The Town That Dreaded Sundown

This film is far from the worst horror entry I've seen, and it is one of the more unique films in recent years. It has some twists and turns, and the killer is genuinely scary in the vein of Son of Sam or the Zodiac. Of course, they threw in some gay dudes for some odd reason, that get killed in a silly way, and some other usual lovers. The couple at the beginning was just plain stupid, though, as they spot a man with a sack on his head staring at them menacingly from the bushes, and the boy in the car says, "Just some peeping Tom; don't worry." -- Yeah, sure. No worries. There is just some maniac weirdo staring at me while I get it on in a car, in the middle of nowhere at night, wearing a mask. Sure, happens to me all the time. They usually just want to take some photos and share a beer with you after you bone your date. What an idiot!!! We were laughing about that one for quite a while. Another issue, which is cliche in horror movies, is the lack of people around in EVERY killing. Like, I get it-- the killer stalks and waits for perfect moments and victims, but come on!!!! Something in real life always goes wrong, and random people show up in all sorts of places and in ways you couldn't plan for. In this film, the killer seems to roam the streets, apartment buildings, gas stations, and fields, all with impunity at night-- even though everyone, including Texas Rangers, are looking for them to kill again. A woman leaps from a hotel or apartment building and gets in a car, only to have the killer follow her down there and stab her all over the car. She couldn't lay on the horn or scream? No one heard all the breaking glass and fighting and yelling going on in a big building in town? No one ever sees a big dunce with a potato sack on his head wielding weapons? At least he used a silencer for some kills, but it was very convenient that no one ever seemed to be out or aware of anything at night, in a small town where people keep getting murdered. In that region, I would expect everyone to be armed, dogs on alert, alarms, patrols at night, traps to be set,-- something...lol Oh, and Anthony Anderson was miscast as the lead Ranger detective in this. He did ok with the part, but I felt it was distracting and odd, as I so used to seeing him in raunchy comedies and sitcom stuff, and he didn't really seem like the type to be a Texas Ranger. Danny Glover or Tommy Lee Jones, yeah. Anthony Anderson? Uhh, kind of bizarre lol Everything else was pretty good, acting is good, and it has some different stuff that you haven't seen in every slasher movie, but like so many others in the genre, this one just couldn't produce a finishing finale for all the hype. The ending really made no damn sense at all. Two guys in on the killing? One is a cop? The other is a boy that was clearly shot by a Marine at a public vigil, in front of 100 people. How the hell did one cop get to file the reports, forego the autopsy, forge death certificate paperwork, and fake a burial, etc.???? There were way too many people on the scene, and the guy was a high school or college student that everyone knew. He didn't have anyone check on him or his funeral? The police didn't investigate the shooting and weapon used, and do any further research on what happened? Apparently, they just let one cop check a gunshot victim for vital signs, and then the cop buries the kid in a swamp, alone, with no more questions asked. Unless I missed something, that is the idea behind the final twist at the end. The ending is so bad, it nearly ruins an otherwise decent slasher mystery movie.

