Satan's Sadists

Al Adamson's film is so low-budget and the actors( with a few minor exceptions) are so obscure, that this grade Z biker-flick is brutally realistic. Made during a time of political as well as social conflict, Adamson strives to show the "hopelessness" of an entire generation "lost" as a result of the war in Viet-Nam. Russ Tamblyn's horrifying role as the demented leader of the gang is gut wrenching. It's one of his most brutal and meatiest roles. Gary Kent shines as the hero of the story. And as usual, veteran character actor Scott Brandy gives a sturdy performance. To the naked eye this may simply seem as a "schlock"- drive-in biker- quickie film. But, a deeper study finds a symbolic film with nerve-shattering reality. It's Al Adamson at his finest.

This film is a kind of guilty pleasure of mine. It's not that good, but it definitely delivers on the drive-in schlock that made the late 60s and early 70s exploitation films fun. The cast was mostly unknown at the time (most of them still are) with the exception of Russ Tamblyn (still can't get plum roles like in West Side Story). I wouldn't say that it's a true biker film, but it's still pretty wild.

The Sadists stop at a gas station/diner in the middle of nowhere in Death Valley. At this diner there is the old man who runs it, a waitress, a middle age couple on vacation, and an ex-marine who is traveling to California. The gang decides to have a little fun at the diner, but things go sour when the old man tells them to leave. They take it badly and go on to kill everyone except the marine and waitress. The marine kills two of the gang, and then he and the waitress escape into the desert. Of course, the gang chases them down because they don't want any witnesses.

The acting wasn't great, but it sufficed for a low budget biker film. The bikers, of course, were stereotypes of the typical members of biker gangs at the time. There's the sadistic leader (Tamblyn), the acid freak (cleaverly nicknamed acid, those zany bikers), the tough guy, the sex fiend, and leader's strung out girlfriend. Most of these characters were pretty one dimensional, but you really don't need to know much more about them anyway. The plot of the film keeps moving at a decent pace, so I can't find too much of a problem with it. Of course there are some psychedelic scenes (it was the 60s after all) and some interesting deaths. Overall, it wasn't great, but it suffices as an exploitation film and if you get into it it is kind of fun.

MST3K fans look out for the teacher in "Angel's Revenge" as the waitress, and Acid (Greydon Clark, the director of "Angel's Revenge").

The title bunch are a particularly odious motorcycle gang in this, producer / director Al Adamsons' contribution to the then popular cycle of biker films. Adamson does tend to take a lot of flak for his somewhat less than slick low budget productions, but this is actually one of his better efforts. It benefits from a very enjoyable gathering of B movie regulars, both new (at the time) and old. Russ Tamblyn stars as cheerful psycho Anchor, leader of this gang. Anchor and company terrorize the customers at a diner / service station, and end up pursuing some of them into the remote California wilderness. This movie lets you know right off the bat just how depraved its antagonists are, as they help themselves to an unwilling woman and then send her, her boyfriend, and their car over the edge of a cliff. When they happen upon a group of college age gals out in the desert, they drug them and have their way with them. They just can't get their comeuppance soon enough. Also among the cast are Scott Brady as weary cop Charlie, Kent Taylor as the diner proprietor Lew, Regina Carrol (Adamsons' real life partner) as biker mama Gina, Jacqueline Cole as comely waitress Tracy, Gary Kent as nice guy former soldier Johnny, and John 'Bud' Cardos, Robert Dix, Greydon Clark (who himself became a director years later), William Bonner, and Bobby Clark as the gang. Carrols' slutty dance number inside the diner rates as a highlight, as do the fight sequences between Tamblyn & Cardos and Kent & Cardos. The soundtrack is quite good, with Harley Hatcher composing both the songs and the score. The prolific Gary Graver serves as both the editor and cinematographer (assisted in the latter capacity by an uncredited Vilmos Zsigmond). The makeup artist is a young Susan Arnold (daughter of the great sci-fi director Jack Arnold), who went on to great success as a casting director and, eventually, a producer. But it's really Tamblyns' scenery devouring performance that makes this worth seeing; he even came up with a monologue on his own. As far as biker films go, this definitely has to be one of the trashiest ones ever made, and it's nothing if not amusing for its entire 87 minute running time. It's rough, crude, and suitably rousing, and the sleaze just oozes off of the screen. Seven out of 10.

Having served a stint in the Marine Corp, "Johnny Martin" (Gary Kent) has returned from Vietnam to the United States and decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to start life all over again. On the way a married couple by the names of "Charlie Baldwin" (Scott Brady) and "Nora Baldwin" (Evelyn Frank) pick him up and they drive through the barren California countryside and eventually stop at a small gas station in the middle of nowhere to get something to eat. While there a motorcycle gang called "Satan's Sadists" drive up and upon entering the café begin to give the few people there a hard time. One thing leads to another and after eventually killing Charlie, Nora and the owner of the café outside the gas station, the psychotic leader of the gang who goes by the name of "Anchor" (Russ Tamblyn) returns to the café to finish off both Johnny and the waitress named "Tracy" (Jackie Taylor). However, Johnny manages to overpower the men left behind to guard them and escapes with Tracy in a dune buggy out into the desert. Not long afterward, Anchor and his gang soon give pursuit with the intention of killing these two witnesses. What nobody in the gang counts on is the resourcefulness of Johnny or the mental instability of their leader. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I thought this was one of the grittier films of this particular sub-genre with a good dose of raw violence and a late-60's atmosphere that blended in quite nicely. That said, although it certainly wasn't an outstanding movie by any means, it still managed to keep my attention for the most part. For that reason I have rated this movie as slightly above average.

Coming from a huge fan of the trashy, 1970s, low-budget, motorcycle gang, genre, my comment may be slightly biased. Being a fan of the wonderful Al Adamson might be too much as well. However, as far as sleazy 70s biker flics go, "Satan's Sadists" is indeed one of the better ones. Russ Tamblyn outdoes himself as the whacked out, sadistic leader of the group. His performance is truly fun to watch and he plays the villainous role to the max. The soundtrack is also tons of fun with some memorable "acid" tunes that should have you saying "Wow man!" every 20 minutes or so.

It's a pretty violent entry to the biker genre, but few of them are really "sugary-sweet". "Sadists" however, is maybe a bit above the rest with some real nastiness committed by the title group. For something a little less shocking, "Easy Rider" would be a better choice or even "Hell's Angels On Wheels".

Fans of schlock director Al Adamson have to see/own this one. It's a biker "classic" and deserves high ranking in biker film "Top Tens" right alongside "Northville Cemetery Massacre", "The Glory Stompers" and "The Savage Seven". Enjoy!