Trailer—Satan's Sadists

source: Satan's Sadists

A few months ago, I bought the Al Adamson blu-ray collection. I'm slowly but surely working through it. Tonight, I finally got to Satan's Sadists, and surprisingly it's one of the best I've seen so far by Adamson. A lot of his movies are pretty terrible, but there was something special about this one. The biker gang was nasty, the characters they terrorized were sympathetic and the first 30 minutes were actually very suspenseful, especially at the diner. It's a cheesy biker grindhouse flick if you're into that. Russ Tamblyn as Anchor, the leader of the biker gang was pretty psychotic. I felt bad for Gina, played by Regina Carrol (Al Adamson's real life wife) she truly had feelings for Anchor, but he treats her like garbage and wants nothing to do with her. The movie is about an outlaw motorcycle gang called the "Satans", who roam the deserts and terrorize anybody who gets in their way. Former police officer Chuck Baldwin and his wife Nora are out driving and pick up Johnny Martin, a Vietnam veteran U. S. Marine. On the way, they stop at a small gas station/diner for lunch, but they are soon attacked by the Satans. A chase begins when the customers fight back, along with their waitress Tracy. Anchor was stop at nothing to make sure they don't leave the desert alive. If you like cheesy old grindhouse movies about biker gangs, I would highly recommend SATAN'S SADISTS!!!

Having served a stint in the Marine Corp, "Johnny Martin" (Gary Kent) has returned from Vietnam to the United States and decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to start life all over again. On the way a married couple by the names of "Charlie Baldwin" (Scott Brady) and "Nora Baldwin" (Evelyn Frank) pick him up and they drive through the barren California countryside and eventually stop at a small gas station in the middle of nowhere to get something to eat. While there a motorcycle gang called "Satan's Sadists" drive up and upon entering the café begin to give the few people there a hard time. One thing leads to another and after eventually killing Charlie, Nora and the owner of the café outside the gas station, the psychotic leader of the gang who goes by the name of "Anchor" (Russ Tamblyn) returns to the café to finish off both Johnny and the waitress named "Tracy" (Jackie Taylor). However, Johnny manages to overpower the men left behind to guard them and escapes with Tracy in a dune buggy out into the desert. Not long afterward, Anchor and his gang soon give pursuit with the intention of killing these two witnesses. What nobody in the gang counts on is the resourcefulness of Johnny or the mental instability of their leader. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I thought this was one of the grittier films of this particular sub-genre with a good dose of raw violence and a late-60's atmosphere that blended in quite nicely. That said, although it certainly wasn't an outstanding movie by any means, it still managed to keep my attention for the most part. For that reason I have rated this movie as slightly above average.

Without meaning to, I've ended up watching a fair chunk of Al Adamson's film output. "Satan's Sadists" seems to me to be the best of this bunch, probably because his style fits in better with drive- in biker films than some of the science fiction ("Brain Of Blood") and action oriented ("East of Watts") things he's tried. As usual with Adamson, there's a great deal of filler as characters play "hide and seek" with each other across an empty landscape, and there are a large number of aggressive non-performances here. (A few of the actors have their characters killed off before they can really show anything,maybe not their fault.) "Tracy" is particular is nothing more than a walking Kewpie doll. And Russ Tamblyn is aggressively awful when he's not being totally flat, hiding behind sun glasses and a really stupid hat. But "Firewater" is pretty good - in fact, he's the most interesting thing in the movie. And "Johnny" has a fairly predictable role, but the actor playing him is a good combination of he-man and sensitive guy. Plusses: The rocky, dusty, open landscape works to the movie's advantage, and someone had the good sense to work some heavy "Ventures" style guitar themes with an Indian war dance motif into many desert scenes that would otherwise be much duller. It was also kind of fun to see some familiar faces from other Adamson movies in the mix. (Even if I hate a movie, I generally have sympathy for the actors in it, most of whom are just trying to earn a living.) 3 stars, but I'd watch this 10 more times before I'd watch "Brain of Blood" or "Girl In Gold Boots" again.

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!

