Scum of the Earth

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!!!!

One of the earliest of "roughie" films of the 60s, this cheap Florida film about how nudie photographers lure innocent cuties to shed their clothes and morals is pretty dull with only brief flashes of H.G. Lewis' brand of low-grade brilliance. Acting that ranges from overwrought to amateurish plus static direction keeps this from being a good film but a vicious belt-whipping scene keeps it from being too timid with its seedy subject matter. Look for much of the cast of Lewis' classic film BLOOD FEAST in this.

"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 '60s 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.

"Scum of the Earth" is a thoroughly entertaining sleazy-B from one of the masters of exploitation filmmaking, Herschell Gordon Lewis (credited here as "Lewis H. Gordon"). It stars his then-wife, Allison Louise Downe, as Kim Sherwood, an innocent young woman who agrees to start posing for shady photographer Harmon Johnson (William Kerwin, a familiar face in HGL movies). Unfortunately for Kim, the pics are intended to get more and more trashy and brutal, in order to make them sell. When she tries to back out, she's harangued by smut peddler Mr. Lang (Lawrence J. Aberwood), and agrees to some nude shots in the hopes that she will soon be free and clear.

HGL considered this a "transitional" picture in his filmmaking career, as it was his last feature to be shot in black & white, and it's credited with starting a new sub genre of exploitation known as the "roughie": a low budget film that would combine sex and violence in a gritty manner.

While some viewers may feel that "Scum of the Earth" doesn't quite go far enough, it's still zippy and trashy enough to hum along nicely. It does feature an appropriate amount of nudity, and if people are still feeling squeamish regarding the story's treatment of women, much of its nastier stuff is left to the imagination rather than explicitly played out on screen. It's an entertaining, amusing tale, scripted by Lewis himself, and does feature some genuinely scummy characters like Lang, under age cretin Larry (Mal Arnold, the villain in "Blood Feast") and especially the sadistic monster Ajax (Craig Maudslay Jr.).

The performances range from perfectly acceptable (Kerwin, Downe, Arnold, Maudslay, Aberwood, Sandra Sinclair as the weary Sandy) to completely amateurish (Edward Mann, playing Kims' dad, is just reciting lines instead of actually giving a performance). The show is completely stolen by Aberwood, whose brief rant at Kim is the unqualified highlight of the tale. Familiar to anybody who's seen the promo sequence on all Something Weird DVD's, it includes such choice lines as "You're damaged merchandise, and this is a fire sale!".

Overall, a worthy viewing for people eager to delve into HGL's filmography.

Eight out of 10.

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.