The Sadist 1997 Horror Movie Review

This movie is surprisingly sharp and suspenseful and it is obviously the prototype for such movies as “In Cold Blood”, “Badlands”, “When Ya Comin’ Back, Red Ryder” and “Natural Born Killers.” The dialogue is intuitive and the situations are well thought out. Considering the social mores of the time there are no head-scratching set-ups. This is a cunning and evenly matched cat and mouse game that will keep you engaged from start to finish. It could also illustrate to the young “writers” of today that believable situations do not rely on people making stupid mistakes and that surprising developments are far more than a fortuitous log falling from the sky to create a stop-gap. 

Sadly, the review from bt “CAT” is a bit misleading. It states there is “really nothing wrong” with the Alpha version. This DVD suffers not from a battered print but rather from video flagging that runs along the bottom of the frame throughout the film’s duration. Video flagging was a defect seen in VHS tapes that became stretched out by overuse and caused bending of the picture to one side or the other. I have many DVDs with unrestored source materials and the defects work to recreate the Drive-In Experience. Video flagging was always an annoyance that took you out of the movie as the VCR tried to compensate for the error with tracking correction. With the muddiness of this print and the flagging at the bottom of the screen, I suspect that the source used for this DVD was not film…but a worn out video cassette. Based on reviews from trusted DVD critic sites the “Deluxe Widescreen Collector’s Edition” released by All Day Entertainment (still offered on their website for $19.99) is a stellar treatment restored from a 35mm Master Print with a commentary by then 1st time cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond!