Le Sadique

If you have seen the bizarre cult movie Eegah (1962) before approaching The Sadist, you could be forgiven for being a little concerned. After all, both films are notable for featuring Arch Hall Jr in a starring role. Hall displayed such a remarkable lack of acting talent in the earlier film that it seemed inconceivable that he would be in the least bit threatening as a psychopath in a gritty thriller. Well, all I can say is that the Arch hall Jr of The Sadist is like a man reborn. He quite literally is excellent here.

The film has a plot as simple as can be - three teachers pull up at a deserted junkyard in a remote location and are quickly held captive by a psychotic young couple. It's a lean story with no wastage whatsoever. It really is a very good example of how to make an effective low-budget movie, where the lack of resources never gets in the way. In fact, this is a quite hard-hitting thriller for its era and has some tough scenes. Some characters are killed when you don't think they will be and, generally, it surprises.

As I said before Hall plays the sadist of the title but he is not the only standout performer, Marilyn Manning is very good too as his unhinged girlfriend. Her character is an interesting one, as she says nothing throughout except inaudible whispers to Hall, yet she manages to create a fascinating character and projects a quite magnetic screen presence. There are only five other actors in the entire cast, they all do solid rather than memorable work. The film benefits too from great cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond who went on to be director of photography in such high profile later films such as Deliverance (1972), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and The Deer Hunter (1978). In this little movie he manages to utilise the clutter-filled environs of the junkyard to fantastic effect, especially in the latter suspenseful pursuit scenes where three different characters navigate their way around the junk-filled landscape where we sometimes see them all captured simultaneously on screen in different parts of the yard. The direction by James Landis is pacey and certainly makes the most of the limited set-up. Ultimately, this is well acted, photographed and directed. And this combination amounts to one of the great 60's B-movies.

I have to say, I was a little worried that after all the great things I had heard about "The Sadist" that I would be let down in the end. After all, its an early sixties cheapie thriller starring Arch Hall Jr. and its probably just overrated for its bleak attitude which is so uncommon in films of that era. Right?

Wrong.

The plot is simple but strong. Three teachers on the way to an L.A. Dodgers game have car trouble and pull into a house/car garage on the side of the road. They search for help but the place seems to be abandoned... However there is warm pie and uneaten food on the kitchen table of the house. Something is definitely amiss and all three teachers are feeling somewhat uncomfortable when suddenly the find out they aren't so alone after all... A cackling Charlie Tibb (Arch Hall Jr.) and his twisted lolita of a girlfriend (Marilyn Manning) creep out of the graveyard of abandoned cars and take the situation into their control...

"The Sadist" is truly a great movie. Arch Hall Jr. gives us one of cinema's greatest maniacs, some one on par with the likes of Anthony Perkin's Norman Bates or Klaus Kinski's Don Lope de Aguirre. Never for a moment did I find Charles A. Tibb to be unbelievable. Marilyn Manning is equally strong as Charlie's child-like girlfriend Judy, seemingly even sicker then Charles. She whispers deranged activities in his ear and giggles constantly and in the end I found her to be the more disturbing of the duo. The three teachers are not quite as strong, Helen Hovery and Don Russel put out solid performances but unfortunately the resident "big-talker" Richard Alden gets some what obnoxious.

What is perhaps most remarkable about this film however, is the way it is shot. Vilmos Zsigmond's (here credited as William Zsigmond) camera lingers on the sweat, pain and suffering of the three teachers only to cut to a playful and giggling couple of psycho's happily sipping their Coca-Cola's. The whole film is filled with a feeling of heat and agony, a constantly blazing sun shining down into a barren waste land of dead cars and dead bodies. Flashes of hope are rare and always beaten down with such hatred and force that the viewer almost hopes it wont come back... One of the most high tension films I have ever seen.

While some of todays viewers may lose sight of the strength and message of this film, I believe that it is as strong as it ever was. Required viewing for any fan of low-budget thrillers, and required viewing for any one interested in just how powerful the media of film can be.

