“School’s out, teacher!” -- Arch Hall, Jr. Delivers the Performance of His Career in James Landis’ Unforgettable Psycho Killer Chiller…
THE SADIST The Cult Classic Returns to Terrorize Anew on Blu-ray™

Blu-ray Includes All-New High-Definition Transfer, Plus Bonus DVD Featuring Exclusive Special Features!

Musician and Film Historian Johnny Legend is proud to announce the High Definition debut of James Landis’ epic low-budget psychological thriller, THE SADIST on Blu-ray. Widely regarded as one of the greatest B-Movie thrillers ever, THE SADIST stars cult movie icon Arch Hall, Jr. (Wild Guitar, Eegah!) as a deranged young murderer who holds three hapless schoolteachers at gunpoint one fateful afternoon under the Southern Californian sun.

Based in part on the real-life thrill-killings of the infamous Charles Starkweather, THE SADIST was banned upon its original 1963 release in Finland and also rejected in UK cinemas due to its disturbing nature. But that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a true cult classic: THE SADIST has been thrilling and terrorizing audiences alike ever since Johnny Legend first unleashed the nearly-forgotten frightfest on VHS in the 1980s via Rhino Home Video. Since then, the appeal for both THE SADIST -- as well its star, Arch Hall, Jr. -- has grown exponentially with cult movie aficionados and mainstream moviegoers the world over.

Now, Johnny Legend is pleased to present this timeless profile of terror in an all-new High Definition transfer, taken directly from the original 35mm Master Print!

Featuring atmospheric photography by Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, THE SADIST comes to Blu-ray in a Super 2-Disc Set that includes a gorgeous new Anamorphic Hi-Def transfer as well as the original DVD complete with several rare bonus features. The release is dedicated to the memories of actress Helen Hovey, and filmmakers Arch Hall, Sr. and Ray Dennis Steckler.

Synopsis:
An idyllic Sunday afternoon soon becomes a living nightmare when three schoolteachers’ automobile breaks down and leaves them stranded at a deserted scrap yard. It is then that THE SADIST (Arch Hall, Jr., Wild Guitar) comes out to play. Sporting a maniacal smirk, a loaded gun, and a silent 18-year-old girlfriend (Marilyn Manning, Eegah!), THE SADIST holds the three terror-stricken tutors hostage in order to serve his own perverse pleasures, mercilessly taunting them with promises of death.

THE SADIST was written and directed by James Landis (TV’s “Gunsmoke,” Deadwood ’76, Jennie: Wife/Child) and produced by L. Steven Snyder. It co-stars Richard Alden (TV’s “Hogan’s Heroes”), Don Russell (The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?), and Helen Hovey. It was originally distributed theatrically in the USA by Arch Hall, Sr.’s Fairway International Pictures and has a run time of approximately 92 minutes. The film is Not Rated.

Bonus Material
• Arch Hall, Jr. Interview by Ray Dennis Steckler
• Arch Hall, Jr. Video Songbook
• Reflections on THE SADIST by Johnny Legend
• Original Theatrical Trailers for THE CHOPPERS, EEGAH!, WILD GUITAR, THE SADIST

Let the reviews tell the story…

“The way the film depicts the killers is similar to the Hollywood films KALIFORNIA and NATURAL BORN KILLERS…the story is told in ‘real time’…Arch Hall really stands out…” --DVD Cult

“A genuinely tense, nerve-wracking trash thriller heightened by Arch’s moronic sneer and the unbelievable structure of his blonde pompadour.” --Jerry Renshaw, The Houston Chronicle

“A movie so much better than it would seemingly have any right to be, it makes you think that sometimes the Gods of Cinema really do smile down on these things.” --Twisted Pleasures

“Perhaps the most underrated psychological teenage thrill killer exploitation flick ever made. Decades ahead of its time…[an] ultramodern masterpiece.” --Adam Becvar (aka Luigi Bastardo), Blogcritics.org

“THE SADIST still packs a punch and holds up extremely well, remaining one of the best drive-in films of the 1960s…just as good as anything the major studious were churning out at that time.” --George R. Reis, DVDDrive-In.com


“Arch Hall, Jr. shatters all previous conceptions as giggling thrill-killer Charlie Tibbs -- one of the nastiest nutcases in screen history!”
--Shock Cinema

“A taut little B-picture…Hall is distressingly believable as the psycho.”
--Leonard Maltin

“This film is remarkable for just how tense, brutal and nasty it is…lays the groundwork for THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and THE HILLS HAVE EYES.”
--Cinema De Merde

“Plenty of bloodshed and first-rate photography by Vilmos Zsigmond (CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND)”
--TV Guide