The best thing you can say about The Sadist is that Arch Hall, Jr. got away from Arch Hall, Sr. in this production. The senior Hall confined his activities to being the voice over a car radio.

However it was Arch Hall, Jr. together with an equally untalented cast who were in the film as well. Another director got a performance out of him barely approaching, but missing adequacy.

Three school teachers are driving to Los Angeles for a Dodger game and the car breaks down. Pulling into a service station they are taken by surprise by two thrill kill seeking kids, Hall, Jr. and Judy Bradshaw. The rest of the film is what happens to all five of them and the terror inflicted by Hall and Bradshaw on the three teachers.

Based on the Starkweather/Fugate case from the previous decade. Hall is made up to look like a pompadoured teen wolf in training. He giggles like Richard Widmark in his performance. As for Bradshaw her role is confined to whispers, skipping, and sucking her thumb. Probably because she couldn't handle dialog.

There were some techniques in cinematography that were not amateurish by any means which relegates The Sadist possibly to Arch Hall, Jr.'s career role. A dubious distinction by any means.

I hope Johnny Depp who did so well with Ed Wood takes a look at the Halls because I know there's a story here.

THE SADIST is a well-remembered exploitation flick chiefly of note for featuring an incredible, monstrous, over-the-top performance from Arch Hall Jr. as the villain of the piece. Inspired by the notorious Starkweather case which was making headlines around the world just a few years previously, Hall Jr. plays his psychotic character to the hilt and is a real force to be reckoned with. The rest is a low budget thriller, as our villain holds a bunch of people hostage in a scrapyard. Power struggles ensue, with the game cast doing their very best to bring the characters to life. The suspense is punctuated by moments of violence which remain shocking even today. Strong stuff indeed!

I've gotta explain my summary, folks. As you probably know, Death Valley is one of the hottest places in the world and there is no way you'd have snow there in August (when temperatures regularly get in the 110s and 120s on a cool day!). This impossibility is what I can compare to THE SADIST. You see, Arch Hall, Sr. is known for being one of the worst tiny budget film makers in history--right along side such masters as Ed Wood, Al Adamson, Hershell Gordon Lewis, Ray Dennis Steckler and Ted Mikels. With such horrid turkeys under his belt as EEGAH, THE NASTY RABBIT and THE CHOPPERS, finding a film that is not just good but superb is practically an impossibility--and yet he did it with THE SADIST.

Like most of his later films, this one starred the writer/director/producer/narrator and sometimes actor's son, Arch, Jr.. Now Junior was not an altogether great actor, but he did manage to do some decent acting in WILD GUITAR (probably his only other good performance to date). But in EEGAH and the rest, he was pretty amateurish. You can't blame him really, as Dad insisted in starring Junior in a string of cheap films--probably in an effort to save money. After all, the budgets for his films often was less than the catering budget for most films. Heck, the budgets were probably lower than the cost of film for most films!! However, like his father scoring a bullseye with THE SADIST, Junior was also able to do a credible job. His bellowing and bigger than life acting was appropriate for this role of an insane serial killer who really, really enjoyed his work! The movie is incredibly simple...so simple you wonder how it was stretched to over 90 minutes without seeming overly long or padded. Three people are on their way to Los Angeles when they stop due to car trouble. However, all the people in the filling station and farm are apparently gone. Where could they be? What could have happened to them? Well, after a tense wait they discover Junior and his half-wit girlfriend--and these two are armed and extremely dangerous. Not only do you learn that they already coldly murdered the people there but they have a whole string of senseless murders and are wanted by every police force on the West coast.

What makes this different from thrillers like SUDDENLY or even PSYCHO, the film really shows something new to the movies--a killer who is 100% evil and truly enjoys making his victims suffer. While this might seem a bit gratuitous, the director actually shows a lot without showing too much. So, while you see one particularly gruesome murder, there isn't much blood and it's simply played realistically--not to gross out the audience. This is a sharp contrast to other exploitation films (such as BLOOD FREAK by Hershell Gordon Lewis) which spend 2/3 of their budgets on fake blood and pig guts! And in doing it bluntly but not over the top, the scenes work well.

Overall, this is an incredibly tense film from start to finish--well paced and exciting. It just goes to show you that the Halls COULD make excellent films--just not too often! A fine example of ultra-low budget filming that works well and manages to entertain much better than many of the so-called "big films" with huge budgets and professional actors. Great job.