Scalps

This one is putrid. No redeeming points at all. A friend rented this and we punched him out for daring to fall asleep during it because we still had to watch it. He deserved it and worse. What could he have been thinking in renting this travesty? Avoid at all costs, even drugging the audience is futile.

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.

The best way to describe Scalps is as a missed opportunity. The premise is scary enough. College kids go to remote desert location to look for indian artifacts, come under attack from evil black magic and strange creatures(who are not explained in any way) and an evil indian sorceror.

This movie is utter pants. All the scenes shot at night are virtually impossible to watch, you literally cannot see anything, and the sound quality is very poor. It could be argued that this is just my copy of the movie, but then how do you explain the totally incoherent narrative? It makes no sense whatsoever. Where did the monsters come from? Why are they attacking the kids? Why did the people in town know about this if no one returns alive?

At the end of the day I think that this makes the film virtually unwatchable, and not endearing like The Beyond of Lost highway as the questions raised by those films are not suppossed to be answered.

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.

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!!!!!!!!