Thursday, October 5, 2017

POOR WHITE TRASH PART 2 (1974) * ½


You know you’re in trouble from the very first scene.  Two lovers sit outdoors, holding each other in their arms.  Then, the camera slowly dissolves to… the same shot of the two lovers holding each other in their arms!  That’s right, folks:  They pulled a Manos! 

At least this ineptness is interrupted by a not-bad scene where the lover boy gets an axe in his chest.  This sets his best gal a running through the woods where she meets a lecherous country bumpkin who takes her home and holds her prisoner while his equally trashy family members look on.  Eventually, the killer makes his way to their cabin and begins snuffing out the country-fried clan one by one. 

The director was S.F. Brownrigg, and if you’ve seen his Don’t Look in the Basement, you might already know what to expect.  Part ‘70s hicksploitation flick, part ‘80s-style slasher, Poor White Trash Part 2 is thoroughly unpleasant and is filled with long painful scenes of people shouting at one another in overdone southern accents.  Even though portions of the film are a chore to sit through, it fitfully comes alive whenever someone gets bumped off.  In addition to the aforementioned axing, there’s a decent scene where a guy gets his throat torn out with a rake and an OK barb-wire strangulation. 

This was originally released as Scum of the Earth, but it made much more money as Poor White Trash Part 2.  It’s funny because the first Poor White Trash wasn’t that film’s original title either.  That was a drama called Bayou, starring Peter Graves.  Naturally, the two pictures have nothing to do with one another. 

Suggested Drinking Game:  Take a shot every time the psycho patriarch says, "Fetch me a jar", and you'll be just as drunk and demented as he is.  

AKA:  Scum of the Earth.

No comments:

Post a Comment