Scum of the Earth

A couple years ago, I caught this late one night on the Halmark Channel, and boy oh boy, this one just made me feel grimy all over, and by the end, I wasn't quite sure how to feel. Scum Of The Earth AKA Poor White Trash part 2 was directed by a fellow named S. F. Brownrigg. A year of two before this one, S. F. directed what I consider to be one of the all-time Horror greats, Don't look in the basement. I would also like to add that I absolutely do not consider Scum Of The Earth to be in the "great" category, although, if you fancy depressing Hixploitation, then yeah, I guess it's pretty fantastic. I'll give good ol' S.F. one thing, he went for filthy, sleazy, and sickening, and that's exactly what he, and we got. Scum Of The Earth begins with a couple, Paul and Helen honeymooning in the woods (yeah, you're right, that's pretty weird). Out of nowhere, Paul is murdered by an unseen killer. The horrified new widow runs off into the woods, right into the backwards drama of a backwoods family, in the deepest, darkest depths of the Texas sticks. After spending just a few minutes with the Pickett Family, and with the stench of incest in the air, Helen wonders whether of not she's safer out there...

Meet Odis Pickett: Abusive, borderline-sadistic old drunk, and family patriarch. Just lookin' for somethin' to rape. Odis considers his "house" a suitable place for Helen to hide from the killer.

Meet Sarah Pickett: Sassy, vindictive little VD farm, and Odis's daughter. Sarah hates her family, especially her brother, she hates Helen, too. Sarah will do anything for a dollar.

Meet Bo Pickett: Inbred man-child, and Sarah's brother, would believe anything he's told, not much going' on with Bo. Everyone hates him, except Emmy.

Meet Emmy Pickett: Odis's pregnant, abused, second wife. The only decent human in the Pickett house hold. Sold to Odis by her father, to cover a debt Emmy's a pretty good sport, if you ask me. Possibly, Helen's only hope for survival.

Scum of the earth fails in some areas, like with suspense, and a well thought-out plot-line. On the other hand, this film has a distinct atmosphere, probably found nowhere else, not even in Poor White Trash part 1, whatever the hell that is. If you want to really go for raw, crude, politically incorrect Horror, with no sugar-coating, you might not hate this as much as some. Just a big pile of negative. I can only imagine how humid, and flat-out uncomfortable the shooting location was for this. Brownrigg really must have wanted to make movies. Not the best thing the man ever did, but come to think of it, it probably is second best. Hixploitation for those of us with a dark sense of humor. just think of it as Moonshine Mountain's evil twin. 7/10

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 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

All my high school friends and I saw this movie at a drive-in. We still quote lines to this movie still! "Bo, git me a jar!" It was retitled as "Poor White Trash, Part II" - but there never was a Poor White Trash - Part I. I've been trying to get this on video for over 20 years, with no luck. It's so bad, it's funny. I think the budget for this flick must have under $50,000. The dialogue is laughably bad, the actors are godawful, the plot has so many holes like a broken colander. But to its credit, this movie is far worse than anything Ed Wood did - "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Glenn Or Glenda," etc. don't hold a candle to this flick. Possibly "Eraserhead" might come close, but I don't think so. To set the mood to watch this movie, you must be either drunk (half-in-the-bag) or stoned or both.

Helen Fraser (Norma Moore), a pretty (or should that be 'purdy') city girl on vacation with her hubby Paul, flees into the Texas backwoods after finding her spouse dead (having lost an argument with the business end of an axe!). Panic-stricken, she runs into redneck Odis Pickett, who takes her back to his cabin to meet the family: pregnant wife Emmy, daughter Sarah (pronounced Say-rah), and idiot son Bo. But rather than call for help, Odis proceeds to subject Helen to a night of drunken abuse, culminating in rape.

And all the while, a murderer lurks in the woods outside, waiting to kill again.

Scum Of The Earth (AKA Poor White Trash 2), by director S. F. Brownrigg, may not feature the highest of production values, and might be a mite talky for many people, but with a script that delivers some of the funniest hillbilly dialogue in the history of cinema (this one packs in every clichéd redneck saying in the book), great characters (think the Clampetts, only not so clever), and a smidgen of incest, rape and murder, it's difficult to resist the film's sleazy exploitation charms.

Norma Moore does a decent enough job as the woman in peril, looking suitably scared (and rather tasty) throughout, but it is those playing the dungaree wearing, possum eating hicks that really make this piece of 70s trash cinema unmissable. Gene Ross is delightfully odious as Odis, slurping moonshine from a jar whilst slapping his slutty daughter to the floor and threatening his pregnant wife; Charlie Dell, as Bo, makes an extremely convincing moron; Camilla Carr is equally as credible as Bo's loose-knickered sister (I'd buy that for a dollar—NOT!); whilst Ann Stafford, as Odis's downtrodden woman, provides some much needed pathos.

Added to this potpourri of Southern stereotypes are several brief-but-nasty scenes of gore (the opening axe-ing, an impalement, a barbed wire garrote, and a shotgun blast to the face) and a truly silly ending in which the identity of the killer is finally revealed; the result is a mighty enjoyable movie that'll have you smilin' like a mule eating' briars.

And if anyone tells you diff'rent, don't pay him no never mind!

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.