my thoughts on.... 'The Town That Dreaded Sundown' (an original Creepercast site review)

The 70's was a fascinating time for the world of horror. Things were slowly shifting into gear, as the 80's was gearing up to dominate the theaters. It was a time for directors and writers to stretch their legs and get creative with their stories, kills and killers themselves. Many of the most iconic horror films came out at this time and set the standard for what horror would become today. Not too mention that they still stand up against some of the best horror that came after. It was almost like the wild west back then. You could do just about anything and it had never been seen before. Whenever you look at a list of people's favorite horror of all time, 9 out of 10 of those listed will be from the 70's.
An interesting phenomenon that popped up around this time was the films that were loosely based on true stories. Some more loosely than others, but 'The Town That Dreaded Sundown' was one of those movies. The true story in question was: (taken from Wikipedia) “The Texarkana Moonlight Murders, a term coined by the news media, references the unsolved murders committed in and around Texarkana in the spring of 1946 by an unidentified serial killer known as the "Phantom Killer", or "Phantom Slayer". The killer is credited with attacking eight people within ten weeks, five of whom were killed, usually three weeks apart.” It's not too far off in the method or style in which this serial killer committed his crimes and how the movie portrays it. Not nearly as much of a stretch as was the case with 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. The logic, as I see it, behind this marketing tactic was to get people to feel more afraid of what they were seeing. By knowing it was based in reality and could happen to them, if heightens your sense of fear and makes that feeling last, AFTER you leave the theater. Who knows what evil is lurking behind that next alleyway or under your bed when you get home? And the reason you're feeling that way, is because one little tag line told you too. It was simple and could be used in just about any films promotion.... if you looked deep enough into the material.

The basic plot of this film, is the same as the Texarkana Moonlight Murders. It's the late 40's and a man wearing a sack on his head, is going around and murdering people after dark. Sometimes in unusual and weird ways. The town, literally, begins to dread sundown, because no one knows who's committing the murders and the police have no real leads. This leads to more fear and gives the killer that much more pleasure in what he's doing. You've got all the stereotypical genre staples here. The teenage kids, the bumbling cops, etc and all of them play their roles with almost an over the top sensibility. To me, this almost felt like if you took 'Friday the 13' (1980) and mashed it up with 'The Dukes of Hazard'. It's literally that over the top at times. The film is most notoriously known for one kill in particular, the one involving a trombone and a knife. It has to be seen to be believed. (The 2014 remake attempted to recapture this magic and failed miserably, but that's another review.)
One of the most fun aspects of this film, is that when you watch it, think about the year it was made and what you're seeing on the screen. This pre-dates the original 'Friday the 13th' by 4 years and yet it uses so many of the same tactics and the tone is incredibly similar. It isn't necessarily the blueprint for the slashers to come, but it certainly added a few more pages to the playbook. It's very original and very unique vs a lot of the slashers that came before and most of them that have come sense. I was happily surprised by this movie and thoroughly entertained by it. If you like your horror straight out of the 70's and haven't seen this one yet, I highly recommend that you block out some time on your calendar and check it out. It reminds me of 'The Prowler' (1981), but with comedic overtones and not nearly as dark. 'The Town That Dreaded Sundown' gets a solid 4 out of 5 stars from me and is one that I would watch again and if you choose to watch it, keep your eyes open for Dawn Wells ('Gilligan's Island'), the train sequence and a guest starring spot by producer and director Charles B. Pierce who plays a bumbling police officer named A.C. Benson, also known as "Sparkplug”.

This is where I usually recommend similar movies to watch, but this one is really a one of a kind piece of cinema.