This film is a kind of guilty pleasure of mine. It’s not that good, but it definitely delivers on the drive-in schlock that made the late 60s and early 70s exploitation films fun. The cast was mostly unknown at the time (most of them still are) with the exception of Russ Tamblyn (still can’t get plum roles like in West Side Story). I wouldn’t say that it’s a true biker film, but it’s still pretty wild.

The Sadists stop at a gas station/diner in the middle of nowhere in Death Valley. At this diner there is the old man who runs it, a waitress, a middle age couple on vacation, and an ex-marine who is traveling to California. The gang decides to have a little fun at the diner, but things go sour when the old man tells them to leave. They take it badly and go on to kill everyone except the marine and waitress. The marine kills two of the gang, and then he and the waitress escape into the desert. Of course, the gang chases them down because they don’t want any witnesses.

The acting wasn’t great, but it sufficed for a low budget biker film. The bikers, of course, were stereotypes of the typical members of biker gangs at the time. There’s the sadistic leader (Tamblyn), the acid freak (cleaverly nicknamed acid, those zany bikers), the tough guy, the sex fiend, and leader’s strung out girlfriend. Most of these characters were pretty one dimensional, but you really don’t need to know much more about them anyway. The plot of the film keeps moving at a decent pace, so I can’t find too much of a problem with it. Of course there are some psychedelic scenes (it was the 60s after all) and some interesting deaths. Overall, it wasn’t great, but it suffices as an exploitation film and if you get into it it is kind of fun.