The Sadist
Tags: cult, grindhouse film, murder

Plot synopsis:
Three high school teachers, Ed, Doris, and Carl, are driving through California's Antelope Valley on their way to a Dodgers game in Los Angeles. The group’s Chevrolet Bel Air has some trouble and they are forced to pull off to a gas station/junkyard on the side of the road. After examining the vehicle Ed concludes that the fuel pump will need to be replaced. Doris and Carl search the junkyard looking for the owner, but they cannot find him.
In the residence Carl finds a warm meal with a table set for four, but oddly enough nobody is in the house. The three realize this is very peculiar and start to seriously worry about their situation. At this point Charlie Tibbs, a rather large man wielding a Colt .45, and his girlfriend Judy show up. Charlie and Judy have spent the past several days heading west from Arizona, leaving a trail of corpses behind them. Law enforcement is on the hunt for them, but Charlie has managed to stay a step ahead by changing vehicles frequently and then killing the people who offer their help.
Charlie demands that Ed finish repairing the car and informs him that he and Judy will be stealing the Belair and taking off when Ed is done. Charlie threatens that if the three don't cooperate "it'll be the end of them." During the next several hours Charlie and his girlfriend torment Ed, Doris, and Carl.

Review: It's also worth noting that it's subdued shocks are more effective than the graphic shocks seen in the majority of those later films.The acting is fine all around, but the film belongs to Arch Hall Jr. Long considered a camp king, he is chilling as the Starkweather-inspired sadist.
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.
Every bit as good as any big-studio, low-budget production from the era (perhaps even better than most), "The Sadist" is truly a gem that'll never receive the recognition it deserves.Loosely based on serial killer Charles Starkweather, Arch Hall Jr plays Charlie Tibbs, a psychotic delinquent who, aided by his girlfriend, holds three travelers hostage at gunpoint as they attempt to fix their broken-down car, which Charlie intends to use for his getaway.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Inspired by the commercial success of Psycho, as well as the real life murder spree of teenage killer Charles Starkweather and girlfriend - the exploits of whom also inspired the better known Badlands (1973), The Sadist comes as a revelation to those used to the inept dross Landis and Hall Jr were responsible for elsewhere.
Hall's moronically sneering Charlie is the most unsettling character in the film and the only role where the actor put in any kind of effort, although even here his performance would have benefited from a little more little more light and shade.
I was all set to enjoy yet another campy Arch Hall Jr. catastrophe("Eegah", "Wild Guitar", "The Nasty Rabbit"), when all of a sudden it hit me: "The Sadist" is  purty durn good moovie!!
The movie lasts a little over 90 minutes and that is just how long it takes for the victims here to have their safe and secure lives ripped to shreds.Three school-teachers on their way to a Dodgers-Reds game in L.A. are forced to pull into a deserted junkyard when the water pump on their car goes.
Arch Hall Jr, star of fluffy programmers like EEGAH and Wild Guitar, leave nothing on the table with his crazed portrayal of Tibbs.SEE THIS MOVIE!.
'Charlie' Tibbs (Arch Hall Jr.) is a murderous delinquent aided by his juvenile girlfriend Judy Bradshaw (Marilyn Manning).
Looks like tall blonde Helen Hovey (Doris) got her part by being first cousins with Hall, because she sure has trouble with her lines, even if she does run well in a tight skirt.Nonetheless, it's a smoothly done, tightly paced little thriller, despite the unpromising ingredients..
Believed to be the first film production inspired by real-life killers Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate, the low budget effort "The Sadist" is a fine example of its kind: tense, affecting, sweat-inducing, and very well acted.
One genuinely gets involved with these characters; our protagonists are all sympathetic and our antagonist is one hell of a dangerous psycho.Three schoolteachers - Ed Stiles (Richard Alden), Carl Oliver (Don Russell), and Doris Page (Helen Hovey) - are on their way to a ball game when car troubles force them to pull into an isolated service station.
Lovely Hovey (Hall Jr.'s real life cousin, in her only movie appearance) is good, but the slinky Manning is just as watchable, not having very much in the way of spoken dialogue but often whispering ideas to Hall Jr., encouraging him with childlike glee.Directed with great efficiency by Landis, "The Sadist" has an incredible atmosphere and you can really see the sweat on peoples' foreheads here.
The Sadist was playing at a Drive-in movie I went to back in the early sixties...We were thinking ...hey we can get some laughs from this..Well we didn't laugh..except in a very nervous way...Archie Hall Jr. and Manning played their parts to the hilt...They displayed the Evil in dysfunctional people that lack the empathy gene...and have no problem killing innocent people for pleasure...It no doubt was based on the true Starkweather murders...and The In Cold Blood killings..The movie from beginning to end was tense, ruthless, and nightmarish...The Ending was as original as they come..and really insane justice...47 years later this movie is still in my memory bank as one of the best movies of it's kind....I would love to see a remake...I think Ben Stiller could play the lead..or Robert Downey..If I one into some money..I'm going to try to buy the rights to it...and the Creature from the Black Lagoon...another B movie favorite of mine..I try to rent it ...I loved to see it again after all these years..!.
