[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Scalps

  • 1983
  • R
  • 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
4.0/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
Scalps (1983)
A group of archeological students venture on Indian land for a dig. Unfortunately, they release an evil spirit who possesses one of them and starts killing the others.
Play trailer1:53
1 Video
8 Photos
Slasher HorrorSupernatural HorrorHorror

A group of archeological students venture on Indian land for a dig. Unfortunately, they release an evil spirit who possesses one of them and starts killing the others.A group of archeological students venture on Indian land for a dig. Unfortunately, they release an evil spirit who possesses one of them and starts killing the others.A group of archeological students venture on Indian land for a dig. Unfortunately, they release an evil spirit who possesses one of them and starts killing the others.

  • Director
    • Fred Olen Ray
  • Writers
    • Fred Olen Ray
    • T.L. Lankford
    • John Ray
  • Stars
    • Jo-Ann Robinson
    • Richard Hench
    • Roger Maycock
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.0/10
    1.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Fred Olen Ray
    • Writers
      • Fred Olen Ray
      • T.L. Lankford
      • John Ray
    • Stars
      • Jo-Ann Robinson
      • Richard Hench
      • Roger Maycock
    • 55User reviews
    • 39Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:53
    Trailer

    Photos7

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 3
    View Poster

    Top cast16

    Edit
    Jo-Ann Robinson
    Jo-Ann Robinson
    • D.J.
    • (as Jo Ann Robinson)
    Richard Hench
    • Randy…
    Roger Maycock
    • Kershaw Ellerbe
    Frank McDonald
    • Ben Murphy
    Carol Sue Flockhart
    • Louise Landon
    Barbara Magnusson
    • Ellen Corman
    Kirk Alyn
    Kirk Alyn
    • Professor Machen
    Carroll Borland
    Carroll Borland
    • Dr. Sharon Reynolds
    Cynthia Hartline
    • Ann
    Forrest J. Ackerman
    Forrest J. Ackerman
    • Professor Trentwood
    George Randall
    George Randall
    • Billy Ironwing
    Jay Walker
    • Kyle Dunne
    Frank Scott
    • Prospector
    Pepi
    • Little Kid
    Romeo Rodriguis
    • Cashier
    Jesus De Luigi
    • His Buddy
    • Director
      • Fred Olen Ray
    • Writers
      • Fred Olen Ray
      • T.L. Lankford
      • John Ray
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews55

    4.01.6K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    8HumanoidOfFlesh

    Perhaps Fred Olen Ray's best film?

    "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.
    kfries

    Jesus, what a piece of junk.

    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.
    soggycow

    A complete mess of a movie...

    "Scalps" is an extremely predictable and boring early eighties movie. Looking back, the only good thing about this movie is the special effects, but unfortunately, all of the gore takes place either in the very beginning or the very end. This movie is a very good example of a movie with a good premise that has gone bad.

    The "plot" of this movie is as follows: A group of students goes out to a Native American burial ground to try to find artifacts. Predictably, the group of students begin to see signs of ancient spirits, who eventually start to attack and overcome the group.

    Aside from being almost plotless beyond the first fifteen minutes, this moviesuffers from bad acting, extremely annoying characters, bad pacing, and horrible quality. The spirit effects actually look cool, but eventually they get annoying when the same shots are played repeatedly. I suppose that the gore effects are decent, but there are very few of them.

    Try to miss this one. My rating: 2 out of 10
    BaronBl00d

    Scalps...Not a Cure for Hair Loss

    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!
    3Vomitron_G

    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.

    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".

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      According to director Fred Olen Ray, this film was severely re-edited without his consent by the distributor at the time of its release. Scenes were added out of context which threw off continuity and gave away major spoilers, such as the fates of most of the characters, as well as the shots of chanting Indian ghost's head, which was haphazardly overlayed over such scenes as the old man cutting his own throat. Also, all but one of the scenes showing the ghost with the lion's head were shot as test footage and were never intended to be included in the released film.
    • Goofs
      Before one man's decapitation, his head comes off before it's supposed to.
    • Crazy credits
      Next summer watch for SCALPS II: THE RETURN OF D.J.
    • Alternate versions
      According to the director, the "20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" DVD is the most uncut version presently available, and is a combination of footage taken from a heavily censored German master, a Canadian master and the American VHS release which was the only source he could find for the imfamous scalping scene, this accounts for the wildly varying video quality of the DVD.
    • Connections
      Edited into Scalps II: The Return of DJ (2007)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ14

    • How long is Scalps?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 2, 1983 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Der Fluch des blutigen Schatzes
    • Filming locations
      • Agua Dulce, California, USA(Afrey estates)
    • Production company
      • American Partnership
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $15,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 22m(82 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.