''Scum of the Earth!'' (also known as ''Sam Flynn'') is a 1963 American

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

directed by

Herschell Gordon Lewis Herschell Gordon Lewis (June 15, 1926 – September 26, 2016) was an American filmmaker, best known for creating the " splatter" subgenre of horror films. He is often called the "Godfather of Gore" (a title also given to Lucio Fulci), though hi ...

and produced by

David F. Friedman David Frank Friedman (December 24, 1923 – February 14, 2011) was an American filmmaker and film producer best known for his B movies, exploitation films, Nudity in film#Nudie-cuties, nudie cuties, and sexploitation films. Life and career Fri ...

. It is credited as being the first film in the "roughie" genre.

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 as Harmon Johnson (as Thomas Sweetwood) * Allison Louise Downe as Kim Sherwood (as Vickie Miles) * Lawrence J. Aberwood as Lang (as Lawrence Wood) * Sandra Sinclair as Sandy (as Sandy Sinclair) * Mal Arnold as Larry * Craig Maudslay Jr. as Ajax * Christy Foushee as Marie (as Toni Calvert) * Doug Brennan as Carl * Christina Castel as Cindy, the model * Edward Mann as Mr. Sherwood * Lou Youngman as Dave, punk in diner * William Caulder as Joe, punk in diner

Production

In his autobiography, David F. Friedman wrote that ''Scum of the Earth'' was shot in six days, just two weeks after filming on ''

Blood Feast ''Blood Feast'' is a 1963 American splatter film. It was composed, shot, and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, written by Allison Louise Downe from an idea by Lewis and David F. Freidman, and stars Mal Arnold, William Kerwin, Connie Mason, ...

'' had ended and was filmed in most of the same Miami and Miami Beach locations as in the previous film. It was filmed in black-and-white not to save money, but to intentionally give it a dirty look, "like an old, scratched

16 mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, edu ...

stag film A stag film (also blue movie or smoker) is a type of pornographic film produced secretly in the first two-thirds of the 20th century. Typically, stag films had certain traits. They were brief in duration (about 12 minutes at most), were silent, d ...

." 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 AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cul ...

wrote, "Unintentionally funny and poorly photographed, this film certainly has its moments for connoisseurs of bad cinema, but others will find it tawdry and dull."

Availability

Something Weird Video Something Weird Video is an American film distributor company based in Seattle, Washington. They specialize in exploitation B to Z films, particularly the works of Harry Novak, Doris Wishman, David F. Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis. I ...

released ''Scum of the Earth'' on DVD with ''The Defilers'' (1964) on 20 February 2001. It is also available on the Arrow Video Blu-ray release of Blood Feast (1963) as a special feature.

References

External links

* * {{Herschell Gordon Lewis 1963 films 1960s erotic films American erotic films American sexploitation films Films directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis 1960s English-language films 1960s American films