned by an old Indian that shakes a lot, these kids cannot be stopped in their desire to drive down the road of motion picture obscurity. This film has next to no budget which compliments its acting, directorial, and other creative talents. Director Fred Olen Ray directed this early work, and although the film has so many problems, one can appreciate Ray's appreciation of the classic horror tradition. He gives meaningless roles to the serial Superman Kirk Alyn as a befuddled professor who sees the POINT-lessness of digging up sacred Native American artifacts in the end, a brief and purposeless cameo to Mr. Sci-fi himself, Forry Ackerman, and a small role to Carroll Borland from Mark of the Vampire fame. The six stars(being very judicious with that appellation)appear to be right out of a high school play. The only plusses any of them have is that the ladies, especially the gal playing Ellen Corman, have wonderful visual assets. The special effects are a big joke as nothing looks real or scary in any way. A puppet is occasionally popping up here and there to show us the disembodied spirit of Black Claw. Night and day readily change. One moment the players are at a campfire in blackness, another moment on a rock as the sun falls, and then back to the darkness all in the same evening. Black Claw is one hell of an Indian if he can manipulate time and space to make that happen! This film falls in the so bad it's entertaining category. I wasn't scalped after seeing it, but I probably lost a few more hairs!

Don't Go Near The Black Trees

[Huntress-2 · 3/10 · 11 March 1999]

A fairly predictable and grisly horror film about a group of young archeologists excavating forbidden Indian land. Poor film quality and plot line, but what you would expect from an 80s b-flick.

Digging Their Own Graves

[stmichaeldet · 2/10 · 4 February 2006]

"One of the most censored films of all time! ...The screen is drenched in despair by the constant, nagging anxiety of isolation as the encroaching elements envelope the characters in a cloud of ever impending horror and doom." Pshyah, right.

Despite the hyperbolic cover copy, there's not that much going' on in this early effort from noted bottom-feeder Fred Olen Ray. A group of college students are sent out by their professor on an unethical dig to illegally collect Native American artifacts. So, of course, they make directly for the one place the creepy tribal elder warns them against. One girl has visions of doom, then one of the guys gets himself possessed by a pizza-faced Indian spirit, who kills almost everyone and makes off with another body, to kill again in the promised, but apparently never realized, "Scalps II." (Gee, I wonder why that didn't happen?)

But FOR's unoriginality doesn't merely extend to the boilerplate plot. The look of the film strongly suggests an early Wes Craven or Tobe Hooper, which only serves to remind the viewer how well this material has been used in the past by better directors. Add to that the stiff and halting delivery of the "actors," thoroughly un-special effects, and a cameo where Forrie Ackerman flashes his book like a talk-show guest, and you're soon wondering why anyone would bother censoring this mess - it's not like anyone would want to watch it in the first place.

"Myehh."

[Steve_Nyland · 3/10 · 8 August 2005]

You know, whatever. Fred Olen Ray has built an industry around his name based on bringing what he contends are awful films to the masses, reveling in the awfulness like a Smart Aleck kid who's snickering at some private joke -- If we don't get it that's because we aren't hip enough, an attitude that makes my liver twitch. I have never been in on the joke: Horror movies are inherently ridiculous to begin with ("The Satanic Rites of Dracula", anyone??) so the idea of deliberately starting out to make something silly and have it masquerade as a horror film misses the point.

This one isn't *THAT* bad, an exercise in Injun Horror telling the tale of a group of rather dis-likable idiots who go dig up forbidden tribal burial grounds at the behest of a wayward Professor without really even thinking twice about it. If you ask me, they got what they had coming to them, so the film is just a Freak Show where one is waiting to see how horribly & graphically the dimwits would be killed. And of course whether or not the girls would remove their shirts, which they do but not for very long. As for the censoring mentioned by other viewers, well, by 2005 we've seen girls without skin peeling their eyeballs off. Watching one of them have a fake skullcap sliced from her noggin may have been a huge deal to home video companies in 1985, but now is about as revolting as seeing an Alien pop out of some guy's stomach. Been there/done that.