It's now only a matter of time for Ed & Doris to stay alive as long as their needed to help Charlie & Judy and it's in that time that Ed devises a plan for him and Doris to escape.A true landmark in horror/crime movies "The Sadist" pulls no punches in getting it's message across to the public, back then in 1963, about psychotic and cold-blooded killers, like Charlie, in a way that's never been seen before in motion pictures.Charlie ,dispite his craziness, is no fool he's smart enough to have evaded the police and is smart enough to know if Ed & Doris are trying to escape and turn the tables on him by disarming and killing him.
The direction, screenplay and acting are all top-notch (Well, I did find Hall Jr. and Manning to be a tad over-the-top, but this is still a million times better than I had ever seen them before) and there is real tension and suspense throughout.The story concerns three teachers who are stranded in an isolated service station when their car breaks down on the way to a Dodgers game.
This 1963 classic scared the bejeezus out of me with the over-the-top performance of Mr. Hall.OK basic plot summary - 3 school teachers break down and end up in an automobile graveyard with a young man with a MAJOR inferiority complex and a gun and his silent-except-for-giggles girlfriend.
And I was sick of the baseball commentary by the end.Fail like the flop I expected -- whoever wrote the ending needs to be forced to watch the rest of Hall Jr's films.This is by far one of the best early psychological case study thriller I have come across.
Watching an Arch Hall film is like watching your kid's school play and pretending to be blown away by it.More than that, though, The Sadist is just a damn cool movie.
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.
The film takes place in real time in one place, and is surprisingly close to the bone for an old black and white film.Three teachers, having car trouble while on their way to a baseball game, pull in to a scrap yard for a spare fuel pump.
What I also liked was that the killer wasn't a wisecracking evil mastermind – he was just a dumb (but sly) kid with a victimised girlfriend he was trying to protect from the world.Another good point is the hyperactive camera-work that lends an almost sentient air to the abandoned junk yard: Very atmospheric.The Sadist gets my highest recommendation.
Their break is interrupted when a sadistic maniac and his girlfriend decide to join them, and hold the trio to hostage with his gun; while directing one of them to fix the car so that the pair can escape.This film features a whirlwind performance from Arch Hall Jr who gives the performance of his career in the role of the sadistic villain.
Having been familiar with Arch Hall Jr's lame-o performances in cheese like WILD GUITAR and other films -- and enjoying them for what they are, B-movie junk -- I was blown away by his performance in this film and walked out of my place and wandered the streets for an hour or so in a daze.
Hall's over-the-top, Jimmy Cagney-like performance in "The Sadist" is nearly perfect playing off the rather square actors who play his victims.I won't completely spoil the plot, but I will say that Freud would have a field day with this one--what else can you say about a flick that involves a psycho who forces a shirtless man to change a fuel pump at gunpoint?
The plot is simple as can be and tight as a drum, three teachers, Ed, Carl and Doris stop off at a junkyard on the way to a baseball game, but are held at gunpoint in a terrifying ordeal by crazed young villain Charlie Tibbs and his loyal girlfriend Judy.
I was in for a real good one hear this is one of the best independent b-movies ever very cool story and acting!Takes place in a junk yard the sadist is one of the best films i have seen a great 60s film 8/10.
"The Sadist" is a pretty bleak and unsettling horror thriller even by today's standards.Loosely based on Charles Starkweather's series of mass murders it tells the story of three high school teachers,who are terrorized by a young mass murderer with a Colt automatic and his girlfriend.The man's name is Charlie Tibbs.He and his girl Judy Bradshaw have spent the past several days heading west from Arizona murdering for kicks whenever their path crosses that of anyone else.Arch Hall Jr. is phenomenal as the Starkweather's inspired psycho.He is loathsome,cold-blooded and evil villain,who does everything what Judy demands him to do.The victims are likable and well-developed, especially Helen Hoven as a female teacher.Overall,"The Sadist" is a pretty powerful film that predates slasher movies of 70's and early 80's.Give it a look..
I approached "The Sadist" with a keen memory of the utterly unappealing Arch Hall, Jr., as the "hero" of "Eegah!" in mind -- yet within minutes was quite pleasantly surprised by the way the picture *worked*.There is no question that Hall, as "Charlie Tibbs," is a low-budget Charlie Starkweather -- you can't miss that this is a thinly-veiled Starkweather "a clef" if you know the real Starkweather/Fugate story (or have seen the TV-movie "Starkweather," or even the loosely-inspired-by "Badlands").I never thought I'd praise Arch Jr., but, frankly, his slack-jawed portrayal of the gun-wielding sociopath is the stuff your on-a-lonely-road nightmares are made of.
