A group of college archaeologist students travel into the California desert to dig up Native American artifacts. Despite the warnings of town drunk Billy Ironwing, the group trespasses into a burial ground and accidentally unleashes the spirit of Indian shaman Black Claw, who possesses one of them and begins killing. I've had this Fred Olen Ray horror flick for over a decade, but never watched it until last night. It is certainly limited, but good fun thanks to some gory special effects (including a scalping that rivals MANIAC) and some goofy stuff (why is the shaman shown wearing jeans in the early bits). Fred certainly got better technically over time, but this still proves to be better than the stuff he is cranking out now (those horrible BIKINI T&A movies). The final credit promises a SCALPS II: THE RETURN OF D.J., but we never got it. C'mon, Fred, don't let us down! We need that before you stop making films.

A group of college students find themselves being terrorized by the lethal spirit of the evil Black Crow (Richard Hench in grotesque make-up) while digging for artifacts in an ancient Native American burial ground.

While this film suffers from sluggish pacing, a drawn-out opening act, and the unfortunate fact that the distributors recut the movie with flash forwards that give away the fates of most of the characters well in advance (thereby undermining any real tension this picture might have otherwise had),writer/director Fred Olen Ray nonetheless still deserves credit for making nice use of the desolate desert locations, maintaining a grimly serious tone throughout, doing a solid job of crafting a brooding gloom-doom atmosphere, and delivering plenty of nasty gore that includes a brutal scalping and a juicy decapitation. The acceptable acting from the competent cast holds the movie together, with Jo-Ann Robinson in particular a definite stand-out with her sweet and appealing portrayal of the perky D.J. Moreover, there are nice bits by Kirk Alyn as amiable old duffer Professor Machen, Carroll Borland as Machen's huffy superior Dr. Sharon Reynolds, and Forrest J. Ackerman as the bumbling Professor Trentwood. The cinematography by Larry Van Loon and Cynthia Webster makes occasional effective use of a dynamic hand-held camera. The shuddery synthesizer by Drew Neumann and Eric Rasmussen hits the skin-crawling spot. No classic, but worth a watch for dedicated fans of 80's low-budget indie fright fare.

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.