****/*****

'the sadist' starring none other than arch hall jr. who was practically skewered to death by the mst 3000 gang's jabs in the hilariously bad 'eegah!' stars and carries this great exploitation shocker from the early 1960s. this movie proves, if anything, that anyone can make a good movie if they put their mind to it, even arch hall jr. the script keeps you on your toes, as all good thriller scripts do, it is surprisingly brutal for a movie made in 1963 and there is no way that one of the majors would've even touched this thing because of that very reason. one of the great dps of all time, academy award winner for the 'deer hunter', vilmos zsigmond shot this thing and it has all the visual flare of a french new wave film, which you never saw in low-budget exploitation films of the time. i can see how some people might think that arch hall jr.'s performance is over-the-top, but i see it as stylistic. i am surprised that arch hall jr. wasn't given more legitimate roles after his performance in the sadist. anyway, i highly recommend this for a friday night movie when there is nothing else good on the shelf at the video store.

adam rant studio city

This is one of Arch Hall Jr's no budget wonders. With an unknown cast of five, one desert junkyard location, and a script that could have been written by a ten year old, you would think this movie would fall on it's face. Not a bit.

It is based on the Charles Starkweather murder spree, right down to the psycho girlfriend. Arch Hall Jr even looks a little like Charlie Starkweather without the glasses.

Three nerdy school teachers on their way across the desert to see a baseball game in LA have car trouble. They stop at a remote desert junkyard/repair shop for help only to stumble into a trap. Little do they know that Charlie and Judy are waiting for some unsuspecting victim to stop so they can carjack and kill them.

Arch Hall's performance is really chilling. He seems to relish the pain he causes his victims. The black and white close-ups of his demonic face are terrifying, as is the rest of the camera work. His girlfriend, played by Marilyn Manning has an interesting part. She is dainty and sexy, has no lines, and whispers in his ear through the entire movie, but she is able to project an air of delicious menace. The rest of the cast is incidental, but competent.

I was somewhat familiar with Arch Hall Jr. I'd seen him in something unimpressive before, so I expected a skid row production with some support from Robert F Lyons and Mimsy Farmer maybe. I was shocked by his villainous performance. It reminded, in some ways of Robert Blake in "In Cold Blood". I even shocked myself by giving it an 8/10. It also reminded me to stop being such a snob.

Forget everything else that Arch Hall jr. appeared in. This is one unforgettable, independently produced gem. I remember first seeing it in the wee hours of the morning many years ago and it left a horrifying impression.

SADIST doesn't impact through gore, but sheer psychological torment and absolute fear. No cute gimmicks, just a candid depiction of an excruciating incident. Struggling independent film makers should check this out as brutal proof of what an innovative artist can truly achieve with practically no money.

Three school teachers (two men and a young prim and proper woman) arrive at a deserted rural service station after having car trouble. From the word-go you have that apprehensive feeling that something is not right. Misfit Charlie Starkweather (Hall), along with his girlfriend, Judy, make their sudden appearance, holding them under the gun. Hall brilliantly portrays one of the most dangerous pychopaths in the history of cult cinema. He simply loves to intimidate, threaten and murder. Period.

He boasts to his next victims that he murdered the station owners and orders them to fix their car so he and his female partner-in-homicide can make their getaway. They've acquired an infamous reputation as road killers and are being hunted by the law.

What makes this film so powerfully suspenseful is that it follows real time from start to finish, imprisoning the viewer (like the victims) within every second by second development. YOU are definitely there and you have enough time to fearfully wonder what you would be feeling and doing if you were in the their unfortunate place. The photography is very impressive, utilising many unique angles, giving you a clear sense of the entrapping, isolating surroundings.

I won't be a clot and tell you what happens but I am confident enough to bet that you will be extremely freaked by a totally unexpected surprise/shock that haunted me for a long while after seeing it.

This film has so much integrity that it couldn't be camp no matter how hard it tried, but it does have the ironic humor in the respect that the joke ends up being on you. You won't be relieved by even the slightest ha ha, and I challenge the boys at MST3000 to try to lampoon this. I bet they can't. That's how effective this obscure, disturbing slice of cinema actually is. The kind of picture that no one has the courage to make in todays' commercially cowardly "Oh no! We'd better not offend anyone", movie scene. Pity.

If you don't believe anything I've said, then challenge me by checking it out.