A professor of archaeology (played by '40s Superman star Kirk Alyn, in his last ever screen appearance) sends six of his college students on a field trip to the desert where they desecrate an ancient native American burial ground, much to the annoyance of an ugly Indian spirit called Black Claw, who possesses one of the group and proceeds to kill off the rest.
Director Fred Olen Ray blames the distributors for ruining Scalps by messing around with the editing; but even if this wasn't the case, I still very much doubt that the film would have been much cop, given its predictable plot, lousy pacing, lack of scares, and crappy performances from a cast of nobodies (apart from Alyn, the only other recognisable name is renowned monster movie aficionado Forrest J. Ackerman, who is clearly there to plug his latest book, Mr Monster's Movie Gold).
A few semi-decent gore effects—including a slashed throat, a grisly scalping, and a juicy decapitation—make the second half of the film marginally more interesting than the uneventful first half.
3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for IMDb thanks to the hilariously bad animatronic lion-man, which was apparently one of the things added by the distributors against Olen Ray's wishes.
Director Fred Olen Ray blames the distributors for ruining Scalps by messing around with the editing; but even if this wasn't the case, I still very much doubt that the film would have been much cop, given its predictable plot, lousy pacing, lack of scares, and crappy performances from a cast of nobodies (apart from Alyn, the only other recognisable name is renowned monster movie aficionado Forrest J. Ackerman, who is clearly there to plug his latest book, Mr Monster's Movie Gold).
A few semi-decent gore effects—including a slashed throat, a grisly scalping, and a juicy decapitation—make the second half of the film marginally more interesting than the uneventful first half.
3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for IMDb thanks to the hilariously bad animatronic lion-man, which was apparently one of the things added by the distributors against Olen Ray's wishes.