Everyone knows how the plot goes: You just don't disturb burial grounds in general no matter what ideology or cultural background the dead people may have subscribed to, or you DIE. On that consideration the film delivers. But what I found interesting about this film was it's pre-political correctness sensibilities. It's an exploitation film, using the idea of a savage Injun warrior's long dead soul possessing the body of a dork who then goes on a killing rampage to avenge the desecration. For that matter it could have been the long dead soul of an insurance claims adjuster or maybe a nuclear arms inspector. That Mr. Ray chose to base the films on Injun hokum shows the distanced sensibilities of 1982 when nobody thought twice about making light of Native American cultures & using their traditions as the basis for entertainment. There is one really super cool shot in the film where the killer pops up from behind a truck to smack one of the guys upside the head, but if you think about the underlying racism of the image it sort of spoils the fun. If the whole movie wasn't so stupid it would be offensive.

What I really object to about the film, though, is it's attitude. The low budget is no excuse: This film has the cultural sensitivity of a Three Stooges short, using stuff like tomahawks, freaky Injun chanting ceremonies and the atrocity of scalping for plot points. I might cut Fred some slack if he didn't seem so pleased with his results and content to let low budget considerations make excuse for the fact that this movie has about seven brain cells in it's head. A fellow commenter stated that it would be nifty to remake this film for the iPod generation and I contend that you can't. At least not without adding positive Native American characters and helping the viewers understand why digging up their burial grounds is a bad idea. If they lack the basic human decency to know that instinctively we cannot help them. But these days you have to explain everything since kids are on the cell phones all day at school and don't learn anything like that on purpose. Most of them, anyway.

But there is a better example of the whole Injun Horror sub-genre made at about the same time & for as little money and less fuss: A film called GHOST DANCE from 1984 which is just as gory & horrifying but never feels exploitational, cheap or slack jawed for one second. It explores the Native American customs and traditions from which it gets the thrills & chills, and managed to do so without one goggle eyed rubber masked paleface made up to look like a totem pole & waving a tomahawk. C'mon ...

3/10

Me watch-um heap big pile of crud.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 18 January 2016]

A professor of archaeology (played by '40s Superman star Kirk Alyn, in his last ever screen appearance) sends six of his college students on a field trip to the desert where they desecrate an ancient native American burial ground, much to the annoyance of an ugly Indian spirit called Black Claw, who possesses one of the group and proceeds to kill off the rest.

Director Fred Olen Ray blames the distributors for ruining Scalps by messing around with the editing; but even if this wasn't the case, I still very much doubt that the film would have been much cop, given its predictable plot, lousy pacing, lack of scares, and crappy performances from a cast of nobodies (apart from Alyn, the only other recognisable name is renowned monster movie aficionado Forrest J. Ackerman, who is clearly there to plug his latest book, Mr Monster's Movie Gold).

A few semi-decent gore effects—including a slashed throat, a grisly scalping, and a juicy decapitation—make the second half of the film marginally more interesting than the uneventful first half.

3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for IMDb thanks to the hilariously bad animatronic lion-man, which was apparently one of the things added by the distributors against Olen Ray's wishes.

Fred Olen Ray, I have worked you out

[Groverdox · 2/10 · 27 March 2016]

I think I've got Fred Olen Ray's schtick down now. After watching however so many of his movies, I think this is his approach: to take a completely trite excuse for a story that anyone who has ever seen a horror movie could recite in their sleep and then suck it of any of the life and possibility of interest it ever could have had. His movies are usually short, barely clocking in at over an hour, and that entire first hour will be "characters" wandering around doing absolutely nothing of interest and certainly nothing that will invest them with a personality, or give you any reason whatsoever to care about them at all. After he has lulled you to sleep better than your grandmother could when you were six months old, he'll start deploying with the actual "horror" movie stuff, ie. gore, but as I said, you'll be asleep or perhaps even comatose by this point.

In the first hour of a Fred Olen Ray movie, he carefully constructs as many barriers between you and caring about his movie as he can. In the last ten or fifteen minutes, he throws the things you probably watched the movie hoping to see at you, ie. the blood and guts, but you probably gave up at barrier 3 or 4 and have long since stopped paying attention to the movie and started doing something else.

"Scalps" has a few extra barriers between you and it, aside from its most sturdy, ie. the tedium of it. These are the picture quality and the sound. The movie looks like it was filmed through mud. You can barely make out what you are seeing, anyway, so even if it wasn't boring and pointless, you wouldn't be able to see it.

