The Town That Dreaded Sundown

Plot synopsis:
October 31, 2013. In the small town of Texarkana located on the state line of Arkansas and Texas, the local drive-in theater is hosting the Halloween annual showing of the 1976 film 'The Town That Dreaded Sundown' based on the true story of the Phantom Killer who murdered several people in and around Texarkana in 1946. Corey Holland (Spencer Treat Clark) and Jami Lerner (Addison Timlin) are watching the film. Realizing that she is not enjoying it, they decide to leave. While parked in a secluded area, they begin to talk and kiss, but Jami sees the Phantom Killer in the woods. They decide to leave but the Phantom breaks the window and makes them get out of the car while pointing a gun at them. He makes Corey remove his pants and lie on the ground. He tells Jami to turn around and to not look back. The Phantom begins to slash Corey to death. Jami runs off but is caught when she falls. He tells her, "This is for Mary. Make them remember!" Jami walks back to the drive-in and collapses.The next morning, police interview Jami at the hospital before releasing her. Later that night, Jami and her grandmother, Lillian (Veronica Cartwright), watch the news about the attack. Jami asks her grandmother what she remembers from the original attacks. She researches the crimes. The next day, Jami attends Corey Holland's funeral.Two days before Thanksgiving, Kendra Collins goes to the airport to meet her boyfriend, Daniel Torrens, returning from the military. They have sex at a motel. He leaves to get snacks from the vending machine. Kendra hears something and looks out the window. The Phantom smashes the window with her boyfriend's severed head. She jumps out of the bathroom window, breaking her leg as she lands. She limps to the car but is killed while trying to start it.Meanwhile, Jami receives a phone call from Holland's phone. The Phantom tells her, "I'm going to do it again and again until you make them remember." She decides to tell her police escort, Deputy Foster (Joshua Leonard), about the incident. The next day, residents secure their houses and go to a town meeting.Jami goes to the City Hall archives to continue her research. She is helped by Nick (Travis Tope) and they become friends. At the police station, Texas Ranger Lone Wolf Morales (Anthony Anderson) takes over the investigation. While continuing her research at home, Jami receives an e-mail from "Texas Phantom". She takes this to the police and reveals her theories but they are dis-proven. Nick is waiting for Jami when she returns home and he asks her out to the vigil being held for the Phantom victims. While there, the masked Phantom shows up and is shot down by a marine officer. The news is told to the host of a social event and they celebrate.Afterwards, band members Johnny and Roy leave the dance and are warned by Deputy Tillman (Gary Cole) to go straight home. They decide, instead, to park at a lonely junkyard. While there, they see the Phantom. Johnny runs from the car. Roy drives off but is hit in the head and crashes. Johnny is beaten and Roy gets tied up. The Phantom recreates the trombone weapon from the original film. Johnny is then shot to death before Roy is stabbed to death. The next day, Deputy Foster tells Lerner that the man that was shot down at the vigil was a suicidal teen dressed up as the Phantom and that there were two more murders.Texas Ranger Morales and Chief Deputy Tillman visit Reverend Cartwright (Edward Herrmann) at his church. They discover that he sent Jami the e-mail, but they do not believe he is the Phantom.Nick meets up with Jami and tells her that he found out that the son of the late film director Charles B. Pierce (who directed the original film) is still alive and lives in Texarkana.Chief Deputy Tillman goes to a bar on Christmas Eve and meets up with a woman. At home, while she is giving him a blowjob, he is shot through the eye by the Phantom who is standing outside the window. She runs into a farm field and is killed by the Phantom.Jami and Nick visit Charles Pierce Jr. (Denis O'Hare) where they learn about Hank McCreedy, a sixth victim of the original Phantom whose story was forgotten. He gives his opinion that the new Phantom might be Hank McCreedy's grandson, because the family is angered that McCreedy's death was not remembered. Lerner is told that Hank McCreedy's wife was named Mary.That night, Lillian finds out that Jami was accepted to college in California. Lillian decides to move to California so Jami can go to school. She tells Nick she is leaving in the morning and they have sex. Nick walks home and is attacked by the Phantom.While driving out of town, Jami pulls into a gas station and walks inside. She soon hears gunshots and finds her grandmother dying by the vehicle. The Phantom is seen shooting from a window in a nearby building. Jami runs down the street and into the old Union train station. The Phantom follows her inside and calls her cell phone to find her. She runs to the train tracks where she finds Nick's body. She is shot down by arrows while trying to escape. While immobile, she is confronted by two Phantom Killers. One is revealed to be Deputy Foster and the other is Holland, Jami Lerner's "dead" boyfriend who faked his death. Deputy Foster reveals that he is McCreedy's grandson. Holland is shot and killed by Foster. While Foster is attacking Jami, she grabs his gun and shoots him.In the final scene, Jami moves on with her life and goes to college. In the final shot it is seen that the Phantom's shadow is stalking Jamie down the corridor before the credits roll.

