Scum of the Earth

"Sandy Sinclair" (Sandra Sinclair) is a pretty blonde who for unspecified reasons feels forced to model in the nude for a photographer named "Harmon Johnson" (William Kerwin). Likewise, Harmon also feels somewhat trapped into photographing her because another man by the name of "Ajax" (Craig Maudslay Jr.) has threatened to destroy his studio if he doesn't cooperate. However, since both Sandy and Harmon are getting paid for their efforts they reluctantly continue. Then one day Sandy is told by the overall boss, "Mr. Lang" (Lawrence J. Aberwood) that she can essentially retire provided that she finds her replacement. She then recommends an attractive teenager by the name of "Kim Sherwood" (Allison Louise Downe) who is currently in high school but needs money for college in the fall. At first she is told that the pictures will be relatively modest. However as she continues each session becomes more and more risqué to the point that she soon finds herself being blackmailed by another accomplice named "Larry" (Mal Arnold) to pose entirely nude. Fearing that her father might find out, she does as she is told which then results in even further degradation from both Larry and Ajax. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a relatively mild "exploitation" picture which leaves much to the imagination. Of course, the fact that this was produced in the early 60's probably has much to do with that. The acting was okay but in any case this was a very basic type of film which certainly won't appeal to all viewers. That said, I recommend it for mature audiences only.

A naive and innocent teenage girl (Allison Louise Downe) is blackmailed into modeling in the nude for a photographer who is in league with a teenage gang whose boss illegally sells photos of teenage girls being abused and degraded.

First of all, let's get it out of the way: the father (Edward Mann) is possibly the worst actor who ever lived. Downe, on the other hand, does a great job, and it is interesting that she transitioned from nude victim to one of Lewis' longest collaborators.

Allmovie wrote, "Unintentionally funny and poorly photographed, this film certainly has its moments for connoisseurs of bad cinema, but others will find it tawdry and dull." This may be true, but to put it in the context of H. G. Lewis, it is actually one of his better-made movies and the film quality has held up well. Most of his films have awful prints, but not this one. Even the score seems pretty decent.

An innocent girl Kim (Allison Louise Downe) is forced to pose topless to pay for her college tuition.

The script is actually pretty good (except for a few clunky lines) and the direction is VERY good--for Herschell Gordon Lewis. The man made a lot of infamous blood and gore films of the 1960s--they were badly acted, directed and scripted but the plentiful gore kept you watching. But with this film something happened--he photographed in B&W and he actually wrote a fairly good script. Also there are a few competently directed sequences. Still it's really a bad film because of one thing--the acting. It's just AWFUL!!!!! It's just beyond belief how bad everybody is in the film (especially Downe). Also, despite the subject matter, there is no nudity. They come close but this would probably get by with a PG-13 rating today. So, a pretty good script and direction ruined by lousy acting. I'm sure some people are reading this and thinking I've lost my mind but seriously--HG Lewis made a fairly serious, good film!

One hilarious mistake--at one point Kim gets a letter addressed to her in Detroit MI--yet all the exterior shots show palm trees that only grow in CA!!!!

While this was the, as yet, uncrowned Godfather of Gore's final film shot in B/W it was later said to have been one of the first 'Roughies' and proved so financially successful that many similarly deranged films would muckily follow in its wonderfully mucky footsteps! While probably a tad naive and quaint when seen today, 'Scum of The Earth' nonetheless maintains a strange fascination outside of it merely being a crusty ol' museum piece of celluloid history. Fans of fearless filmmaker, H. G Lewis will be only too aware of the inordinately likable, more than robust character actor, Bill Kerwin's place in the triumphantly bloody pantheon of proto-splatter history by his memorable performance in the iconic cannibal opus 'Blood Feast' (1967), so it is doubly thrilling to see future Ishtar idolator, Fuad Ramses (Mal Arnold) in his earlier guise as, Larry, the blithely abusive lackey to odious Lang (Lawrence J. Aberwood), the porcine head of this sordid, photographically reprehensible flesh-pot factory.

Ostensibly a cheaply made, moderately lurid morality tale, or to be pedantic, an 'immorality tale', this grubby-fingered monochrome 'expose' of crass female exploitation highlights the desperate plight of a guileless,Sherilyn Fenn lookie-likie, Kim Sherwood (Louise Downe) as she is crudely coerced into the unwilling role of 'glamour model' by arch manipulator, serial groomer of young women, Harmon Johnson (William Kerwin), erstwhile photographer, and full-time Heel! The grimily unsophisticated narrative very rapidly plunges ever deeper into the darkling mire of smut, since the fourth abject member of these insidious flesh wranglers is the vicious, over-muscled thug, Ajax (Craig Maudsley Jr.) who takes enormous pleasure in psychologically and physically assaulting these poor women into tearful submission in order to momentarily sate his openly sadistic lusts, perhaps, the estimable Mr. Lewis might have had some additionally powerful effects on future creators of extreme Japanese Pinku as well as single-handedly inventing the splatter movie genre! 'Scum of the Earth' simmers stagnantly to a marvellously melodramatic, all hellz' a poppin' climax, being tritely bookended with a pleasingly earnest voice-over from the mercurial mondo mastermind himself!

Appearing somewhat rudimentary in style and content, 'Scum of The Earth' is most certainly not without dramatic interest, since one can't help but readily sympathize with our ingenious protagonist's increasingly desperate plight, and there's an amusingly broad, almost pantomime-esque quality to her abusers nastiness! These sleazy smut-rakers and their outrageous machinations remain consistently fun to watch, perhaps a few years earlier these dastardly sinister archetypes of cartoonish despotism would have no less callously tied shrieking damsels to the train tracks whilst repeatedly swirling oily moustaches with hubristic aplomb!

Initially released on VHS by psychotronic curators 'Something Weird Video' many loons ago, it is certainly no small joy to view this formative example of H. G Lewis's trope-inventing filmmaking in much improved HD quality, perhaps not one of the more essential works from his inimitable cannon of kaleidoscopic, crimson-soaked lunacy, and while not the best place to begin investigating H. G Lewis's exhilaratingly orgiastic oeuvre but undoubtedly an important, hugely influential trashy B-Picture in its own right. Without belabouring the point, one can plainly see how utterly essential the charismatic, Bill Kerwin's myriad acting contributions have been to the continued relevance of H. G Lewis's extraordinary, convention-baiting, sin-suppurating, epoch-defining, heroically hyperbolic, celluloid freight train of midnight movie madness!

If anything of "SOTE" is to survive, it is the monolouge and direction of Lawrence J Aberwood's speech as Lang, where he dresses down a young model and the fury of the earth's mysogony pours fourth from his repulsive gob, as Lewis cuts closer and closer into this strange piehole of hell. I think it's probably the best sequence Lewis ever directed. If it appeared in a less rediculous film it might be more recalled, but I guess "Blood Feast" stole it's thunder. I like that when Lang knows the jig is up, he is pretty philosophical about ditching his business. I mean, how much money can you make selling cheap cheesecake in the High School underground? Aberwood's excellent work is matched by William Kerwin, who is quite believeable as the morally conflicted photographer. The rest of the cast stubbles along. As this may have been the first "roughie", there is only one rough scene and it's not that rough.

I was looking for another film called SOTE, but accidently ordered this one which I had seen years ago. The "You're dirty!" speech makes it more than worth seeing again.