The sound was obviously all recorded in post production, making it stick out like a sore thumb and sound entirely unnatural and distracting throughout the entire movie. It makes you want to watch the characters lips at the beginning at least, knowing it's probably totally out of sync, but then you realise that you can't really see their lips - remember? The movie was filmed through mud.

The plot is something to do with college students (I guess) going to stay in an Indian burial ground. They wander around doing nothing and saying nothing of interest for an hour until they are killed in a variety of admittedly gruesome ways. One is clubbed from behind by something that looks like a topless Dame Edna Everidge. In the movie's most noteworthy scene of violence, a woman is, indeed, actually scalped, so at least there was a reason for the title other than the racist exploitation of Native American myths the movie engages in.

The scalping scene may not look all that realistic, but it must have cost some actual money. If they could afford to do that, why couldn't they have come up with a plot for this mess, a boom mic, and a camera lens that wasn't covered in sludge?

Extremely underrated slasher from Fred Olen Ray...

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 6/10 · 10 August 2005]

Looking back that whole video-nasty thing was really just a big anti climax. Kind of like sharing a bed with Angelina Jolie and finding out that she'd just given her vow to a nunnery. In the UK, films like Pranks and Madhouse were reputed to be so vile and depraved that the thought of sitting through one of them felt like stealing your next door neighbor's car and going banger racing round the neighborhood. But when they finally hit shelves some twenty years later it was like, "Oh was that really what all the fuss was about?" That's why it's nice to come across a title that someway lives up to its exaggerated reputation. Scalps certainly delivers on the gore score and includes one or two grisly scenes that somewhat exceed the expectations of the shoestring budget. The Grim Reaper and Mystery in Rome also boasted extreme gore scenarios, but still couldn't lift themselves above mediocrity. I hoped that Scalps could support the bloody stuff with a few decent shocks and surprises.

Six bizarrely spaced out anthropology students head out to the Californian Desert to dig up Indian artifacts. Despite a crazy Ralph-style ominous warning from an old Indian named Billy Iron Wing, they continue their journey deep into the vastly uninhabited wasteland. Whilst digging in the blistering sun, the troupe unwittingly evoke the wraith of Black Claw, the spirit of an evil renegade who died one hundred years earlier. Before long he has possessed one of the gang members and begins to slaughter the rest of them one by one. Stranded in the remote wilderness, the remaining students realize that they have to fight to survive the Renegade's murderous intentions…

Fred Olen Ray tells us on the very informative DVD commentary track that the original distributors of Scalps took the liberty of editing the movie themselves in an attempt to make it more appealing for the commercial market. Unfortunately, what they did was pretty much make a mish-mash of a film that would have probably been a damn site more intelligible if they had just released it as the director had originally intended. That explains why we see images of the killer roaming the hills before he has even taken possession of the body that he uses to stalk his victims. Despite these unintentional blunders, Olen Ray's slasher entry is actually a worthwhile addition to anyone's horror collection. Yes it's easy to mock the amateurish dramatics, unfocused photography and choppy editing. I'm very sure that any intelligent film critique could quite rightly rip the production standards to shreds. But when you consider the fact that this is probably THE most poorly-financed of the early eighties genre additions, then you have to give credit for the fact that it actually manages to do what many bigger budgeted efforts from the time couldn't come close to. Because for all its shoestring and money skimping short cuts, you just cannot deny that Scalps is still one hell of an unsettling movie experience.

The director wisely chose to mimic John Carpenter's method of creating an eerie soundtrack and keeping it playing continuously throughout the runtime. It helped to build a credibly creepy and extremely desolate feeling that remains morbid right up until the closing credits. The pace is slow in places, but you're always aware that something is going to happen soon, and when the shocks finally arrive they certainly live up to the grim reputation. The notorious rape sequence feels all the more mean spirited because the victim then has her throat messily slashed before being scalped moments later. There's also a pretty effective decapitation that shows a plausible flair for the macabre from the director. Not many horror films can create the gloomy and isolated feeling that Scalps carries so effortlessly, and that's why this movie in its uncut form is so severely underrated.