I say "One of the Best" because I collect "Cheap Biker Movies" and this IS one of the best. The cheaper (as in low budget, minimal plot, horrible acting, etc.) the better. I realize most accidents in the home happen in the bathroom,so take note of the medicine cabinet scene in the diner's restroom. Did you know you can DIE if someone opens a medicine cabinet door in your face? It was a very graphic and horrible scene (notice any tongue-in-cheek, here?) I felt sorry for the Bro who died a terrible and bloody death. Also, these "Bros" can really handle a "Hog" off road. Realistic? Wow! Honestly, this movie keeps me on the edge of my seat every time I break it out and watch it. I have to be on the edge of my seat 'cause my head is in a bucket! Highly recommended movie to watch if you love the best of the worst.

This fabulously fetid flick may very well be the foulest, most offensive and utterly insalubrious hunk of disgusting biker exploitation junk to ever ooze its vile way onto celluloid. In fact, if this wonderfully rancid cheeseball was any more slimy and abhorrent, the negative would probably have fungus growing all over it. A thoroughly despicable gang of cheerfully repugnant Harley hounds led by a deliciously hammy Russ Tamblyn kill old geezers Kent Taylor and Scott Brady. They incur the wrath of take-charge, no-nonsense Vietnam veteran Gary Kent, spike a group of young girls' coffee with LSD and rape 'em while they're tripping, and generally conduct themselves in a rather distasteful, anti-social and unruly manner which could be most politely described as somewhat lacking in proper decorum. The remarkable Regina Carrol really ignites the screen with her searing portrayal of Tamblyn's delectable motorcycle mama Gina, "the freak-out girl" (Carrol's slutty tabletop dance at a grungy diner rates as a definite highlight). Future schlock movie director Greydon ("Without Warning") Clark also scores with his offbeat turn as Acid, a doped out of his skull biker whose brain has become irrevocably addled due to the ingestion of far too many sunshine tablets. Fellow future schlock movie director John "Bud" Cardos likewise impresses as Mohawk-sporting Native American biker Firewater. Gary Graver's chintzy cinematography captures the assorted sordid antics in all their ghastly glory. The opening credits theme song "Satan" smokes in no uncertain terms: "I was born mean/By the time I was twelve I was killin'/Killin' for Satan". This inarguable sludgewad masterpiece was made by the late, great Al Adamson, who also blessed us with such choice nickel'n'dime drive-in dross as "Dracula vs. Frankenstein," "The Female Bunch," and "Death Dimension."

SATAN'S SADISTS has to come down in history as THE Al Adamson masterpiece. It also comes down as more of the same. With the dialogue so bland, it speaks for some stronger profanity coming out of its mouth. Take my word and forget this thing if you hate all the crappy biker movies of the past thirty years. But it has a story, and a fair reference to the Greydon "Acid" Clark 80s film SKINHEADS. By the way, Clark did act before serving time as a successful director of drive-in filmfare including SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS, THE HI-RIDERS, and JOYSTICKS. Die-hard biker film loonies will enjoy it. The rest of you, hit the road!

This film is a kind of guilty pleasure of mine. It's not that good, but it definitely delivers on the drive-in schlock that made the late 60s and early 70s exploitation films fun. The cast was mostly unknown at the time (most of them still are) with the exception of Russ Tamblyn (still can't get plum roles like in West Side Story). I wouldn't say that it's a true biker film, but it's still pretty wild. The Sadists stop at a gas station/diner in the middle of nowhere in Death Valley. At this diner there is the old man who runs it, a waitress, a middle age couple on vacation, and an ex-marine who is traveling to California. The gang decides to have a little fun at the diner, but things go sour when the old man tells them to leave. They take it badly and go on to kill everyone except the marine and waitress. The marine kills two of the gang, and then he and the waitress escape into the desert. Of course, the gang chases them down because they don't want any witnesses. The acting wasn't great, but it sufficed for a low budget biker film. The bikers, of course, were stereotypes of the typical members of biker gangs at the time. There's the sadistic leader (Tamblyn), the acid freak (cleaverly nicknamed acid, those zany bikers), the tough guy, the sex fiend, and leader's strung out girlfriend. Most of these characters were pretty one dimensional, but you really don't need to know much more about them anyway. The plot of the film keeps moving at a decent pace, so I can't find too much of a problem with it. Of course there are some psychedelic scenes (it was the 60s after all) and some interesting deaths. Overall, it wasn't great, but it suffices as an exploitation film and if you get into it it is kind of fun. MST3K fans look out for the teacher in "Angel's Revenge" as the waitress, and Acid (Greydon Clark, the director of "Angel's Revenge").