The Town That Dreaded Sundown Movie Review 164

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a 1976 horror movie. It is directed by Charles B Pierce who also directed the 1972 movie The Legend of Boggy Creek. It stars Ben Johnson and Andrew Prine.

The movie is narrated throughout to give it a documentary feel. It is filmed much like a documentary too and this adds to the real feel of it. It is set in Texarkana, Arkansas. It is 1946 and there is a reign of terror beginning. A couple in a car parked in a lovers lane are attacked by some man with a white sack on his head. They both survive but their description of their killer is hazy. It is called the Lovers Lane Case at first. Deputy Sheriff Ramsey(Andrew Prine) is on the case. The attacker bit the young girl. The cops don't catch anyone. Another couple drive out to the same place and this time they are killed. The Deputy is in the area and he hears the gunshots. He is too late as the couple are dead and the attacker escapes. The dead girl has been bitten too so the cops know they have a serial killer on their hands.

The whole town is scared by now. People are being vigilant and they are securing their houses.The local police have no leads so a Texas Ranger called J.D. Morales(Ben Johnson) is brought in to help.Everyone is happy to have him there and they are all ready to cooperate with him. Ramsey and Morales are working together on the case. There are curfews imposed and the police are patrolling the town and the lover's spots. Ramsey thinks that the killer strikes every 21 days for some reason. This time the cops are ready for him. They have decoys in a car pretending to be a couple, but nothing happens there. There is a prom and there are young people driving around despite being warned about the killer. A young couple decide to go to an isolated spot and guess what? They get caught by the killer and murdered. The police find them the next day. They ask a profiler to tell them about the killer and he says that he is way too clever and that he won't be caught.

 

A local man comes to the cops and tells them that he gave a strange man a lift and that the man told him that he was the killer. They take the guy into custody, but it seems as if he is not the killer. He is just a car thief. The killer follows a woman home and he waits until nightfall. He shoots her husband through the window and then he gets into the house and tries to kill her. She escapes to a neighbours house. The police are stumped. They search around the area where the woman lives and they see the killer. He is hanging around. They shoot at him and they try to catch him. He gets wounded, but escapes. The movie ends with him getting away and nobody  knows what has happened to him.

This film is based on a true story. There were murders in Texarkana in the 1940's. The killer was called The Phantom Killer and he has never been caught. The case has gone cold by now....This film was entertaining and I would recommend it. I am giving it a 7/10...There is a new film coming out this year with the same name, but it is nothing to do with this film. It is some movie about vampires. They just decided to take the name for some reason!!!