Michael_Elliott 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.

dbdumonteil 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)

MartinHafer SATAN'S SADISTS is a rather depraved film. While it is much better than the usual Al Adamson film, this isn't saying much since in his other films he set the bar so low! The reason I chose to watch such a bad film is that I am a bad film addict and have already seen about a dozen of Adamson's films.The film is about a group of seven bikers who drive around tormenting people. For 1969, it's incredibly violent and ugly--featuring rapes, execution-style murders, a man being drowned in a toilet and many other rather depraved activities. And, amazingly, they're all pretty graphic.The Sadists all descend upon a café in the California desert and by the time they're through, most of the innocent people there are dead. Two folks are able to escape and most of the film consists of the bikers trying to catch and kill them, as they were witnesses to some of the mayhem. One by one, however, the bikers are either killed off or kill each other in completely stupid ways. For example, having the biker chick (Regina Carroll--Adamson's wife) kill herself the way she did of the druggie biker shoot himself just seemed silly, though it did help to even the odds a bit.The film features occasionally bad acting (though some was good, I must admit), tons of sick violence and some of the worst camera work I've ever seen in a film. While I am sure that filming in the desert isn't easy, too many blown shots weren't re-done--with many being so blurry as well as very, very poorly centered shots. As a result, no one other than Adamson can be blamed for the film's worst attribute. There scenes should have been edited out or re-shot--not stuck in simply for economy's sake.Overall, it's a bad film that is, at times, exciting to watch. However, because it's so unrelentingly sick and mean-spirited, I honesty can't recommend it to anyone...even blind people!

Scott_Mercer ** ACH, CAPTAIN, DA SPOILERS!! ** In spite of what another comment advised, I do prefer Adamson's cheesy horror pics to his action films. There's more fun stuff to look at.However, as a biker film fan, I had to check out this joint. Not much really happens in this film, plotwise. It's pretty much bikers come to town, bikers menace and kill nice people, and everyone battles to the death until the only ones left standing are our hero and heroine, walking into the sunset.This was all filmed in the desert around Palm Springs (Adamson's home until his untimely passing), and frankly, the scenery is very boring and hard to look at. A good bulk of the early film takes place in a lonely roadside cafe. That setting at least gives the bad guys a semi-interesting location and some chance to pick up objects and hit people with them.The last half of the movie involves our hero (ex-Marine from Vietnam)and heroine (plucky local waitress who wants a husband) running around these barren rocky desert canyons that all look the same, ducking into caves trying to avoid "Anchor" the head psycho biker (Russ Tamblyn) and his murderous cohorts. (Isn't this the same place where EEGAH lived?) About the only interesting twist is Regina Carrol's "Thelma and Louise" impression.I guess you could look at this as some sort of allegory for the nation and its torments during the heinous late 1960's, bla, bla, bla, but I don't think so. It's just an excuse for good old action and violence. But how is the action and violence? Good enough. If you're just looking for a sick twisted wild ride into sociopathic torment, this film will satisfy. But it's no lost classic or anything. It's not even the best biker film.