The main character played by Arch Hall Jr. is very creepy and even in his first scene you know that he has no compassion.Three school teachers break down in their car and end up in what appears to be a deserted breakers yard.
The film is also very extreme for its time.Arch Hall Jr in the lead gives an extraordinary performance as Tibbs- the Sadist in the title.
Played up to the hilt by Arch Hall Jr., this is the first movie made based upon the real life Charles Starkweather murderous crime spree case.
In an updated setting, the "villain" is that frightening "element" of society which will suddenly, and "inexplicably" slaughter its own.********* The Sadist (4/63) James Landis ~ Arch Hall Jr., Richard Alden, Helen Hovey, Marilyn Manning.
I heard that this was a breakthrough movie that gave a line-up to similar movies for many generations.The story is about 3 people  a school teacher Carl Oliver (Don Russell) a Man Ed Stiles (Richard Alden) and a lady Doris Page (Helen Hovey) - driving to LA for a dodger game; and pull off to a highway roadside old yard when their car has some trouble; without knowing that they would walk into two psychotic killers  Charlie (Arch Hall Jr.) and Judy (Marilyn Manning), who are on their road of serial killings.
This might have been better if the acting had been good but there's only one good performance here--Richard Alden as Ed. Arch Hall Jr. is just hysterically bad as the "sadist".
Just out of curiosity i watched this thinking, oh no not another arch hall Jr movie.after seeing eegah and the choppers i was'nt expecting a good film,but surprise its a good low budget melodrama,sort of a precursor(as Joe bob Briggs would say)to natural born killers.i don't want to give the plot away but anyone who enjoys crime melodramas will enjoy this.arch hall Jr comes across as a poor mans James dean but this is his best film,Marilyn manning co star of;eegah!
plays arch halls crazy girlfriend.this movie works,its an under rated gem.don't let the low budget or casting fool you.this is 90 Mon of nail biting edge of your seat suspense.7 out of 10.not to be missed..
Inspired by the exploits of real life thrill-killers Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, the film stars Arch Hall Jr. as Charlie Tibbs, who, along with his teenage girlfriend Judy (Marilyn Manning), torments three teachers, Ed (Richard Alden), Doris (Helen Hovey) and Carl (Don Russell), who have the misfortune of bumping into the pair of psychos after experiencing car trouble on their way to a ball game.What follows is a lean exercise in suspense, director James Landis expertly wringing every ounce of tension from the situation, especially when it becomes clear that Tibbs has no intention of letting his victims live.
Landis handles the action, which unfolds in real time, with incredible skill, never letting the pace or tension drop, and commands superb performances from his cast, Hall Jr. being an utterly loathsome villain, and Hovey making for a very appealing heroine (what a shame that was her one and only movie).Landis also delivers one or two genuine gut-punches—scenes that deliver the kind of shock that stays with the viewer long after the film has finished—and rounds things off with a brilliant game of cat and mouse, as Doris, making a desperate bid for freedom, hides in a rundown house while Tibbs, brandishing a knife, closes in on his prey.
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.
It's a situation, but a helluva one for one place: three people stop off to get some gas on the way to the ball game, find no one is there, except (gasp) Charlie (Arch Hall Jr) and his girlfriend Judy, who have been on a kind of killing spree across the state and are wanted by the cops.
Certainly also Hall Jr, who has a whole slew of B/C/Z-movie and exploitation crap to his name like Eegah is fun to watch, and his over-the-top nature helps to off-set some of the predictable acting by the good-guy/gal leads.
The stop off at a junk yard but before long they run into the psychopath Charlie (Arch Hall, Jr.) and his crazy girlfriend.THE SADIST is a very low-budget film that pretty much divides its fans and critics.
Not this time.Arch Hall, Jr. is more annoying than any character I have seen in a movie.
But somewhere in between all this, the film slows down just a bit too much, making it drag a little in some places.Arch"Babyface"Hall Jr. sure was good in his roll as the sadist, though to be honest, I think having seen him for 90 minutes straight in this movie was enough for me.
Charlie Starkweather & Tommy Udo. Film buffs will recognize Arch Hall, Jr.'s character as an excellent imitation/re-creation of Richard Widmark's Tommy Udo in "Kiss of Death", including his voice, his sadistic giggle and the habit of calling his enemies "Big Man".The young couple are, of course, based on Charlie Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Fugate who roamed Nebraska & Wyoming in the late 50's on a thrill-killing spree that claimed 11 victims.The film was much better than I expected it to be.
'Charlie' Tibbs (Arch Hall Jr. of "The Choppers") takes school teachers Ed Stiles (Richard Arlen of "The Pit"), Carl Oliver (Don Russell of "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?") and Doris Page (one-time actress Helen Hovey) hostage.
Arch Hall gives the performance of his lifetime and the directions even different in a good way for movies of that era.