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Best movie of this year hands down!

Very disappointing...

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The only way out for Arch Hall Jr.'s psychopathic character is a violent demise, and once the suspense builds for this troublesome exploitation film, the desire to see his character gunned down and die slowly and painfully increases. His character, as that of his quiet but equally psychopathic girlfriend Marilyn Manning, are both massively sadistic, enjoying the emotional torment that they put on the three teachers stranded just outside of L.A. Sort of a combination of Cagney at his most psychopathic and Mickey Rooney in "Boy's Town", Hall is increasingly sadistic and ugly, photographed deliberately to look that that in close-ups. I find him perhaps too real as he gets more and more demented and desperate yet it's difficult to take your eyes off of him. Some of the twists with his character are gripping to watch in many ways, and at one point, when Alden gets the upper hand on him briefly, I found myself cheering as to what he did next that I did not see coming. The performances to me are perhaps too intense, giving this already disturbing subject matter much more of an uncomfortable emotional involvement. Richard Alden and Helen Hovey did good with their roles as two of the victims. Sometimes a film can have too much tension to the point where you just become angry that civilized society has allowed itself to turn out such garbage as the characters that Hall and Manning play. I can see why this has a cult following as it is mesmerizing for sure but overall, it left me feeling angry and frustrated-not at the movie itself, but at the situation and atmosphere in general.

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.

This is, quite likely, the worst movie ever made. The acting and dialog are right out of a Middle School play. If this could be considered art, then a chimp pooping on a canvas should be hanging in the MOMA. This is the sort of tripe about which pretentious, hipster snobs in the 60s would have had profound coffee table discussions. The most over-hyped piece of crap I've ever sat through. This makes some of the scare movies from the 1950s look like Ingmar Bergman, but this is just a low-budget piece of trash, probably knocked out in a slow afternoon on some director's ranch. Made during a period when just about anything qualified as an 'art' flick.

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.