The Town that Dreaded Sundown

2014 "In 1946, a mysterious hooded killer terrorised Texarkana. In 1976, he was immortalised in the silver screen. Now, the maniac is back…"
5.6| 1h25m| R| en| More Info
Released: 16 October 2014 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A masked maniac terrorizes the same small community where a murderer known as the Phantom Killer struck decades earlier.

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alihandemiral The Town That Dreaded Sundown has its fair share of clichés, but that doesn't make it a bad film. It is probably the most "progressive" remake in the history of cinema, because it acknowledges the original 1970s film and the events that led to the film , and uses them as a pivotal part of the storyline in a manner that has never been done before. The writing, as i mentioned before, has some horror clichés in it, but the progressive way that the original film has been remade makes up for it right away after the first 15 minutes.Gomez-Rejon's directing has almost no flaws, he is superb in what I assume his feauture film debut, the use of light is extremely captivating, I guess we should thank the cinematographer as well as Gomez-Rejon for that. This film is a must-watch for the lovers of the genre and especially for the fans of the original film. I bet it would be a huge film if Blumhouse Productions was as highly valued as it is today back in 2014.
Nigel P 65 years ago, a masked man attacked residents of small town Texarkana. Now it appears the miscreant is back. Speaking with a modulated voice in slow deliberate tones, the 'moonlight murderer' begins his killing spree all over again.The production values are decent, the acting is convincing. So why do I find this tortuously dull? How can something with a fair amount of screaming teens and restrainedly gruesome killings not arrest my attention? Could it be that Jami (Addison Timlin) speaks in a monotone and insipid manner no matter what the emotion? To be fair to her, her contempories are often much the same. Far from the strutting posturers that frequent such films usually (which is a mercy), they are on the other end of the spectrum. Humbly mumbling their lines to one another, it is difficult to work out one character from another. Inoffensive –sweet even - to the point of inertia, these characters are barely even cyphers for the marauding killer, who is also without much in the way of presence.It may be that I am simply not in the mood for this, but there seems to be no life in any facet of the proceedings. Even the occasional sex scene fails to break free of this miasma. Why is the murderer doing these things? Just *because*, really. I feel bad about my nonchalance – after all, a great deal of work has presumably gone into creating this: the bleakness of the locale is nicely conveyed by Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and Ludwig Goransson's musical score is nicely haunting; there's a good set piece where a couple wake up to find their scarecrow perched on the wooden stand has been replaced by the bloody corpse of a young girl … and then within moments the lacklustre performance of those trying to solve the mystery drags things back down again. Sadly unengaging throughout.
Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki Two thirds of a century after a series of brutal, vicious, and unsolved killings took place in Texarkana, Arkansas, and one film, loosely based on the crimes, was made, another killer begins making the rounds, using the original killer's M.O. Not really a remake, as it does have an original take on the story, and not exactly a sequel, either, as the characters are aware of the previous film's existence, and even turn to it for clues to the killer's next move, this meta-film has an interesting idea, and much more tension and suspense than I had expected. The hooded killer stalking his victims is effectively chilling, and just when it seems to begin copying the cornfield scene from the original, it does something a bit different with it, and gives the audience a creepy scarecrow image, not present in the earlier film.It mixes fact with fiction, as an article is being written about the killer, and a previously unknown victim, which could provide a clue to the killer's identity.But for all those things working in its favour, the characters are mostly dull, bland, and boring, the cinematography is typical high contrast with over saturated colours, and while the final chase is effective, the reveal of the killers' identity was uninspired and unbelievable.
Michael Radny my feelings about this film is split. On one hand you have a decent film which tells a story about a serial killer, then you have a film (which may or may not be intentionally funny) which is a splatter gore fest. The majority of this film is good to watch when nothing else is on, but that is the problem. This film is at most times pretty tedious to battle through. Some moments seem clever and smart, but other moments seem rather unamusing and not at the least bit entertaining.The Town That Dreaded Sun Down is at times fun to gloss over, but at times also hard to watch due to its prolonged scenarios. Not much of this film screams "this is worth watching", however at times the plot drifts off into a pretentious overdrive. Netflix supplied this to me, and being one of the last horror films for me to watch, was not a good one.