Unfortunately, all this credibility doesn't come without it's fair share of problems. The lighting is no less than awful in places. One minute the characters will be sitting round and a camp fire in total darkness and then the next scene will look like it was filmed at around 6 o'clock in the evening. It's obvious that any early eighties miniscule slasher production isn't going to have the best lighting rig in Hollywood. But when it boils down to a handful of candles and two flashlights, questions seriously do need to be asked. Perhaps Olen Ray would've done better to shoot all the action in the afternoon light, instead of trying to outgrow his finances. As I said earlier, the acting is as block-like as an antique timber yard and some of the camera operators look to have turned up on set after a 24-hour private meeting with Jim Bean and Jack Daniels. It's also worth noting that the bemusing tag lines on most VHS releases make this sound like some type of Zombie flick. Don't be fooled. This is 100% stalk and slash and it looks like the person responsible for the cover blurb didn't even bother watching the movie.

But despite the above blemishes, Scalps is still mean and creepy enough to earn a decent 6/10 star rating. It may well be cheap, nasty and ever so poorly produced. But when you consider the fact that drivel like Hospital Massacre cost almost three times as much to make, then you have to say that this is a pretty decent chunk of slasher memorabilia. It certainly has the potential to be updated and remade, there just hasn't been enough crazy Indian killers! Certainly worth a look

Scalp Me! - This Movie Is Second-Rate Drivel. 1-2-Miss

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 4/10 · 27 June 2022]

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Scalps; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.75 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.50 Acting: 1.00 Enjoyment: 0.75

TOTAL: 3.75 out of 10.00

Scalps is an early Fred Olen Ray joint, and it shows. Both the story and filmmaking had potential. Sadly, Ray misses out on all the evident opportunities, Only to deliver a half-baked tale, an undercooked movie stuffed with overcooked and hammy performances. Hhmm...why do I feel hungry?

In essence, the story should have been enough to grab the audience by the hair and hold their heads steady so their eyes were glued to the screen. However, what could have been a profound story about Native Americans and their abuse at the hands of the land thieves and their subsequent revenge, becomes nothing more than another slasher flick with supernatural overtones. It's a shame, as at the start of the picture, it's apparent the narrative could have taken a more esoteric trail. What we do get is fifteen minutes of filler travelogue as we ride with the students in their clapped-out station wagon to the dig site. However, we get to meet an obliging Native American who kindly recounts the dark legends of the area, so we know what's coming later...much later. And that's one thing about this tale - There's a lot of dead space, which required packing with factual, relevant, and gripping information about the tribes of the area. Then there are the characters who are about as vacuous as the story. Here's a note to all the prospective writers-come-directors out there: If you're going to have a slow story, populate it with exciting and credible individuals - and should the characters be insubstantial, then make the story captivating - of course, both would be perfect.

I felt tricked by the opening sequence of the movie. The cinematography, though too slow in pace, is quite decent. It builds up an eerie atmosphere. And the archaeologists forced suicide is superbly filmed. But, sadly, once the opening credits have ceased rolling, the filming style slips down the slippery slope of averageness. The worst scenes are in the so-called university and the teenager's journey. You can tell the university is nothing but rooms in somebody's house. And the repartee between Professor Machen and his secretary is shot separately. They're obviously not in the same area. Watch as the secretary passes the Prof a file. He doesn't take it from her hands but lifts it off his desk and thanks her. And, when we're on the car trip, Ray gives us some dire panoramas of oil derricks and powerlines, with the customary rough road bounce and shake. The rest is your standard point and shoot. On the plus side, the special effects are passable, except for the full rubber mask of the Native American; surely it wouldn't only be the guy's head that transforms under the possession(?) It should be a full-body mutation. It looks fake because the masked face and body colourings are so varied.

The cast is the prime element in this production, and these actors and actresses are not brilliant. However, thanks to the poor script and below-par direction, they shine a smidgen brighter. Regrettably, it's not nearly enough to keep the audience's attention.

I cannot recommend this missed opportunity of a movie to anyone - not even the die-hard Native-American Horror Lovers dotted around the globe. There is so much wrong with Scalps that I could write a book, and sadly, only enough good to fill out the back of a match-book cover. Don't waste your time collecting this Scalp.