Tags: revenge, murder, flashback

Review:
So when I first heard about there will be a new TTTDS, I thought it'd be another pointless, some cash-in effort but last night after watching this new take on T3DS, I'd like to admit...I was pleasantly surprised!!Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (the most frequent director of American Horror Story), this new film is a strange version to categorize as a remake, reboot or a sequel; actually it's neither a straightforward remake or sequel...I'm not sure but I think REQUEL (a sequel-ish remake!) can be a more appropriate term for it.
After more than half a century of the actual events of The Moonlight Murders that resulted the very making of 1976 original film, this new story is set on present day at the same town, Texarkana that once again begins to plagued by "The Phantom" murders.
And overall the film is beautifully shot, liked the camera works, the character development was fine for a slasher flick, but still as a slasher it's not above the clichés as well as it comes with a routine ending & weak motive for the killer which I couldn't find much point to it.
May be for the homage issue but though the film is set on late 2013, it still got the 70s vibe almost all over it.Anyway, there's not much masked killer-slasher flick comes out this days with good or decent budget & film making like this one and still despite some clichés & the ending, as a slasher flick it's pretty good one, IMO..
Many years after the killings in small town by a killer known as "The Phantom" resulted in the making of the 1976 film The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Texarkana is once again plagued by murders.
So if you look for particular aspects in a slasher film like a creepy killer, chase scenes, a decent body count, and bloody kills, with a likable lead, you may just enjoy this.
The original true crime slasher flick "Town That Dreaded Sundown"(1976) directed by Charles B.Pierce was based on true story of a mysterious serial killer called the Phantom Killer,who during spring of 1946 killed five people and wounded three in a small border town of Texarkana.The perpetrator of these heinous crimes was never caught.The new "Town That Dreaded Sundown" remake plays more like "Scream" influenced modern teen slasher flick with plenty of references to the original movie and the Phantom Killer unsolved case.Addison Timlin plays teenage girl who after seeing her would-be boyfriend brutally murdered by masked maniac decides to find who really the Phantom Killer AD 2014 is.The movie-within-a-movie premise is certainly well-played and there are some gruesomely bloody kill scenes.Frozen in time Texarkana is also a nice touch.Unfortunately the final reveal of the killer is disappinting.7 trombone deaths out of 10..
The Town that Dreaded Sundown is a fictional continuation on the story of the Texarkana Moonlight Murders told creatively to give homage to its predecessors.Based on the terrifying true serial killings known as the Texarkana Moonlight Murders of 1946, The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014) is a continuation of the screen adaptation of the real murders told by 1976's horror film The Town that Dreaded Sundown.Texarkana is still affected by the gruesome lovers lane murders some sixty-five years after the burlap masked figure terrorized the Arkansas/Texas area.
The 2014 horror movie blurs the line between fact and fiction, paying homage to both the film and the real life murders, but from this point on is purely fiction.Jami, played by Addison Timlin, is at the annual drive-in showing of the classic 70's horror flick about her hometown's moonlight serial murders.
The film profiled the mysterious murders by someone known only as "The Phantom Killer," who, for three solid months in 1946, terrorized the town of Texarkana, right on the border of Texas and Arkansas, committing gruesome murders or vicious attacks on the backroads of "lovers lanes." To this day, "The Phantom's" identity has never been confirmed and many believed that he walked the streets of Texarkana until his assumed death.The new, 2014 film bearing the same name is less a remake or a reboot of the original cult film but more a strange, meta-sequel, concerning present-day Texarkana, a distinctly southern town that still has the blemish of The Phantom clear in its history.