Had potential but ends up as your usual cheesy, predictable slasher- murder-drama. The Town That Dreaded Sundown had some potential early on. By referring to an actual series of murders that occurred in the Texarkana, TX area in 1946 and an actual movie made in 1976 regarding these murders, you have the situation of an historic event within an actual movie within this movie. This made me think we were in for some sort of Christopher Nolan-like mind games. Alas, no. The historic event is just used to create a precedent and the 1976 movie hardly features beyond the opening scenes. While there is some ongoing intrigue regarding who the murderer is, the movie hardly develops into a decent murder mystery. Pretty much ends up following the standard slasher-horror formula, with the conclusion being rather random, contrived and implausible. Performances are of the usual so-so standard of horror movies. Worst of the lot is the one kid who mumbles his way through several scenes and heaps of dialogue. Gary Cole is the only known name in the cast, and he's just there to give the movie credibility.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014) ** (out of 4) Decent remake/update/re-imagining of the 1976 film has a young woman named Jami (Addison Timlin) surviving an attack by The Phantom. Soon everyone in Texarkana believes that the ghost of the original Phantom is back but Jami decides to do some investigating so that she can find the original killer as well as whoever is slaughtering new folks. The original 1976 film actually plays a pretty important role in this film because clips of it are shown throughout so you really can't call this a remake. It's not directly linked so it's not really a sequel either. I think you should give director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and screenwriter Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa at least credit for trying something different instead of just giving us the same film over. Did they succeed? I would say no but there's still enough interesting ideas going on here that makes it worth seeing. I think the most fascinating thing is that they try to link the two films and there's even a point where the original film becomes a witness so to speak. This leads to a really bizarre moment where the woman goes to interview the son of the original film's director and they even say that Charles B. Pierce had knowledge of who the killer was. These moments are quite fascinating but sadly an investigation type of film isn't what this is. Whereas the original film had a great atmosphere and went for scares, this one here basically turns into a rather mindless slasher as we get all sorts of gory, over-the-top death scenes that just aren't scary. The death scenes really aren't all that memorable especially with the poor CGI effects. It's really too bad that gore was the main thing on the menu here. The film does offer up some good performances with Timlin doing a fine job in the lead. We also get nice support from Veronica Cartwright, Gary Cole, Edward Herrmann, Ed Lauter and Anthony Anderson. The performances aren't enough to eventually save the movie as there's a downright horrid ending that should have been left on the cutting room floor with just about anything else taking its place. THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN isn't a horrible movie or even a bad one but it's certainly rather disappointing that it's just a mindless slasher when there were some elements here that could have made it much more memorable.

Horrible story. Bad acting. Some of the worst effects I've ever seen. The director owes me 90 minutes of my life back. I would suggest chewing on glass over watching this movie. It is sad that they were able to get funding for this movie. Might have the worst ending you could possibly imagine with little to no tie into the rest of the movie. There is lots of cliché scenes that make things even worse. The part that is really sad is they tried to make it watchable by putting in pointless, gross sex scenes that don't belong. I hope that the director and producer lose there jobs and never are able to work in Hollywood again.

it started out OK....using I believe real newspaper clippings and stuff with a decent narration...which led me to believe that this was gonna be a fictional continuation but in the end it fails miserably...it cant decide whether it wants to be a pseudo sequel or a complete remake....in the end it just becomes a complete mess and just another generic slasher type film that's been done to death...the great thing about the original is while yes it did show the killer in action the movie itself was more about the police trying to track down and catch him....which I find a lot more interesting then this crap...The Cast the late Ed Lauter and Anthony Anderson in the film and then preceded to use them in scenes that are pretty much meant to run up the screen time...its a real shame that Ed Lauter was given such a worthless role he was a good actor and deserved better...Same for Anthony Anderson...hell even Gary cole isn't given much to do....in fact the police are pretty much non existent except for a few scenes at most...in the end it just boils down to another masked copycat killer chasing yet another teen....I say stay away from this bomb...if you have to watch one go watch the original much better film.

Well they sure managed to keep that old image from back then, thus giving this movie a more realistic look, helping the viewer connect easily with the story. I for one got to say that I enjoyed it! Am surprised to see a hand bunch of good actors gathered here, just check out the list, you'll see what I'm talking about, so you can expect good acting. They kept a very realistic portrait of the town, the people, the church, pretty much everything looks old, older than everything else because it is a tired town, one that has been through a lot of terror already and it barely healed properly. The story moves slow, but the killings go on and on, no gore, a little nudity, still powerful images come with every kill. Those looked indeed like authentic psychopath murders with psychopath reason behind them. I think I said enough, I don't wanna tip you off on anything so I'll just recommend you to try it. It's a good homage of the classic cinema. I haven't seen the original, I hear it is also quite brutal, probably I'll try that one too, soon enough I hope. So without comparing them, my opinion is that The Town That Dreaded Sundown stands tall for a horror/slasher remake. Cheers!

