SATAN'S SADISTS (1969)

I've heard multiple times over the years that SATAN'S SADISTS made a substantial amount of money during it's initial release thanks to timing (it was released within a month of the Tate/Labianca murders), coincidence (it was filmed at the Spahn Ranch, which was also home to the Manson Family) and it's shameless self-promotion that tastelessly mentioned Sharon Tate and made bullshit promises like "Here's a film your conscious will never let you forget and it's wild beyond belief!", "Torn out of today's headlines.  A shocking, realistic story of the wave of revolution and anarchy sweeping our country today!"and "A rebellion of human garbage!"  I can only imagine that such exciting promises pulled in thrill-seeking audiences by the droves...and then left them so disappointed I'm surprised they didn't burn the theater down.

When the film opens the first thing you notice is that the picture looks like shit thanks to the movie being filmed in 16mm and later blown up to 35mm.  The next thing you notice is that the off-screen gang-rape and double murder in the pre-credits scene was so vague that you barely even had any idea what was going on.  The third thing you notice is that "Satan" tune sang over the opening credits is pretty goddamn groovy in a ridiculous kind of way.  Since I had already seen this film multiple times in the past, I went ahead and sang it to my cat and he seemed to enjoy my crooning.  "I was boooooorn mean.  By the time I was 12, I was killing...killing for Satan!  Mmmmm-mmmm."

After that, things go alright for a little while...bikers cruising down the highway, a vacationing couple pick up a hitchhiker and stop at a roadside restaurant, the waitress likes the hitchhiker, the smelly bikers come in and cause some mayhem, (offscreen) rape, awesome triple murder scene (which was the highlight of the film), toilet drowning and then things go to hell when the hitchhiker and the waitress escape and the bikers start chasing them.  Unfortunately, their bikes crap out in the desert so the remainder of the film is just everybody stumbling around the desert on foot.  It's so boring.  The characters walk around and around.  Occasionally somebody throws a snake on another person or they tumble around in a speed-up "fight" scene, but it's sooo tediously paced that you can actually feel your brain drying up and crumbling in on itself.

SATAN'S SADISTS is by no means the worst movie ever, but, even as a fan of bad movies, this one was a chore to get through...and yet somehow I've seen this movie like 10 times.

Behind the scenes.