A Texas town is startled and scared by the return of a serial killer, years after he first went on a murdering spree in the horror film The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Review after the jump.
Continuing our reviews of horror movies for Halloween, The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a sequel, or maybe a reboot, or even maybe a remake to the 1976 movie of the same name. It managed to gain quite a lot of hope leading up to the horror film festivals, and the hype actually made us excited and eager to watch a decent slasher – something we have lacked for numerous years.
Well, we can say that we were disappointed.
Taking a page out of Wes Craven’s book, The Town That Dreaded Sundown attempts to mix reality with the film world. Scream played the role perfectly with all the self-reference helping the movie along brilliantly. Unfortunately, The Town That Dreaded Sundown doesn’t manage to pull it off. This instalment starts by saying that the movie released in 1976 was based partly on a true story (which it was) and this movie you’re watching now is also based on a true story that happened in 2013 (which is a lie). This may all sound a bit confusing, but it really isn’t.
After visiting a drive-in cinema showing the original 1976 movie, Jami and her boyfriend sneak off in their car for some snogging and heavy petting, only to be interrupted by a man with a sack on his head. The assailant then kills Jami’s boyfriend and lets her go in order for her to spread the news that he, the “Phantom” is back to kill.
Jami then turns into some kind of teenage sleuth, looking to track down the killer by starting way back with the original killings.
The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a nice looking film with decent cinematography and colour grading, the sound is decent as well, but that’s where the praise must come to an end. The storyline is nowhere near as intelligent as it thinks it is, the acting is “okay” and the film is filled with clichés.
Such a shame really as The Town That Dreaded Sundown could have been an instant classic in the horror genre had the screenplay been better. Worth a watch? Only if you can’t find a better scary movie.
Leave a Reply