Drop that bloody knife and put your wig back on, it's time to check out my Absolute Horror and Killer Thriller Chillers lists to see where I ranked Scalps - or to find something better to watch.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Dark, disturbing and essential

[shuklavinash · 8/10 · 16 November 2013]

Digging the pile of low budget horror, I happened to find this piece of pure gold that shines even today. I knew Fred Olen Ray for an actor but with this one, Ray totally grabbed me in. I now salute him for his directorial abilities that gave us this masterpiece. The year is 1983 and like many others who praise the glory of the golden age of untamed slashers, most precisely the early 80s, I am going to sing my praises for 'Scalps'. Despite being a B flick, 'Scalps' is heavy on atmosphere and gore. The atmosphere is creepy and the nostalgic tune that plays during the run time is fairly engaging and makes one feel desolate. It goes along seamlessly with the striking visuals of the desert. People will say that deserts offer no scope for the urban horror where we usually have a killer who wears a mean nifty hat, muffler and a drenched raincoat, murdering the hapless victims to secure their body parts as the trophies of victory. NO! This one is surely different and a twist of supernatural combined with some good locations and a fully functional storyline make 'Scalps' unique among the other entries. The director drags us to the desert locale and shows the enormous amount of horror that is trapped there. Analyze 'Scalps' in the light of Wes Craven's classic 'The Hills Have Eyes' or Alexander Aja's remake of the same film, and you'll certainly understand my point. Deserts are cruel locations and those who have been pampered in the cities will have to learn to live again from the very scratch. Well here our actors aren't just freaked out by the tortures of nature, there is 'something' very strange in the air that's manipulating some of them to murder others and that 'something' doesn't just cease to exist as it has remained there for more than a century.

'Scalps' begins with an old man with a shovel heading towards the Californian desert. Perhaps a gold digger, the old man falls prey to a possessed Indian artifact that somehow kills him. Now there is a team of 6 archaeologists. They decide to go to the Californian wasteland to dig up a few Indian artifacts. The project guide and museum curator Professor Machen (Kirk Alyn) is assigned a task to submit the inventory of historical artifacts he has in his museum and fails to join the others. As the Californian law prohibits the archaeologists to dig anything from an ancient Indian burial ground (aboriginal heritage), Machen asks the team members to dig the area secretively without letting anyone know. He also advises them to tell others that they are officially going on a field trip. Now a nostalgic and disturbing tune begins to play as we find the team members looking out at the silent dark brown hills that hold a sinister enigma within. We come across some striking visuals from the desert. The wasteland is vast and spooky, the hills seem to be looking at the unfortunate victims-to-be and the vegetation speaks a lot about its lowly and mean nature that doesn't have anything to offer to the detoured individuals. The members embark onto their journey and finally reach near the burial ground. One of the team members DJ (Jo-Ann Robinson) receives a psychic vision and tells her mates that they are in great danger. She tells them that they are in the domain of Black Claw, the infamous native Indian black magician who was buried there a century ago. She further tells that by digging the burial grounds, the team has earned the wrath and curse of Black Claw. Unable to deduce her visions, the others take her for a daydreamer. Unfortunately the mystery deepens for everyone when they hear drums playing several feet under the ground. They also hear tribal ceremonial music and vocals. A team member Randy (Richard Hench) along with his girlfriend decides to find the source of music and gets closer to the burial ground where he and his girlfriend witness a ceremonial fire that has no heat. The ceremonial fire belongs to the Black Claw, who possesses Randy. Randy goes on a killing spree and begins to murder the other team members with neolithic tools. How the others race against time to save their necks forms the rest of the story.

'Scalps' has ample gore and a few squirmy murder scenes, so it may be a fortune cookie for the gore freaks. The murder scenes are disturbing and dark. Some of the scenes are shot in dark but that's the point Ray wants to make. They couldn't have brought the dark and abysmal side of the desert (both natural and supernatural) so brilliantly If they had used artificial lighting. 'Scalps' is interesting and has some amount of hypnotic quality as well. 'Scalps' has a genuinely creepy and hypnotic score that will live with you for a very long time. Also the tribal music that plays near the burial ground is hypnotic. The visuals are such that they would throw you in the early 80s and you'll be forced to recall those olden days when things used to be so raw, natural and wild. The only drawback here is the editing. Viewers may find it difficult to understand why the day randomly switches to morning, evening and night. Overall 'Scalps' has a strong message behind it. It simply negates the concept of 'The White Man's Burden' showing that there is still something far more advanced than the White Men or the civilized world has ever witnessed. 'Scalps' has impressed me every time I have watched it, so I give it 8/10 for the horror, gore, atmosphere, dark humor and plot.

Decent entry, if not overtly spectacular

[slayrrr666 · 7/10 · 23 December 2007]

"Scalps" is a pretty decent, if overall unspectacular slasher.

