Let’s Ride #29!
Three teachers en route to an L.A. Dodgers game have car trouble and wind up face-to-face with a sadistic killer and his young girlfriend in 1963’s tense The Sadist. The film was inspired by a real life duo of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, who went on a killing spree across Nebraska and Wyoming. Arch Hall, Jr. stars as the primary antagonist, Charlie, and Marilyn Manning as Judy, his girlfriend. The film also stars Richard Alden as Ed, Helen Hovey as Doris, and Don Russell as Carl, the three teachers that Charlie and Judy terrorize at a junkyard where the owners have already been murdered.
Believing that the owners simply aren’t around, Ed decides to take a fuel pump from a vehicle in the junkyard to replace his own damaged one. While he begins repairing the vehicle, Carl and Doris look around for the owners. Soon enough, Charlie and Judy reveal themselves to the trio. Charlie holds them at gunpoint and forces Ed to finish replacing the fuel pump. He also threatens the trio. He gropes Doris, plays sadistic games with the group, and tells Carl that once he’s finished drinking his soda, he’ll kill him. I won’t spoil that particular scene for you, as I believe that this film is a must see thriller.
Hall is brilliant in the role of Charlie. Charlie truly is a sadist and thrives on fear. Manning does a great job as Judy. Her face shows the viewer that she’s somewhat threatened by Doris’ beauty. Speaking of Doris, Helen Hovey, in her only role, is amazing. Her character arguably has the most growth of all of the characters in the film. Don Russell is good as Carl, but his character is somewhat resigned to being the hopeful optimist that may or may not make it out of the film alive. Richard Alden does a fine job as Ed, the “every man” that knows his way around a vehicle, is brave, and is ready to risk anything to protect Doris.
Written and directed by James Landis, this bare bones, independent production has everything that I love about my favorite independent films. It punches above its weight class, relies on the strength of the cast and the plot to rise above its production budget, and tells a great story.
I love this film. It’s a great movie that holds your attention, develops its characters and plot at a great pace, and features a cast that simply blows you away. I highly recommend this film and am glad that I found this gem during Thirty-One Days O’Horror. I promise that it will be a perfect addition to your thriller collection.
As always, thanks for checking out my post! The Sadist is available on a number of streaming formats. The first version that I watched was a colorized version available, as of this writing, on Tubi. I don’t recommend this version, as the colorization is poor. I prefer the original black-and-white version available on multiple streamers.
Ken's Alternate Universe! 