Either Texarkana is a down that doesn't really age (which could very well be the case) or the true time period wasn't taken into full consideration.Other than that, "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" is a surprisingly effective sequel, informative enough to be considered a worthy piece of analysis into The Phantom Killer, dark and haunting enough to live up to the standard set forth by its predecessors, and not meta or self-referential enough to be a distraction or an annoyance.
Scenes like the ones featuring a long conversation with Pierce's son, who is obsessive about letting the truth be known about The Phantom Killer, leave a little bit of ambiguity to a story already so peculiar and odd that we wonder if what is being examined has any substance to it outside of the screenplay.Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon made probably the best thing that could've resulted from a continuation to the 1976 film's story, and, through dark direction and an uncompromising notion to depict brutality and horror in its most chilling sense, makes "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" a thoroughly enjoyable and enticing affair..
This movie starts off with a voice-over speaking about how what your about to see is based on a true story, which is all bs of course, in real life this movie is based on the 1976 movie with the same name which was indeed based on a true story, but only loosely.The characters in this movie are all fictional however taking place in current date and it's more of a sequel than it is a remake as the original movie play a big part in this movie in terms of it's legend and the fact that the first murder occur in a annual screening of the movie.All that really doesn't matter in the end I suppose as long as the movie entertains, which it really does not.It's incredibly boring (even the many sex-scenes in it are boring), and to say that it's filled with clichés is a understatement; THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (2014) is a cliché first and a movie second.I actually expected a decent movie when I saw Anthony Anderson and Gary Cole was in it, but they are not in it all that much.Anthony Anderson who I personally think is one of the funniest comedians plays a serious role this time, and when I say serious I don't mean dramatic I mean that his sheriff character appears to have a stick up his butt and wouldn't know a joke if his life depended on it.
Pure and simply he's boring as a piece of wood in this one, and has the charm of it as well.Gary Cole is not much better, he seems incredibly bored through out and that's all he does.But the rest of the (unknown) cast is not that much better.Okay music though but that doesn't help this uninspired waste of film whatsoever.If you like really boring horror movies with poor from point a to point b story telling and a cast that look like they'd rather go to Pizza Hut than to make this movie, then yeah maybe this is for you, if you prefer your horrors to entertain than watch something else..
It's a cheesy slasher flick from a TV director best know for his contributions to Ryan Murphy shows (Murphy also acted as a producer).This flicks is really more like a fictionalized sequel that proposes to both solve the original crime and showcase a new, brutal copycat killer stalking the town.
A young girl (Addison Timlin of Odd Thomas and Californication), who witnesses the new killer's first murder and begins receiving correspondence from him after, sets out to solve the crime.In the meantime, the town of Texarkana panics while local law enforcement bumbles, both rather insulting to the real life town the movie takes place in and openly mocks.That leads me to my second biggest problem with the movie, the first being that it just isn't that good.
The story is not developed enough, the characters are not written well, and only the kills are effective.I will give credit to the cast, which also includes Dennis O'Hare, Anthony Anderson, and Veronica Cartwright, but they don't have much to work with.I actually didn't love the first movie either but it did have a great title, cool poster, and at least seemed like the filmmakers were trying to make a good movie.
Although the killer uses a gun a bit too much, and there's no decent death scenes in here, there's enough for slasher fans to give this a watch, I liked the way that pretty much as soon as the killer is revealed, unlike most other films where they talk or chase each other for another half an hour, this one just concludes pretty sharpish.
This film takes place in Texarkana in the "real world" where both the events of the phantom killer occurred and were made into the original movie.
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..
This movie takes place in a world where the murders attributed to the still unidentified Phantom Killer took place just as they did in the real world and, also like the real world, the film The Town That Dreaded Sundown was released in 1976.
It is only where the events of this more recent movie come into play that the story deviates from the world we actually live in, wherein a new killer begins committing murders reminiscent of those from the earlier film and the real life murders that inspired them.
The Town that Dreaded Sundown is more of a sequel than a remake to the 1976 film of the same name, which itself functioned as a true-story of the real-life murders that took place in the border town of Texarkana in the 1940s.
Having already established that this is not your typical slasher film, closer in spirit to David Fincher's Zodiac than Friday the 13th or the like, we're plunged headlong into an investigation of the original case, the movie that followed and their influence on the copycat killings that begin to take place in their wake.Exploring the relationship between violence and film is nothing new to the medium (nor is the self-referential sub-genre that briefly became popular in the mid-to-late 90s), but they've seldom been used to particularly good effect.
