The Town that Dreaded Sundown: DVD Review
Arriving this week on DVD and Blu-ray is the remake of the 1976 slasher “The Town that Dreaded Sundown”, directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”). It is very rare for a remake to surpass the original but this one succeeds in every way. This is by far one of the best slasher flicks in the last decade. Although, the bar wasn’t set that high considering there hasn’t been many slasher flicks in the last 10 years. Horror has consisted of a steady stream of found footage, zombies, and possession/haunting films. Sometimes all we really need is a guy in a mask with a sharp object taking people out.
“The Town that Dreaded Sundown” is based on a true story and picks up 65 years after the “Moonlight Murders”, where a masked serial killer known as “The Phantom” terrorized the small town of Texarcana. Every year, the teenagers in the town gather together at the local drive-in for a retrospective screening of the film that the murders were based on. The film begins with Jami (Addison Timlin) on a date at the drive-in with Corey (Spencer Treat Clark, the school jock. They leave the movie early and head to a wooded make-out spot so they can make out (duhh). Unfortunately that happens to be the moment in which “The Phantom” decides to make his return and his first act is to kill the jock while Jami watches. “The Phantom” leaves Jami alive so that she can spread the word of “The Phantom’s” return.
The local sheriff (Ed Lauter) and chief deputy (Gary Cole) wants to keep the return of the notorious killer out of the media, but State Trooper (Anthony Anderson) wants to take down the killer. However, Jami takes it upon herself to try and figure out the identity of “The Phantom”, with the help of Nick (Travis Tope).
“The Town that Dreaded Sundown”, is just so well crafted and features a great supporting cast, which also includes the late Edward Herrmann and Veronica Cartwright. The film’s killings can also be quite brutal, especially one sequence in which one teenager is killed by a trombone with a knife attached to it. If you are a fan of the genre, then “The Town that Dreaded Sundown” is definitely a must watch.
By: Marc Ferman