Wednesday, September 2, 2009
By: David Harley
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During one of our podcasts earlier this year, Tex, Keenan and I got a chance to talk with author David Szulkin, who also works for Grindhouse Releasing and Box Office Spectaculars. While chatting with us about Grindhouse's then new release of Fulci's Cat In The Brain, he brought up BOS' upcoming project, Scum Of The Earth. While I can't say that I've actually seen this wonderfully trashy sounding exploitation film, I can't help but be really excited to see anything that uses a process called SCUM-VISION to remaster its picture. Read on past the break to check out the press release for 'Scum' and some details about what to expect on the DVD and Blu-Ray releases.
BOX OFFICE SPECTACULARS TO RELEASE ‘SCUM OF THE EARTH’
Filthy Backwoods Horror, Presented in SCUM-VISION!
Box Office Spectaculars is preparing a special edition DVD release of SCUM OF THE EARTH, the notorious redneck exploitation hit from cult horror director S.F. Brownrigg (DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT).
SCUM ranked among the top-grossing nationwide movies in Boxoffice and Variety when it played in 1976 as POOR WHITE TRASH PART II. Armed guards were stationed at theaters to shield minors from the “abnormal” subject matter, and audiences were warned that “this film captures poor white trash in their natural habitat.”
Noted for his ability to create creepy ambience on a low budget, Brownrigg has been called “one of the great forgotten men of exploitation cinema.”
SCUM OF THE EARTH is thick with a foul atmosphere of dirt and rot-gut whiskey, a sordid Southern Gothic family portrait framed in a primitive backwoods stalk-and-slash story that predates FRIDAY THE 13TH, HALLOWEEN, and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.
On a romantic vacation at a lakeside cabin in Texas, pretty city gal Helen Fraser (Norma Moore) flees into the forest after a lurking, unseen psycho slays her husband with an axe. Lost and panicked, she runs into Odie Pickett (Gene Ross), the mean, moonshine-swilling father to a degenerate clan of hillbillies.
Helen winds up trapped in Pickett’s isolated rural shack, cruelly violated and exposed to the family’s wretched life of white-trash poverty, abuse and perversion. Meanwhile, the maniacal killer stalks the woods, striking again and again…
SCUM OF THE EARTH was restored from rotted, decayed drive-in movie reels, the only surviving elements of the picture. This new release uses the patented “Scum-Vision” process to preserve every filthy frame of film in true 1080p high definition – as it’s never been seen before, on DVD and Blu-ray disc.
The new DVD documents the making of SCUM OF THE EARTH with rare photos, lost footage, artwork, commentary, and interviews with the film’s cast and crew. Paying tribute to Texas trash cinema, the package also includes the complete screenplay for DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT and other surprises!
David Szulkin, author of WES CRAVEN’S LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT: THE MAKING OF A CULT CLASSIC, produced the new, restored version of SCUM OF THE EARTH with Box Office Spectaculars founder Bob Murawski, acclaimed Hollywood film editor of Sam Raimi’s DRAG ME TO HELL and SPIDER MAN 1, 2 & 3.
Box Office Spectaculars has released deluxe edition DVDs of such gorehound movie classics as PIECES, I DRINK YOUR BLOOD and Lucio Fulci’s CAT IN THE BRAIN. The label is an offshoot of Grindhouse Releasing, the company responsible for THE BEYOND, CANNIBAL FEROX and the controversial smash hit CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST.
Viewer testimonials on SCUM OF THE EARTH from IMDb.com:
“This made me feel grimy all over….filthy, sleazy and sickening.”
“A distinct atmosphere, probably found nowhere else. Raw, crude, politically incorrect horror.”
“Delivers some of the funniest hillbilly dialogue in the history of cinema, great characters, and a smidgen of rape, incest and murder. It’s difficult to resist the film’s sleazy exploitation charms.”
“A lost gem…a must for any fan of the backwoods.”
See the trailer at www.GrindhouseReleasing.com!
Read 1 User Comments
I like the way Brownrigg uses so many of the same people in his films (even though it's for budget reasons). Gene Ross was great as "the Judge" in BASEMENT. I've waited a long time for this legendary exploitation-piece... |
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