Sadist, The (1963)

Three teachers – Ed (Richard Alden), Doris (Helen Hovey) and Carl (Don Russell) – are driving into Los Angeles for a Dodgers game when they have car trouble and pull off into a secluded wrecking yard.

There they are held at bay by bloodthirsty young psycho Charlie Tibbs (Arch Hall Jr. ) and his crazy girlfriend, Judy (Marilyn Manning) who have been on a killing spree across the state and are wanted by the cops.

The characters of Charlie and Judy were inspired by real-life serial killers Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate. The character of Judy acts like a very young teenager (like the real 14-year-old Fugate) but a police radio announcer was added to clarify that Judy is 18 years old, in order to sidestep censorship problems.

Squinty-eyed Arch Hall Jr. is a terrible actor and regularly goes over the top here, but he does make an utterly loathsome villain.

The majority of the series of early-1960s z-grade drive-in films starring Arch Hall Jr. (usually written and produced by his father, Arch Hall Sr.) are truly awful. The Sadist is certainly a cut above the others.

Charlie Tibbs
Arch Hall Jr.
Judy Bradshaw
Marilyn Manning
Ed Stiles
Richard Alden
Carl Oliver
Don Russell
Doris Page
Helen Hovey
Mrs Miller
Joan Howard
Narrator 
Arch Hall Sr.

Director
James Landis

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