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THE SADIST (1963) - Wow, I think some may have understated how disturbing this film is. It's a b/w film starring Archie Hall Jr. who fits in perfectly in this role and the his silent companion is also well used. This has to be ground breaking material for the time. Many of the scenes are brutally realistic. The camera work is also very good. Strong material.

Watching obscure low-budget movies can get tedious at times.  Sometimes you see so much crap which fails to engage you on any level that you retreat to mundane mainstream fare just to take a break from the habit.

But on rare occassions you can find gems that have been strangely overlooked.  I would count THE SADIST (1963) as one of those gems.  The movie was easily several years ahead of its time.  The mood and story went in directions that no mainstream Hollywood movie would have ever considered.  It's really an ugly film which challenges the viewer to observe a cinematic world using the awareness of real-world perversity.

Arch Hall, Jr.'s acting is the butt a lot of teasing in other movies like EEGAH! and WILD GUITAR.  This movie doesn't give you the Arch Hall, Jr. you think you know.  He does a great job not only making the main character ruthless, but also giving him child-like emotions and reactions.  Giving the audience a sense that he is indeed a sadistic little boy who had never been punished for his violation of the health and well-being of other living creatures.

You have to do a lot of panning through a seemingly endless amount of dirt before you find gold.  THE SADIST does qualify as overlooked gold from the low-budget mines.  Definitely not unintentionally funny nor interminably boring!



Post Edited (01-21-04 03:34)

I agree, this is a very good low-budget drive-in picture. There's some padding, and the ending stinks of deus ex machina, but overall it reminds me of a good episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. One thing that never gets mentioned about this film is that it takes place in real time. At the start of the movie, the characters mention a baseball game that starts in 90 minutes, and lo and behold, by the end of the movie you hear a radio announcer starting to call the game. You definitely didn't see that attention to detail very often in drive-in movies.

Kinda like the movie HIGH NOON.

Yes, an under appreciated little flick. The one thing in his resume Arch Hall Jr. doesn't have to be embarrassed about. He even gets to kill his own dad, figuratively, anyway.