The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)

"It's been a long time"

PLOT

65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so called moonlight begin again. is it a copycat or something even more sinister? a lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him




MY THOUGHTS

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a remake(Sort of) to the original film of the same name which was made in 1976 which was based on the true story of the mask killer known only as the phantom that terrorized Texarkana back in 1946.

This film begins with a recap of the real life events that took place in 1946 and then references the 1976 film, then comes to current day where Jami (Addison Timlin) and her boyfriend Corey (Spencer Treat Clark) are at the drive in watching the original film which has become something of a yearly thing for the people of Texarkana who somewhat have embraced the tragic events from years ago.

Jami not being really into horror films wants to leave which Corey has no problem in doing, as they are leaving Reverend Cartwright(Edward Herrmann) is warning everyone about the movie they are watching, he’s something of the prophet of doom.

Jami and Corey ends up at lover’s lane the original phantom’s hunting grounds and while their after 66 years The Phantom appears and forces them out of the car, he tells Corey to get on the ground and for Jami to turn around and not look as he gets down on top of Corey and stabs him repeatedly.

Jami manages to escape and ends up in the hospital and when the rest of the town hears about what happened it causes the town to go into a frenzy and opens up once long forgotten feelings about The Phantom killer.

One thing I enjoyed about this movie was how the filmmakers made homages to the original film a few of the death scenes are play out exactly like a few of the ones in the original, most of note being the trombone scene.

The cast was a little interesting with a few known actors (Anthony Anderson, Gary Cole, Veronica Cartwright, Denis O’Hare,Ed Lauter and Edward Herrmann) showing up threw out, It would’ve been nice to have seen the police play a more important role in this film but they took a backseat this time too the main character.

Anthony Anderson character is based off of the Texas Ranger from the original film played by Ben Johnson and even dressed like him but isn’t given much to do, same with Gary Cole but he does have one of the more memorable scenes in the film.

Denis O’Hare does very well with the limited screen time he gets here as Charles B. Pierce, Jr. the son of the original filmmaker. It would’ve been good to see more of him here since he seemed to be the most committed to his role and what the film was all about.

The lead Addison Timlin as Jami does a decent job as the only survivor of The Phantom attacks and we’re given much of her own backstory but even with all of that there did seem to be something missing, maybe like I mentioned before if the police played more of a role in this film then it would’ve made her seem like a better character some how.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown does a good job of bridging the original with this new film and I was entertained through out, but if there is one big problem that I had with the film would be with the finale, I will not spoil it but the ending felt rushed and weak for the most part and some what slasher film cliched which this film wasn’t for two-thirds of it.

All in all if you are a fan of the original film or even if you are not The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a good watch and more violent then the original, the story is well pace and played out except for the ending but that shouldn’t ruin the overall viewing, it’s one of the better horror films from 2014 and seemed to fly under the radar for a lot of people.

So check it out since it’s streaming currently on netflix as is the original so you could have a double feature and make a night of it.


MY RATING
7/10

CAST
Addison Timlin-Jami
Veronica Cartwright- Lillian
Anthony Anderson-Lone Wolf Morales
Gary Cole- Chief Deputy Tillman
Travis Tope- Nick
Edward Herrmann-Reverend Cartwright
Ed Lauter- Sheriff Underwood
Denis O'Hare- Charles B. Pierce, Jr
Spencer Treat Clark- Corey
Morganna May- Kendra
Joshua Leonard- Deputy Foster 

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

"In 1946 this man killed five people... Today he still lurks the streets of Texarkana, Ark."





PLOT

A Texas Ranger hunts a hooded serial killer terrorizing the residents of a small town.





MY THOUGHTS

I've been waiting a long time to finally see this movie, thanks to Netflix that wait has come to an end. The Town That Dreaded Sundown was actually a TV movie released back in 1976(yes there was a time TV had good original movies ). The movie begins with narration about the real life back story about what happened in 1946 and the hooded serial killer only known as The Phantom that terrorized the small town.

The beginning of the film plays out mostly like a documentary with the phantoms first appearance and his first victims that he follows up to lovers lane and slowly stalks Linda(Christine Ellsworth) and Sammy(Mike Hackworth) who are just listening to the radio when Linda decides she's ready to leave at first Sammy doesn't want to leave but he comes around to Linda's thinking.

The Phantom lingers in the shadows waiting for the right moment to attack as the car slowly starts up and begins driving, The Phantom appears hanging onto the car breaking out the Sammy's window and pulls him out the car, cutting him on the broken glass in the process.

The next morning Linda is found on the side of the road barely alive by the police who have surrounded the area as its now a crime investigation. The scene is led by Deputy Sheriff Norman Ramsey (Andrew Prine) who sees exactly what The Phantom has done to Linda.

After this first attack things seem to calm down until March 24 when Ramsey is back out at Lovers Lane and finds Howard Turner dead and his girlfriend Emma Lou Cook tied to a tree she is dead as well, this time Ramsey gets a look at The Phantom as he's fleeing away but isn't able to catch him.

The town is now in a state of panic as The Phantom has struck again and the two victims this time are both killed, The Sheriff Department decides to bring in the best criminal investigator around Captain J.D. Morales (Ben Johnson). Morales comes to town and quickly takes over the investigation he is partnered up with Ramsey and a driver Patrolman A.C. Benson aka Sparkplug( Charles B. Pierce) who is good for moment then a few laughs threw out the movie.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown seems very tamed compared to a lot of movies that followed it but after watching it, it has influenced more then a far share of horror movies that's followed it most note worthy being Jason Voorhees look in Friday the 13th part 2 (1981) and Michael Myers Halloween (1978).

If you are expecting a lot of blood and kills you won't see to much of that, but where this movie lacks in that area it surely makes up in the atmosphere of terror since the majority of attacks take place at night and The Phantom stalking ways add a lot to the movie.

The biggest thrill scene in the movie is when The Phantom attacks another couple, after shooting the boyfriend, The Phantom attaches a pocket knife to the girls trombone and pretends to play it while using it to kill her, you'll rarely see a scene like that in a movie today.


Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine and Charles B. Pierce are the standouts acting wise, especially Pierce as Sparkplug with his Barney Fife like Patrolmen character who is heavy footed on the gas and had no business behind the wheel of a car.

Also Dawn Wells (Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island) makes an appearance as one of The Phantom's victims, her appearance is a interesting one but adds a great deal to the movie since she always has that girl next door/ very likeable quality about her. who is just wrong place, wrong time in this movie.

The finale of the movie is one that's very exciting as the police seems to have caught up to The Phantom and despite wounding him a few times he manages to get away or as the narrator says dies somewhere out in the swamp but no one knows for sure. leaves audiences with the feeling that just maybe he is still out there. The Phantom killer just like Jack The Ripper, The Zodiac real identity was revealed in real life.


MY RATING

8/10



CAST

Ben Johnson- Captain J.D. Morales
Andrew Prine- Deputy Norman Ramsey
Dawn Wells= Helen Reed
Charles B. Pierce- Patrolman A.C. Benson
Cindy Butler- Peggy Loomis
Christine Ellsworth- Linda Mae Jenkins
Steve Lyons- Roy Allen
Mike Hackworth- Sammy Fuller
Misty West- Emma Lou Cook