"But what sticks out most sharply about The Sadist, at least to my eye, is the way it prefigures the ruthless harshness of 70's horror and hints at the structural formula of the 80's slasher movie. When Tibbs pulls the trigger on his first victim, it's like a slap in the face for the audience— the viewer suddenly realizes that writer/director Landis isn't kidding around, and that The Sadist is miles removed from the usual safe horror fare of the 60's. It's just as disorienting later on, when what looks like a certain rescue for the two surviving teachers is nipped savagely in the bud, leaving them once again to fend entirely for themselves. There's even a slasher-style "finding the bodies" scene and a concluding reel which looks a lot like a precursor of the Final Girl endings we're accustomed to today. You just don't see this sort of thing in movies from 1963, and it's that shock of the unexpected that gives The Sadist most of its power."- Scott Ashlin, 1000 MISSPENT HOURS AND COUNTING