[yasr_overall_rating]
65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so-called ‘moonlight murders’ begin again. Is it a copycat or something even more sinister? A lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him.
I still remember the poster of the 1976 version of “The Town That Dreaded Sundown,” a serial killer wearing a burlap sack over his head with two eye holes, much like Jason did in “Friday the 13th: Part 2” and it was an image that stuck with me for a long time. I saw the original many years ago when I was a teenager but when word came out about a new incarnation, I didn’t know if it was going to be a prequel, a sequel or just a plain old remake. As it stands, it would fall into the latter two categories. It is a continuation of the original story but in many ways, it is also a remake, as the killer herein, re-enacts the murders from the first movie, just to prove a point.
The film claims to be loosely based on actual crimes and as far as the story goes, way back in 1946 in Texarkana, a town which borders both Texas and Arkansas, a masked serial killer known as the Phantom Killer, attacked and murdered eight people. The 1976 movie was a fictionalized account of those events, stating that only the names had been changed and even though the authorities declared that they knew who the killer was, they never had enough concrete evidence to back up their claim. This new version picks up in 2014 where every Halloween, the town has a screening of the earlier movie at an old drive-in movie theater in downtown Texarkana.
As the movie begins, Jami (Addison Timlin) and her boyfriend Corey (Spencer Treat Clark) are sitting on the hood of his car watching the movie when Jami lets Corey know she’s uncomfortable with the screening. They both leave and make their way to a secluded area but before they have time to do anything, a man wearing a burlap sack and looking identical in appearance to the original Phantom Killer of 1946, attacks them and kills Corey, informing Jami that he will kill again. Jami manages to make her way to safety but once the local media and townspeople find out what happened, superstition kicks in and the entire town begins to fall apart.
As more and more people begin to die and the police have no suspects in custody, Jami decides to do some old-fashioned detective work by herself and makes her way to the City Hall archives where she proceeds to investigate every aspect of the original 1946 murders. With a little help from Nick Strain (Travis Tope), a file clerk and ex-classmate, the duo begin to slowly uncover the circumstances surrounding Hank McCreedy, the sixth victim of the original Phantom Killer who had long been forgotten. Convinced that the killer is McCreedy’s grandson, angry that the town forgot his grandfather’s death and seeking revenge, Jami and Nick must try to convince the police before it’s too late.
This new version is vastly superior to its earlier and out-dated counterpart and brings with it, all the necessary scares and bloodshed, required to make a good old-fashioned horror film. Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon thankfully gives his movie the beautiful, widescreen visual appearance of the horror movies of the 70s and 80s (think “Halloween” and “Alien”) and reminds us of an era when filmmakers didn’t have to resort to tacky gimmicks such as hand-held camera techniques that induce nausea and vomiting, and not in a good way, or excessive audio attributes, cheap scares such as a phone ringing or a knock on a door so loud it could wake the dead.
On a side note, back in 2003, I directed my third feature-film, titled “Divine Souls” and it was the first time I got to work with a child actor. His name was Travis Tope and he was about 10 years old and he was simply amazing in his role. As I sat down to watch this film, imagine my surprise when he appeared as Nick Strain, the file clerk who helps our film’s heroine. After “Divine Souls,” he disappeared from acting for a while but now he’s back, not just in this film but he has also appeared in “Boardwalk Empire,” “Men, Women and Children” and will be in next year’s blockbuster sequel, “Independence Day: Resurgence.” I couldn’t be more proud.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD July 7th
