THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (2014)

THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (2014)

Tagline: Nope.

(Horror, Mystery, Slasher) [R]

Well, I'll tell you what, I wasn't born in Texarkana but I've been around long enough to know one thing: it's that just about everyone around here's got some kind of blood on their hands.

In this one, we are taken to Texarkana where they are showing a movie made about the “moonlight murders” that happened 65 years earlier. The town's reception to the movie being shown ranges from anger to jubilation. Now it appears there is a copycat killer in the midst, and Jami is determined to get to the bottom of it after her boyfriend becomes the copycat’s first victim. 

First off, one thing that stands out about this movie is that the killer uses a gun a lot. This is a slasher, but this slasher will shoot you also. They just don’t have that restriction of using the nearest chainsaw, axe, pick, or whatever. They will just pull out a gun and shoot you. They don’t have time to chase you around all night. 

The second thing I noticed is how sick these writers were to paint the only pastor in the film the way they did. They literally have this dude rooting for the killer. It just shows you how Godophobic these writers were or perhaps still are. One of the dudes wrote the original which I have never seen, but I can only assume it’s also terrible in regard to this. Outside of that, the film is actually pretty solid. It’s straightforward atmospheric nightmare fuel in the slasher realm. THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN effectively moves forward from scene to scene building tension as it goes and does a really good job of keeping its audience guessing what is really going on. 

Acting wise this thing is loaded with well-known talents. Addison Timlin (ODD THOMAS) is actually pretty great in this. She is a very talented actress and is still getting plenty of roles because of that. Edward Herrmann (THE LOST BOYS) plays the pastor Reverend Cartwright, whom I was talking about earlier. It was a really rough outing for him, but he was an amazing actor. Gary Cole is good in this as Chief Deputy Tillman. He is probably most famous for TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY and is a solid actor, but has a knack for picking really crappy projects to get involved in. We also have the late Ed Lauter (CUJO) who played Sheriff Underwood and also did a really good job. Rounding out the main notables Anthony Anderson is good as Lone Wolf Morales. He is best known as TRANSFORMERS. 

The score for this thing is really good. The soundtrack was so-so. The fear factor is definitely up there for a slasher and outside of the weird pastor stuff, it’s actually got a pretty good script. It does not measure up to several of the FRIDAY THE 13TH films, THE BURNING, THE PROWLER, and several other 80’s slashers, but it’s one of the better slashers made in the past 10 years. 

The killer in this reminded me a lot of Jason’s look in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART II. Having said that it’s the creators of that movie actually got Jason’s look from the original THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (1976). Now just imagine in your head Scooby-Doo! saying “Spooooky”. 

This thing gets a 4 out of 7. I don’t think I would watch it again, even though the ending was pretty satisfying.  

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.