Scrubbers
March 3rd 2010 23:48
Co-written by Roy Minton, who penned the brilliant, but disturbing Scum (1979), a sordid and sorrowful portrait of life in the English borstal system for young male offenders, Scrubbers is the borstal for young women, the term ‘scrubbers’ being slang for an undesirable person (think Richard E. Grant screeching it drunkenly to the schoolgirls passing by in Withnail and I), however, there are a few scenes of the inmates down on their knees with hard brush and soapy water.
Directed by Swedish glamour actor Mai Zetterling and produced by Handmade Films (George Harrison’s film company), Scrubbers has a theatrical quality to it, partly due to the movie’s low-fi production values, but also in the way Zetterling directs the scenes and actors, often emphasizing an almost pantomime element. While by no means as realistic, in terms of the violence, as its male counterpart Scum, nor as convincing in terms of the acting, there is a sense of conviction that emanates strongly through the whole movie. Many of the actors had actually done time, and look genuinely hardened.
Eddie (Katy Ingram) protects Carol (Amanda York) from the bullies
There are some striking similarities between Scrubbers and Scum, that one could even accuse the screenwriting of Scrubbers as being simply a rip-off of the critically lauded Scum, right down to the lonely suicide, and the one-on-one climatic confrontation between Annetta and Carol in the kitchens. What stands out most memorably from the movie is the vernacular of the inmates, the banter and exchange of cigarettes and whatnot via swinging strings from their respective cell windows, the dirty sing-songs aimed at maintaining some level of morale.
Dana Gillespie as borstal screw Budd
So where did the majority of these actors end up I wonder? Kathy Burke (Glennis), was notable in Gary Oldman’s searing study of violence Nil By Mouth (1997), Pam St. Clement (Strapper) went on to star in popular UK series EastEnders, Miriam Margoyles (Jones) featured in several Blackadder episodes, while Dana Gillespie (Budd) was already known as a blues singer. But I want to know where Amanda York disappeared to. And what happened to the rather fetching tartan-skirted lesbian, who performs the Punch & Judy puppet sketch in black lipstick with Doreen? There’s very little about Scrubbers online, even imdb.com has no external reviews or pics available, which is frustrating.
As it was very difficult to find stills from the movie here’s the trailer and two excerpts:
Here’s the Hellhole Bitches chant and dirty limerick scene:
And for those with stronger stomachs here’s the movie’s pivotal gross-out shock scene from the same psycho freaks sequence:
Scrubbers DVD is courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment, many thanks!
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
cheers for the props! I struggled myself with trying to get certain bits and bobs of info for this movie, let alone the pics! glad I could be of some use ... are you writing a paper on the movie? on the british correctional facilities for young female offenders??