6070 (6070) wrote, @ 2007-03-07 20:28:00

THE SADIST (1963)
Previous horror films were all about monsters...Frankenstein, Dracula, Werewolves, Creatures from the Black Lagoon or alien invaders from Mars. Here, the monster is the "normal" guy next door. He is the psychopath that can take your life when you are going to do something as ordinary as go to a baseball game. Your life can end that quickly.

THE SADIST was a classic B drive-in movie made at a time right before the Kennedy assassination. It reflects a world where nothing makes much sense anymore. This movie was too intense to be played in general theaters and is not well known even today. It is more an anthropoligical relic of 1963 that reflects the uncertainty and amiguity of the era.

A trio of mild-mannered school teachers (two men and one woman) are driving to LA to see a baseball match. On their way there are problems with the engine, and they end up on a deserted gas station in the middle of nowhere. While they are fixing the car, they get the suspicion that something not is like it is supposed to be. The suspicion is well grounded. Before they now it, they are taken hostage by giggling thrill-killer Charlie Tibbs and his silent gal Judy. Charley is on the run for the homicide on a whole family and some other hostages, and now want the car so he and Judy can escape. Almost the whole movie take place at the gas station, where Charlie torment, humiliate, torture and kill the teachers while waiting for them fixing the vehicle. The "soda bottle" scene is a classic in suspense.

Charley's baby face and dorky behavior make the ideal picture of a juvenile delinquent psycho, supposedly based on real life killer Charlie Starkweather. This is the start of all sorts of films about psychopathic humans who prey on their victims whether it is THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, SAW or HOSTEL. No one had seen anything quite like this film before. This is an intense, nasty and surprising thriller.

What were your thoughts on this film? How does this film compare to modern day thriller films you've seen? What about this film seemed particularly "old-fashioned"? What seemed modern? What was done in a unique and different way?

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