The Sadist (1963)

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The Sadist is a 1963 American thriller film written and directed by James Landis. It stars Arch Hall, Jr. as a psychopathic spree killer, patterned after Charles Starkweather, who takes a trio of hostages at a junkyard. The low-budget, independent film is notable for being the debut of future Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. It was distributed by Fairway International Pictures in the United States.

Production

The film is loosely based on the killing spree of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, as are the later films Badlands (1973) and Natural Born Killers (1994). Starkweather and Fugate killed 11 people in Nebraska and Wyoming between November 1957 and January 1958, when Starkweather was 19 and Fugate was 14. The two were eventually apprehended in Douglas, Wyoming, and convicted of first-degree murder.

Shot by famed cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (credited as "William Zsigmond") over a period of two weeks for $33,000, it was his first full-length film as a director of photography. Zsigmond had previously shot student films and documentaries while attending the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest, but had fled his native Hungary as a refugee during the 1956 revolution.

Cast member Don Russell doubled as the film's production manager.

Richard Alden recalled that the ammunition used in the film was real, in order to save money.

The snakes used in the final scene in the pit were live and venomous. Their mouths were temporarily sewn shut for filming. One day, the snake handler was late, and the film crew started without him. They put the snakes, which had been left on the set overnight, in the pit with Hall, and began shooting.

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