Scum Of The Earth

Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and produced by David Friedman, this was, I believe, their second ‘roughie’ of the mid-60’s, made right in between their gore trilogy. It deals with a young model named Kim who, for reasons of money, is lured into the world of ‘pornographic’ (if you consider bra and undies pornographic) pictures, and is later blackmailed into getting into the more explicit stuff. Of course, this movie is ridiculously hammy and melodramatic, making everything much more exaggerated that in life, but then again it’s an exploitation picture, and that’s the point. Like most HG Lewis pictures, the acting is bad and the camerawork shoddy, but the black and white nature of it all sure makes it all grimy, particularly when the fat guy in charge of the operation has his “you’re dirty” speech. All in all, a perfect exploitation picture from the days when something like this could be rated X but today would be PG.