Satan's Sadists

I watched this dud just because Russ Tamblyn was in it :why on earth did he have to get involved in that business? Tamblyn plays the leader of a pack of Hell's Angel's who spread panic and bring death and destruction to the region.The prologue is particularly obnoxious : a scene of rape and the victim seems to appreciate bestiality.

But the movie is outright reactionary: that long-haired youth is fatally dangerous ,but fortunately the clean cut kid,a former marine,is here to save the damsel in distress in miniskirt.THe hero utters this hilarious line :"in Vietnam,at least,I was paid when I killed someone".

Russ Tamblyn sank really low :he's best remembered for " the last hunt" "west side story" and the extraordinary horror classic "the haunting" (1963)

The title bunch are a particularly odious motorcycle gang in this, producer / director Al Adamsons' contribution to the then popular cycle of biker films. Adamson does tend to take a lot of flak for his somewhat less than slick low budget productions, but this is actually one of his better efforts. It benefits from a very enjoyable gathering of B movie regulars, both new (at the time) and old. Russ Tamblyn stars as cheerful psycho Anchor, leader of this gang. Anchor and company terrorize the customers at a diner / service station, and end up pursuing some of them into the remote California wilderness. This movie lets you know right off the bat just how depraved its antagonists are, as they help themselves to an unwilling woman and then send her, her boyfriend, and their car over the edge of a cliff. When they happen upon a group of college age gals out in the desert, they drug them and have their way with them. They just can't get their comeuppance soon enough. Also among the cast are Scott Brady as weary cop Charlie, Kent Taylor as the diner proprietor Lew, Regina Carrol (Adamsons' real life partner) as biker mama Gina, Jacqueline Cole as comely waitress Tracy, Gary Kent as nice guy former soldier Johnny, and John 'Bud' Cardos, Robert Dix, Greydon Clark (who himself became a director years later), William Bonner, and Bobby Clark as the gang. Carrols' slutty dance number inside the diner rates as a highlight, as do the fight sequences between Tamblyn & Cardos and Kent & Cardos. The soundtrack is quite good, with Harley Hatcher composing both the songs and the score. The prolific Gary Graver serves as both the editor and cinematographer (assisted in the latter capacity by an uncredited Vilmos Zsigmond). The makeup artist is a young Susan Arnold (daughter of the great sci-fi director Jack Arnold), who went on to great success as a casting director and, eventually, a producer. But it's really Tamblyns' scenery devouring performance that makes this worth seeing; he even came up with a monologue on his own. As far as biker films go, this definitely has to be one of the trashiest ones ever made, and it's nothing if not amusing for its entire 87 minute running time. It's rough, crude, and suitably rousing, and the sleaze just oozes off of the screen. Seven out of 10.

Satan's Sadists = a simple and straight exploitation flick with a cool 70s vibe and soundtrack. Only recommended if you like the genre and can dig some low budget trash production, and this I should add, some lengths story-wise too. For a better rating I miss some more action and gore, but we should not forget that the movie was released in 1969 and game changers like the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre where still to come.

Satan's Sadist (1969)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This biker flick pretty much put Independent International on the map and today it still holds up quite well. The story is pretty simple as a biker gang led by Anchor (Russ Tamblyn) take people hostage inside a restaurant. He kills three but two (Gary Kent, Jackie Taylor) get away and head out in the desert to hide. Naturally the biker gang must go after them and soon both sides realize that Anchor really is beyond crazy. Once you become familiar with the work of Adamson you'll begin to realize that he rarely turned out an "good" movie but this one here is perhaps the best I've seen at least from a technical point of view. The performances, direction and cinematography are actually pretty good here, which might make some people think this isn't an Adamson picture but he had quite a bit to work with here and the end result works. Tamblyn is extremely fun as the psycho biker as his laid-back approach makes for a good, cold villain. Kent makes for a good hero and Taylor is at least easy on the eyes. The supporting players feature some familiar faces including John "Bud" Carlos as an Indian biker, Adamson regular Regina Carrol play a sympathetic biker chic and Kent Taylor appears briefly as the restaurant owner. We even get Richard Dix playing a one-eyed biker. The film pretty much goes all out in terms of exploitation as we get some fairly violent death scenes, several mild rape scenes and of course you can't be a biker flick without a good number of fist fights. One of the highlights of the film happens when the bikers first appear inside the restaurant and the folks inside try to fight back at them. This leads to a pretty well-directed sequence once Anchor has three people on the outside and he plans on raping the cop's wife. The film starts to wear thin towards the end but this is something that happened with a lot of exploitation movies. Those wanting nudity will find plenty of it here as the women were clearly hired more for the size of their breasts than anything else. The most outlandish thing about SATAN'S SADIST is the fact that it has a soundtrack featuring six films by a group called The Nightriders. This group isn't going to make you forget The Rolling Stones but the songs actually fit the film rather nicely.

Coming from a huge fan of the trashy, 1970s, low-budget, motorcycle gang, genre, my comment may be slightly biased. Being a fan of the wonderful Al Adamson might be too much as well. However, as far as sleazy 70s biker flics go, "Satan's Sadists" is indeed one of the better ones. Russ Tamblyn outdoes himself as the whacked out, sadistic leader of the group. His performance is truly fun to watch and he plays the villainous role to the max. The soundtrack is also tons of fun with some memorable "acid" tunes that should have you saying "Wow man!" every 20 minutes or so.

It's a pretty violent entry to the biker genre, but few of them are really "sugary-sweet". "Sadists" however, is maybe a bit above the rest with some real nastiness committed by the title group. For something a little less shocking, "Easy Rider" would be a better choice or even "Hell's Angels On Wheels".

Fans of schlock director Al Adamson have to see/own this one. It's a biker "classic" and deserves high ranking in biker film "Top Tens" right alongside "Northville Cemetery Massacre", "The Glory Stompers" and "The Savage Seven". Enjoy!