So all I can say is THANK YOU that someone actually made a well-made, modern slasher movie to break up the monotony.The Town That Dreaded Sundown '14 treads a fine line between remake and sequel--the characters in the film watch the original classic at certain points--an interesting blend of fiction and reality that keeps this from being a straight-up remake (not that there'd be anything wrong with that).What's to like?
Certainly a more original approach would have been welcomed and elevated the film beyond the '8' rating I gave it.Ending aside, The Town That Dreaded Sundown '14 is certainly a testament to the fact good slasher movies CAN still be made, even if they don't get the respect (and the wide theatrical releases) they deserve.
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..
I Have To Say When i Saw The Original Version Of "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" i Thought it Was Terrific Based On a Actual Events That Took Place in 1946, And in The Year Of 2014, Comes a Fresh New Take On The Classic Original Of The Town That Dreaded Sundown Movie But This New Of "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" it Was Produced By Jason Blum of His Company Name Called Blumhouse, And Ryan Murphy The Creator Of "American Horror Story T.V. Show Series Had Come And Team Up For a Kick Ass Scary And Brutal Remake/Reboot Version With Some Great Cast That includes Anthony Anderson From "Uban Legends: Final Cut" The Sequel To The First Smash Hit "Urban Legend" And Wes Craven's Last Film "Scream 4" Who in This Version Of "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" Plays a Texas Ranger That The Late Ben Johnson Played in The Original One But This New Lone Wolf Ranger Character Played By Anderson Only a Small Bit Part Scenes in it, Ed Lauter From Alfred Hitchcock's "Family Plot" And Jack Ketchum's "The Lost" Also Has a Limited Screen Time Appreance in it, Edward Herrmann From "The Lost Boys" Who Too Only Has Four Scenes As Well.
Who Plays a Chief Deputy, And Veronica Cartwright From Ridley Scott's First "Alien" Film, And From Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" in as Well, But The Star in This New Film "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" is a Female Heroine Played By Addison Timlin in a Strong Female Lead Performance as an Ordinary Young Girl Being Placed As The Girl in Peril And Has Fight For Survival, And Also Too Why i Liked This New Version Of "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" is Because it Has a References Back Story That Goes Back To The Original Version But it Also Has Crazy Twist At The End Of The Movie That You Did Not See it Coming, Also Too This New Film Version Features The Last Two Cast Members Of Ed Lauter And Edward Herrmann Who Both Died And Passed Away.
Every year in Texarkana they play the 70s movie The Town that Dreaded Sundown to remember the horrible killings in the 50s.A young couple decides to leave the movie early because the girl, Jami, doesn't really like horror movies.
But the killer won't let that happen.The Town That Dreaded Sundown has all the elements of a great slasher--a better-than-average story, the lovely Addison Timlin, who doesn't look as lovely here, violence, gore, sex, nudity.
In order to explain myself better, I will summarize the first scenes: in late- 2013, the main character and her boyfriend are watching the annual exhibition of the film The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) at a Texarkana drive-in cinema, during the anniversary of the real-life murders from 1946.
It was a really awesome, never that boring, and pretty interesting slasher film; while also being sort of reboot/ode/sequel to the original.I don't know if this qualifies as a spoiler or not, but sort of like in "The Human Centipede 2", the original Town That Dreaded sundown is a movie about a situation that happened in an old town.The cool part about the movie for me was the whole copy cat serial killer thing.
One girl survives her attack and decides to investigate the mysterious Phantom Killer and the main suspects, as well as certain information that was apparently dug up for the making of the '76 film...Early on, it looked like this one was gonna be decent enough with some pretty strong kill scenes and creative camera work.
I had assumed that The Town That Dreaded Sundown 2014 was simply a remake of the 1976 slasher of the same name; this, I am glad to say, is not the case—it's a bit cleverer than that.The film is set in the small town of Texarkana, where a masked psycho known as The Phantom committed a series of vicious murders 65 years earlier—it is these killings that provided the inspiration for the original movie, which—in this film—is now a cult favourite amongst the town's teenagers.
The local drive-in is showing its annual event of the original The Town That Dreaded Sundown, which the film at once presents as an actual film in its universe but also one based on the true story of the Phantom Killer of 1946.