Tuesday, October 4, 2016

THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (2014)

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Movie Review

In 1976 a movie titled The Town That Dreaded Sundown was made--this film was based on actual events, specifically a 1946 killing spree dubbed "The Texarkana Moonlight Murders". That is a fairly terrifying film that I will one day get around to reviewing--the 2014 The Town That Dreaded Sundown is some sort of strange hybrid of remake and sequel. We start this film with a scene of people in Texarkana gathered at a drive in theatre to see the original The Town That Dreaded Sundown on Halloween night--this is a take on a real life event wherein the city of Texarkana shows the 1976 film every year around Halloween. So we establish right from the get go that the 1976 film was just that--a film. However, the 1946 killings were very real, and now the killer appears to be back to wreak havoc on the town in 2013. The killings are practically identical to the ones from the 1976 film, which were similar (but not really) to the real life murders.

Don't think too hard about it

We see early that this film delivers in the gore, and that's done very well here. The cast is pretty likable--for the most part they don't hit us with the usually horror cliché characters, except the pastor, who is of course a lunatic (and played wonderfully by Edward Herrmann of The Lost Boys in one of his final film appearances). The direction and editing of this film leave a lot to be desired--it is so jumpy and distorted that it unintentionally ads a comedic element that feels way out of place in this film. The movie is actually fairly enjoyable and will keep you interested...until the reveal at the end takes absolutely all the air out of the balloon. A movie that feels so plausible should never deliver such an impossible ending, but alas, The Town That Dreaded Sundown does just that.

They should have gone with the ending from this one

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 5

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Movie Trailer

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