**SPOILERS**

Heading out to the desert, archeology students D.J., (Jo-Ann Robinson) Randy, (Richard Hench) Kershaw Ellerbe, (Roger Maycock) Ben Murphy, (Frank McDonald) Louise Landon, (Carol Sue Flockhart) and Ellen Corman, (Barbara Magnusson) prepare for a field trip assignment. Using local maps, they try to locate a burial ground that contained Native American remains for them to study. Finding the proposed site to study, they come across an old Indian legend concerning the movement of artifacts and bones from their graves would unleash the spirit of a warrior from it's resting place. As they manage to get the bones out of the ground, they suddenly find a series of strange events befall them and come to the realization that the stories were right and are now being stalking by a maniacal killer, who could be one of the students possessed.

The Good News: This one here does have a couple of rather nice areas that work. One of the main ones is that this one decides to forgo the usual matter of having it be an Indian burial ground and instead uses the storyline of making the artifacts removed from their land bring about the curse. That offers up a little amount of ingenuity, and makes for some really tense moments when the group begins digging up the grounds knowing full well that it will lead to them getting killed off. Those are quite fun and do have some nice amounts of tension to them. The kills themselves aren't terrible and do offer up some pretty gory moments. One is whacked in the head with a tomahawk, another has an arrow shot into their eye at close range, another has their throat slit before being scalped, all done in extreme close-up and another has a slew of arrows shot into their back and legs, among others. These here do spill a lot more blood than expected, which allows them to have some appeal to the gore-hounds out there. The final half-hour, which is where ninety-five percent of the action takes place, is a lot of fun. It's fast-paced, contains all the best scenes and kills, and is something that allows for plenty of fun to be had. The other good part is all of the pop-up scare tactics where the head of a deformed Indian head appears out of nowhere to offer up a few nice scenes. The fire-pit is the best one, since it's the best out-of-nowhere gag among them, and really works nicely. These here make the film watchable.

The Bad News: This one isn't that bad, but it does have a couple of rather important flaws to it. The first one is the fact that this one takes so long to get going. After the opening murder, this one takes until the forty-five minute mark to knock off another, and that is just way too long for the film. That leaves unending scenes of them complaining to no end about the seriousness of what they're doing and how it will come back to hurt them. Those scenes are just irritating, no less as the heroine is the one complaining about it, and rather than trying to take the obvious route or reasoning with the others, this one decides to have them focus on just ranting out a long series of statements that are supposed to get the viewer to side with the heroine, as they're arguing for the right cause, but this is done in such the wrong way that it finally gets too much and those scenes are annoying to watch and just make the film a chore to sit through when they're on. Those also hurt the film due to it's length, as this one could've really been stretched out a little longer. The fact that it doesn't even make eighty minutes is something of concern, as there's a little more that could've been done to make the film a little longer without it feeling stretched out at all. The confusing way it ends is something else, and when viewed, it will be obvious what is being criticized since it's easy to spot and makes for a rather head-scratching moment. These few areas here are what keep the film down.

The Final Verdict: While this one isn't that terrible as far as slashers go, the incredibly long period of time in between activity is what hurts this one the most. See this one only if you're a hardcore slasher fanatic or have a need to see trashy films, otherwise there's much better ones out there to see rather than this one.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language, Brief Nudity and Rape

Pure Cheese Of The Most Entertaining Variety.

[glennhgreen · 5/10 · 20 July 2022]

Another vengeful Native American possession flick (no, not a slasher flick) from the early eighties. This time it's a group of students off to excavate a Native Indian burial ground. Not a good idea in any film.

Scalps has it all, bad acting, bad dialogue, bad editing, a soundtrack that ranges from effective subtle creepiness, to being downright annoying. It's as if the producers gave someone a synthesizer and a four track recorder and said "okay, go nuts on my film!". Most of the actors look like they just finished filming shampoo commercials, their hair SO perfectly not sun-damaged for being in the desert days at a time. One of the actors' hair actually gets a stylist shout-out at the end of the film! Probably the only redeeming aspect of the film is the gore, which is pretty above b-movie grade. The film starts with a decapitation(!), with quick shots of a monstrous Native Indian face, (these badly edited cuts continue throughout) which will figure prominently in the latter part of the film. Again, this film is far from good, but it does have an odd watchability about it.

Let's hope there's not a sequel...