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.
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.