One of my all time favorites.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

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.

When you see the name Forrest J Ackerman and Fred Olen ray then you know that you are in the Drive-in atmosphere. And let me say, that's exactly what we are looking at. It's made in the middle of the slasher heydays but it isn't really a slasher. Why Fred gives away the decapitation in the beginning is still an unsolved question because it almost the best part of this flick. What's weirder is the fact that before the begin credits you have only a score combined with the images. Once they start talking you're in for bad sound and bad editing. Some parts were filmed without extra light which gives you too dark images. Some parts of this flick is filmed on bad reel, other parts are better, it's just like they used different reels to add it on the DVD. The effects are sometimes ridiculous like the pop up of the Indian ghost with white eyes but others are done well. The scalping is done really good and the beheading is also okay. But overall you have to take a lot of talking before the movie really starts going. It reminded me a bit of the story of Evil Dead, here they use some Indian sticks to wake up old spirits and they get possessed by them killing their friends. This is a pure example of what Drive-in is all about. It's watchable still today if you're looking for old horrors but don't expect too much of it.

Still I have yet to see a Fred Olen Ray movie that is half decent. In this movie only its second half is somewhat half decent but as a whole this still remains a quite bad and really poorly done film.Fred Olen Ray just can't direct. He has no talent for it and his movie are just always a mess. His movies are just so bad, that they aren't even funny or enjoyable to watch and I'm used to seeing some very bad movies, so you can take my word for it.But having said that, this was probably the first Fred Olen Ray that I didn't hate to watch. It's first half is still absolutely horrible but the movie somewhat redeems itself with its second half, in which finally some stuff is happening.That is really the biggest problem. For the longest time there isn't happening anything. It's some bad build up, that in fact is only just some time filler, or else the movie would had even been a whole lot shorter than its mere 80 minutes of running time. Besides, it's all done so very bad, with some bad acting, horrible editing and silly characters and dialog, that also just aren't very interesting, combined all with the clueless directing by Fred Olen Ray.But once the action and horror kicks in, the movie becomes a far more pleasant one. Some moments and its concept does actually work out quite well. It makes it obvious that this could had been a somewhat decent horror flick, with perhaps some more money and some more talent involved. A slasher featuring some Indian ghost. Now doesn't that just sound like a potentially good and interesting concept for a genre movie like this one? Unfortunately the execution of it all is really lacking, as a whole.I didn't hated it but it's still some bad stuff all.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

"Scalps" is a bloody Native American slasher with a nice supernatural angle.Six archeology students head to the desert to search for Native American artifacts.Despite the warnings of DJ,the students disturb the ancient Indian burial ground and unleash the vengeful spirit of Black Claw.After possessing Randy,Black Claw hunts down the others with an arsenal of stone-age weapons.Despite its crude cinematography and editing "Scalps" is an overlooked slasher with some nasty bits of gore.The throat slashing and scalping sequence truly made me squirm in my seat.A combination of desert landscapes and sinister soundtrack gives "Scalps" a raw and nihilistic atmosphere of fear and despair.Unofficial sequel "Demon Warrior" was made in 1988.