Director Fred Olen Ray has admitted that his movie, Scalps, concerning an evil Indian warrior spirit, Black Claw, who takes over the body of hunky Richard Hench who, in turn, begins murdering his fellow college classmates/friends in gruesome ways after excavating the ancient artifacts from a burial ground near a sacred area called the Black trees, was badly tampered with by rude investors("The guys from New York")making the entire experience an incomprehensible, incoherent mess. Ray, through great trouble, has tried to assemble a film in it's entirety using what materials were present, but Scalps(..sent to numerous foreign distributors who themselves edited footage out and into Scalps), he admits, is still an improper version of what he set out to accomplish. I thought the film itself was rather dismal, but his audio commentary was both fascinating and enlightening as he thoroughly explained the painstaking process he went through attempting to bring this film back to it's complete form. The photography(..Ray proclaims that he at least worked with 7 or 8 DP's)is often really ugly and the cast doesn't help the director out. From start to finish, the film is a trial to sit through. The pacing drags at a snail's pace, and the dialogue can make your ears bleed, but perhaps the writing is hampered by those who say the words. The Black Claw spirit carries the facial features of a grotesque witch you might find in a Grimm Fairy Tale storybook. The gore often delivers the goods, specifically the scalping scene and slit throat which gushes blood. There's also an impressive oozing bullet wound to the forehead as well. There's an unpleasant rape scene where Richard Hench's possessed Randy throws his girlfriend down, ripping her shirt and bra, while forcing penetration as she cries out in horror. Ray mentions in the audio commentary that he didn't want to create such a scene but wanted to distribute this film into theaters and that "the guys in New York" demanded nudity during the rape. I thought Forrest J Ackerman's cameo, plugging his MOnsters mag, was shameless and inappropriate(..and it was clear that Olen Ray doesn't exactly condone it in retrospect). Carroll Borland(..the *vampire* protégé of Lugosi's Count in Browning's MARK OF THE VAMPIRE)has a minor scene as a college dean furious with anthropology professor(..played by former Superman Kirk Alyn)for breaking certain rules regarding artifacts he possibly confiscated illegally. My favorite scenes in the film feature skeletal remains left burning in the sun as either a rat or desert tarantula crawl about over it. The history behind this film is far better than the product presented, but Scalps is a definite example of what can happen when a directors work is butchered by others. The beheading is rather limply presented. The music alternately works and/or is tiresome.