The Sadist . Austin Chronicle . 07-28-97

The Sadist

DIRECTED BY: James Landis

REVIEWED: 07-28-97

Arch Hall Jr., Helen Hovey, Richard Alden, Marilyn Manning, Don Russell.

Okay, maybe you've seen Arch Hall, Jr. coast breezily through movies like Eegah! or Wild Guitar utterly unfettered by talent, but that won't prepare you for this. Three teachers (two male, one female and sexy) in an Impala have car trouble and stop in a garage/junkyard where they are accosted by leering, giggling thug Arch Hall, Jr. and his Appalachian-trash girlfriend. Soon, he pistol-whips the middle-aged teacher, then gives him the time it takes to chugalug a grape Nehi to whimper, grovel, and beg for his life before blasting him with a .45. He then makes things miserable for the other two while the guy grapples with the fuel pump on the Chevy, and smokes two motorcycle cops who stumble onto the place. Hall (in construction boots, high-water Levi's and denim jacket) is half-creepy, half-simpleton as the killer on the run; along with his girlfriend, they conjure up homicidal hick geek losers Charlie Starkweather and Caryl Fugate. The Sadist is frustrating, though, for all the times when the teacher could have jumped Hall but didn't because he was too much of a yellabelly. Finally he calls up enough cojones to give Hall a faceful of gasoline from a gas pump, but instead of doing something decisive like paste him with the pump nozzle or slam the damn car hood on his head, he just runs off like a fourth grader! And he looks like he should be able to mop up the floor with Hall! A genuinely tense, nerve-racking trash thriller (with great camera work by Vilmos -- billed as "William" -- Zsigmond), heightened by Arch's moronic sneer and the unbelievable structure of his blond pompadour.

--Jerry Renshaw

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