Scalps

Scalps (1983)

Directed by: Fred Olen Ray

Rating: 2.25 out of 4 Pentagrams

Reviewed By: Jeff Deth

Scalps is the story of a group of college archeology students who venture out into the desert searching for ancient Native American artifacts. Of course it all goes horribly wrong. Once their professor backs out on joining them at the last minute, the kids head out on the road planning for a weekend of drinking and fornication.

Normally that would have been great, but without him the bumbling teens unknowingly trespass onto haunted Indian burial grounds. But it’s not as if they weren’t warned. After all, the creepy town derelict at the gas station told them all about the scalpings, etc. going on in the Black Tree area where they were headed. But of course they were too busy buying their beer and planning to get laid to give a damn.

In a sense this film is derivative and formulaic. It reminded me of The Hills Have Eyes but with a Friday The 13^th cast of horny couples. Not that that’s a terrible thing. I give the film credit for introducing a new spin on an otherwise typical slasher story.

I expected the acting to be horrible given the low-budget. I was surprised and fairly satisfied with the believability of most of the characters under the circumstances. The budget was low but they did plenty of things right with it. The soundtrack was really good, setting a dark vibe throughout. I found the cinematography to be engaging at times as well, with some interesting shots being attempted. One aspect I could have done without was the dog-faced mask on one of the killers. Clearly it’s a mask and it doesn’t help that it was shot straight on in full light. They might have gotten away with it if they had heavily shadowed him.  On the other hand, the killings showed some quality special effects with some slashed throat and decapitation action. There is one full-on scalp that takes place but for a film called “scalps” you would have expected more.

I really like the idea of Native American ghosts haunting the desert as the basis for a film. Scalps, does an ok job of executing it but it could have been better somehow. I’m not going to put it down too hard because over-all it works and did more things right than wrong on balance.  If you’re a fan of the early work of Wes Craven you will probably appreciate Scalps. Or, you could just as easily find it to be a poor man's knock off all the same. 

Pieces

Pieces (1981)

Directed By: Jaun Piquer Simon

Reviewed By: Jeff Deth

Rating: 2.5 out of 4 Pentagrams 

Are you looking for a slasher film that lives up to the expectations set by the genre?

This is a movie that can’t help from falling into every stereotype imaginable but still manages to be thoroughly entertaining. Unashamedly following in the bloody footprints of Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Pieces does it’s best to arm it’s killer with weapons that have proven their capabilities in shocking audiences. We have chainsaw and butcher knife. Add to that a cast of college girls running around topless before they hit the blade and you have an all-American slasher.

This film doesn’t disappoint when it comes to fully revealed kills full of gore and brutality. Bodies sawn in half, knife plunges straight through the head, decapitation. After all, the film’s plot is that a killer is on a mission to collect body parts and assemble them together like a human-jigsaw puzzle. Which he does in fact succeed in by films end. What happens until then is mostly arbitrary.

To be critical, there’s not one decent actor on set or in fact one actor who does not utterly embarrass themselves in their attempts to act. The script has it’s basic premise of a young boy who kills the shit out of his mother back in 1942 for insisting that he not play with puzzles of naked women. The boy fakes out the police by hiding in the closet as if he had escaped the killer’s wrath. Thus the crime goes unsolved and the psycho murderer boy goes free. We bounce into the 80’s onto a Boston college campus where the string of limb severing murders kick off.

As to be expected the main characters are the investigators picking up on the killer’s trail piece by piece. They are aided by a goofy-looking student whom they allow to play an integral part in the investigation, as would any professional. Then we have the astute Dean and the backwoods maintenance man.

In between the sex and bad hair, there’s a bunch totally left field scenes and dialogue, which give this movie quite a bizarre charm. Due to the general weirdness and nonsensical logic, Pieces distances itself from the respectable classics of the horror genre. But in so doing it gives itself a flavor of fun that makes this a great view with friends. That being said it also distances itself from something like Texas Chainsaw in it’s X-rated assault of mutilation. Director Jaun Piquer Simon doesn’t leave much to your imagination when it comes to sex or violence. This is a movie that is as it was touted back in the day “exactly what you think it is.”

And for everything that is predictable about this film, they tag on a final scene nothing can prepare you for.