I'm from Texarkana and I've been reading up on the Phantom killer for quite some time, along with watching the original. I must say that I enjoyed the original better. The new one has way too much nudity. It's really graphic, you can actually see genitals. Seemed as if they focused more on that than actually getting the story line correct. And why were they dressed like they were in the 70's but the date had 2014. I don't get it. Wished they had worked a little bit harder and took the time, it could have been a great sequel. There were so many ways that they could have taken it. And for it to end the way that it did with the boyfriend being involved, they should have did more with the back story of him. What a waste of time and money.

There are some scenes here that are truly awesome and really entertaining. Despite the clichés, some of the death kills and chases are well done and pretty inventive (although having not seen the original, not sure how inventive after all). The acting is decent, and it really feels like an old-school slasher, for obvious reasons. The problem is that it tries to get into the backstory a little too much, ultimately deflating so much of its momentum. Its first act is definitely its strongest, what a shame it couldn't sustain itself. For horror fans, it's somewhat decent and maybe many will love it. But it does show some talent from Gomez-Rejon, who has proved to be the best director of American Horror Story

I was honestly going into this movie rather hopeful because I liked the premise and thought that it was a creative idea. But... as you can probably tell by my Summary, I REALLY did not like it very much. Mainly, I find that what really kills it for me personally with these Horror films is the poor acting. Now, I realize that in many cases like with your Classic Slasher films and your more campy ones, you EXPECT the characters to be kind of corny caricatures and such; that usually adds to the fun. BUT... when the 'effort', such as it is, is clearly being made to be serious and straight-forward, AND the acting is superficial and completely abysmal, it genuinely puts me right off the film (if you want, please check out my comments about the recent, AWFUL 'HONEYMOON' along these lines...) I really tried with this one, I truly did. But, almost from the start with the actresses phony tiny, little-girl voice, and the painfully OBVIOUS and PREDICTABLE scene at the funeral (GEEZ, never saw THAT coming *sarcastic*) and then the artificially soft, clichéd voice of the supposed 'Therapist', and even to my dismay, the absolutely TERRIBLE line readings from the well known Angela Cartwright... well, by then, I really had quite had it with this poorly done, horribly acted movie. Not to mention the pointless and tedious 'Sex' scenes that served no cinematic or filmic purpose whatsoever, unless HIGHLY amplified sucking and kissing sounds really get you off... And it was really sad too, because I was looking forward to seeing Ed Lauter's and Edward Herrmann's last performances. I don't know... Maybe I should have given it more of a chance. If the acting hadn't been so painfully cringe-worthy, I probably would have. Some people here clearly seemed to like the film like Scarecrow88, who's reviews are usually quite helpful. Maybe I am missing something... Perhaps if you are not as fussy about the acting aspect of films like I am, you might be able to go with the story, but I personally truly found it to be very trite, boring, and completely uninvolving in ANY way whatsoever...

This movie is bad...really bad. I'm not from Texarkana but I've been living here for a few years and here are a few problems I have with the movie: 1. Texarkana isn't that small. They filmed almost the entire movie down town which is an area that not even residents go to often. Texarkana is a growing and prosperous city, not the small backwoods place the movie portrays. 2. Isn't it supposed to take place in 2013? Why is everyone dressed like it's 1970? And what's with all the old cars? The people here are fairly trendy and there is a new Camaro, Mustang or F150 on every corner. 3. In the scene where it's supposed to be Christmas Eve, there are leaves on the trees...and they're green. Im pretty sure it snowed that Christmas..come on guys 4. I'm sick and tired of people portraying Southerners as ignorant Christians. Yes this is a predominantly Christian city but the people here aren't a bunch of blithering idiots If you're going to make a movie characterized by its setting and people, at least make an effort to be somewhat accurate. This is not my hometown but this movie offends me