Scum of the Earth!
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Scum of the Earth! aka Devil's Camera is a 1963 American exploitation film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and produced by David F. Friedman. It is credited as being the first film in the "roughie" genre.
Contents |
Synopsis
An innocent college student, Kim Sherwood (Downe), is lured into doing "glamour" poses to earn money for tuition. Once she has done this work she is blackmailed by the photographers into doing more and more explicit posing. Various forms of implied sexual violence follow until the girl is rescued from her desperate situation.
Cast
- William Kerwin: Harmon Johnson (as Thomas Sweetwood)
- Allison Louise Downe: Kim Sherwood (as Vickie Miles)
- Lawrence J. Aberwood: Lang (as Lawrence Wood)
- Sandra Sinclair: Sandy (as Sandy Sinclair)
- Mal Arnold: Larry
- Craig Maudslay Jr.: Ajax
- Christy Foushee: Marie (as Toni Calvert)
- Doug Brennan: Carl
- Christina Castel: Cindy, the model
- Edward Mann: Mr. Sherwood
- Lou Youngman: Dave, punk in diner
- William Caulder: Joe, punk in diner
Production
In his autobiography, David F. Friedman writes that Scum of the Earth was shot in six days. It was filmed in black and white not to save money, but to intentionally give it a dirty look, "like an old, scratched 16mm stag film." Friedman had the idea of promoting the film a week before its showing by giving theater audiences comic books of the story.
Critical reception
Allmovie reports that Scum of the Earth "certainly has its moments for connoisseurs of bad cinema, but others will find it tawdry and dull."
