The Sadist/Fun Facts
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
< The Sadist
- Helen Hovey who plays Doris is Arch Hall Jr.'s cousin.
- This is believed to be the first feature film based on real life serial killers Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate. Although the character of Judy acts like a very young teenager (like the real 14-year-old Fugate), a radio announcer was added to clarify that Judy is 18 years old, in order to sidestep censorship problems.Mainstream Hollywood would not produce films inspired by the pair until a decade after this one. A number of films were inspired by the duo (some very loosely) and included such major examples as Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973) and Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994).
- This low-budget film was noted for its excellent cinematography. It was the first American film for Vilmos Zsigmond who was working under the name William Zsigmond
- Arch Hall Jr. based his performace as psycho killer Charlie Tibbs on "Tommy Udo," Richard Widmark's character in Kiss of Death (1947), right down to the giggle.
