Scum of the Earth

A young couple go to a remote cabin and the husband is immediately killed by a mysterious figure with an axe. The wife runs into the woods and encounters Odis Pickett, the patriarch of a white trash clan living deep in the woods. He takes her in, but it becomes clear that he has no intention of letting her leave. Meanwhile, the axe wielding stranger starts picking off members of his family. This regional curiosity is from Texas exploitation exploitation maven S.F. Brownrigg, best known for "Don't Look in the Basement". Like that film, this is a grungy, downbeat little film that, while not as good, is a great example of low budget regional horror of the period. Pickett is played by Gene Ross, who's also in "Basement". He is a decent, creepy actor, who I quite like.

This is pure gold, a hicksploitation proto-slasher thats going to be a new regular watch for me this thing needs a cleaned up blu ray asap.

what? nobody yet commented on this incredible, well-known masterpiece of filmwork? just kidding, this is an all around s***ty, obscure little piece of crap, so i'm not surprised mine is the sole review for the movie. i don't know under what circumstances you might come across this movie and actually consider watching it (people, the title should be enough of a tip off for you), but just in case it happens avoid watching it! this movie did for me what no other has ever had- actually made me feel physically sick. the basic plotline: the heroine's fiance or whatever is murdered in the first thirty seconds, she flees and takes refuge in the home of a bunch of southern redneck type stereotypes ("we got possom for dinner", "he may beat me and sleep with other women but he still loves me", "i seen how you get your extra money sis, you give it to guys for a buck", etc) stuff happens that you won't care about in the least, the characters recite their laughable dialoge and the killer finally and thankfully! kills every last one of them, except i think, our brain dead herione, and I cheered each time one of them bit the dust. even for films of bad movies, the occasional unitentionally hilarious moment doesn't make up for the whole horrible thing, and i still have visions of that old, unwashed, ugly disgusting man parading around shirtless in his overalls for half the movie!

Helen (Norma Moore) has just discovered her husband Paul with an axe as a fifth appendage and then has the misfortune of running into a reprehensible hillbilly Odis Pickett (Gene Ross). Odi takes her to his cabin where she meets his mentally challenged son Bo (Charlie Dell ), mean spirited daughter Sarah (Camilla Carr) and kind wife Emmy (Ann Stafford). The Odious Odi drinks and intimidates the rest of the family while the killer lurks outside. This film could have turned into a disaster but the Actors overcame at times silly dialog and made a fine low budget movie. A special shout out to Ms. Stafford who's soothing voice and kind way really added balance to the rest of the characters. I was surprised to see that she was only in a couple of films. The empathy and gentle gaze of her character Emmy were reminiscent of something one would expect from a fine actress like Liv Ullmann for instance. This one's going to stick with me for a bit in the same way Gal Young Un has.

this is a great back woods story starring gene ross aka the judge in dont look in the basement who also helped writing this film .gene brought along co stars from dont look in basement as camilla carr sara picket aka harriet also hugh feagin jim aka the sarge. this film is a must for any fan of the back woods