Awlright, I'll admit it. 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!! Perhaps the fact that neither he, his father (Arch Hall Sr.), or Ray Dennis Steckler touched any of the production elements had something to do with it. Of course, the tag line is all wrong. It's advertised as "Before there was Jason, before there was Freddy, there was The Sadist". A more accurate tagline would be "Before Natural Born Killer, before Kalifornia, before The Thrill Killers, etc...". Because The Sadist" has far moore in cowmmon with these films than with supernatural teen slasher flicks. A young, heartless thug on a killing spree, with his sexy, teenage autistic girlfriend, menace a group of people on their way to a Dodger game. Yes, Arch Hall Jr. puts on quite a performance as Charlie Tibbs, the coke-chugging, gun-toting psycho-delinquent. He neither sings, nor dances, nor says anything close to resembling "Wozie-wow-wow" from "Eegah", and his performance is quite the revelation. No less so the performance of Marilyn Manning("Eegah")as Judy, Charlie's lethal, giggling, cutesy tag-a-long. While her role is much smaller, and is basically non-speaking, Manning does a very cowmendable job of portraying just the right cowbination of sex appeal, pathos, and menace. You have to udderstand, folks, these two actors hit the LOWEST of all possible lows with their performances in "Eegah", and here they are giving shining performances in "The Sadist". Who wouldda thunk it?? :=8) The rest of the cast is good too, especially Helen Hovey as the lovely, prudish, vulnerable Doris. Shame she never seemed to work in the business again. Writer/Director James Landis is responsible for some stinkers("The Nasty Rabbit", "Deadwood '76", "the Magic Voyage of Sinbad"), but "The Sadist" is his shining mooment. This is a rare B film that manages to tell a compelling story with good acting, taut direction, a (then) daring plot, and a low budget. The MooCOw says definitely add "The Sadist" to your cowlection, you'll be pleasantly surprised! :=8)
