Nerdly » ‘Scalper’ Review

10th Jan2024

‘Scalper’ Review

by Alain Elliott

Stars: Susan Priver, Jake Busey, Robert Miano, Bai Ling, Kate Patel, Elina Madison, Robert Rhine, Joe Castro | Written and Directed by Chad Ferrin

Scalper doesn’t tell a particularly original story but it doesn’t really need to because it is definitely going for a modern take on the eighties slasher. In the movie we discover that everyone around the psychic Clementine Carter (Susan Priver) is being murdered by a masked killer dubbed ‘The Scalper’. She must use her psychic abilities (and occasional help from the police) to work out if this is a copycat killer or the murderer Andrew Lubitz back from the dead.

Scalper goes right for it with its pretty unpleasant and brutal first scene. We watch a man get stabbed from behind, and then repeatedly stabbed in the ass, until he is very close to death, at which point the killer uses the same knife to cut across the top of his victim’s forehead and scalp them. It’s as horrific as it sounds and the visual effects are impressive.

Those visual effects, which I believe are all practical, remain impressive for the whole movie. Each death scene looks fantastic on that front. I had to pause the film briefly at one point and the image I had in front of me was someone whose face had been completely of its skin, and it was a scary, grim image. There are stabbings through necks, bodies and heads, which all look fantastic. There’s still plenty of horror fans who absolutely love films that stick to the practical effects and go all in on the death scenes, and those fans will very much enjoy Scalper. The camera does not disappear when these scenes happen, you see the murders in all their bloody glory.

There’s a mix of actors with limited experience and veterans of acting. We have the always reliable Jake Busey (Starship Troopers, Strangers Things) who looks a little like Michael Madsen here but thankfully acts much better. Robert Miano (Donnie Brasco, Fast & Furious) pops up for a little bit and Bai Ling (The Crow, Cranks 2: High Voltage) is her crazy, charismatic and brilliant self – I must check out more of her movies. She starred in a film called Mega Ape last year, and that’s as good a reason as any. Considering she only seems to have acted in four movies, I thought Kate Patel did well alongside Busey as Detective Lupino.

Director Chad Ferrin has a decent-looking C.V. ( I want to check out Exorcism At 60,000 Feet) and on the back of Scalper, here’s definitely a director to look out for. Plus he does a lot here with a relatively small budget.

Like I said previously, the story isn’t original or actually that good. Scalper very much feels like many other movies you’ve seen before, as two cops – yes, one good, one bad – try to solve the murders and work out who the killer is. All with the help of somebody who shouldn’t get involved as much as they are. In this case the psychic but she does have plenty of reason to be involved, and at least the police are suspicious of her.

As far as low-budget slashers go, Scalper is pretty decent. The killer has a good, scary look, there are plenty of great-looking death scenes and the cast is enjoyable. Horror fans could do a lot worse than starting off the year with this movie.