Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

julian kennedy The Town That Dreaded Sundown: 7 out of 10: Before I start with the spoiler let me say for the vast length of its running time The Town that Dreaded Sundown is a top quality horror film with good atmosphere and some genuinely top notch scenes. It is a remake of the mid-seventies "true story" slasher flick that, like the similarly themed Black Christmas, came out a few years before Halloween but simply didn't have the magic of that meticulous movie. The remake intelligently folds the original film into its narrative by having a festival celebrating when the horror film was made locally and the movie opens in a drive-in theater at the heart of that festival. Along with solid visuals, location shooting, and camera work the film sports above board, for the genre, acting. In fact, it is a delight to see Anthony Anderson back on the big screen chewing scenery and taking names. The late Ed Lauter, an actor you immediately recognize but cannot quite place, is also very good in his last role. (As an aside to this aside this movie also sports Edward Herrmann's last role and while he doesn't quite make the same impression as Ed in this movie he certainly fits the actor you immediately recognize but cannot quite place trope to a T.)Okay, Spoiler Alert. (Submarine alarm horn alert, interior perspective repeated twice.) The "reveal" for this film is awful. The movie simply cheats. You are supposed to guess which of our heroine's friends is dressing up as an old serial killer and recreating his crimes. The movie spends a significant amount of time on this mystery. It turns out to be two people. The first is our protagonist's boyfriend who is "killed" while they are about to have sex at the beginning of the flick. Why is he a masked serial killer? I think he claimed he was either was bored or wanted to be famous. His motivation is as weak as having him alive. I mean our heroine goes to his funeral the next day. Nobody noticed the body wasn't him? Switching bodies doesn't usually work during a murder investigation.Our other killer is the helpful and almost a love interest in his own right Deputy Foster who reveals (at the end of course) that he is the grandson of the killer… haha just kidding he reveals he is the grandson of the killer's last victim named McCreedy. The film even takes the time to visit a local filmmaker historian to declares this unknown (and up to this point unmentioned) McCreedy relative may be our killer. The family was angry because his killing was left out of the original exploitation film apparently. (Fair enough I know the film claims they felt overlooked since the original murder. But come on people. My relative was brutally chopped by an ax and not hit by a train so our family needs um credit? It is a strange grudge to keep up for a year let alone over three generations.)Could the ending have worked? Well make the boyfriend's body disappear after being killed (and having authority figures secretly doubt our heroine till the next murders) is a tried and true technique that would have fit well here. Having Deputy Foster named Deputy McCreedy would have also gone a long way to creating suspense (Maybe that filmmaker/historian is right and if so the killer was at her house the entire time.) In reality, however, the biggest twin problems would still remain. Neither character has anything resembling a motivation to go around killing their neighbors and more damning they have absolutely no connection with each other. I have no idea how the jock boyfriend and the Deputy even know each other let alone are intimate enough to go on a secret killing spree together.Up until that point, the film is fun. It can be brutal and has some scares but it earns them honestly. The film is well acted with a nice progressive polish that one does not often see in one's backwoods slasher films. Overall a good movie that hits above its weight let down by a poorly thought out denouement

BA_Harrison I had assumed that The Town That Dreaded Sundown 2014 was simply a remake of the 1976 slasher of the same name; this, I am glad to say, is not the case—it's a bit cleverer than that.The film is set in the small town of Texarkana, where a masked psycho known as The Phantom committed a series of vicious murders 65 years earlier—it is these killings that provided the inspiration for the original movie, which—in this film—is now a cult favourite amongst the town's teenagers. It is during a screening of the film that young couple Jami (Addison Timlin) and Corey are attacked by someone dressed as the Phantom. Corey (Spencer Treat Clark) is repeatedly stabbed in the back, but Jami manages to escape to tell the tale.Over the next few days, The Phantom claims several more victims; meanwhile, Jami investigates the history of the original murders (with help from archivist Nick, played by Travis Tope) in the hope of shining some light on the identity of the current killer.A little bit meta, this plot is intriguing enough to help distinguish it from all of the other remakes/re-imaginings/sequels that have plagued the horror genre in recent years, but the film also delivers the basics—scares, gore and nudity—making it a fun way to spend an hour and a half. The scares are sparing, but well executed; the death scenes are sufficiently nasty, with some nice and bloody effects, including the surprisingly graphic sight of a major character cut into several pieces; unfortunately, despite having a sex scene, star Timlin fails to flash the goods, leaving it to a blonde bimbo to do the honours during a motel romp.The final act, which relies on a very improbable twist, is something of a disappointment given all that has gone before, but overall I had a good time with this film. Time to revisit the original, methinks

pietroschek ''65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so-called 'moonlight murders' begin again. Is it a proverbial copycat or something even more sinister?''First contextual lesson I learned is that 'Texarkana' is absolutely nothing occult, but simply a hint that the town runs on the border between Texas and Arkansas. Nicely presented lesson for those far away from USA.At start the movie made me remember a book named 'World of Darkness - Slasher' which role-plays serials, from mortals to undying, ever- returning dread-legends. Perspective clouded like that I contemplated an Avenger type of serial, who had earned his reincarnation by punishing the soulless, bleak personalities all overcompensating it with sex. Teenage carnal- craze and nymphomania meeting their nemesis. Of course I was proved wrong, but if I would be a screenplay writer I would have my own variant to beg with at kick-starter now... ;-)Bonus Star 1: I rated higher, for the movie is flawless in the background and setting it does present. It is simple, like a backwater area where not too much did change or progress since the original 70's. Still it does so convince with it that one could instantly imagine a vacation there. Therefore a plus for atmospheric workout.The mentioned bonus one made me theorize that there is no serial, but a town populace smart enough to get rid of their pests. Kinda: We endured you until you finally joined the army, but now you came back and we have to get into that old serial costume once again... would have been a twist I could live with.Bonus Star 2: The only narcissist pests in the entire movie were either used for story-purposes or butchered with less than a minute on screen! That alone means the movie deserves all stars ever given to any faked-footage and similar brain-dung dished as a movie.The couple meeting at the airport (or train station) enters a cheap motel, has some loveless quick sex and is butchered before spoiling the movie. Skilfully avoiding the freakish to dominate the intended story!The unshaven, pale yokel lurking until he finally gets laid with the female protagonist of the movie was kept from dominating the story as well. Former Sheriff Lucas Buck (G. Coleman) humorously playing a different kind of lawman here was worth a chuckle, too. I hint at an old TV series named 'American Gothic'. In the movie he gets shot while receiving a b.low-job, leaving it only to my lack of skill that I add no pun about cum-shots.The movie is NOT very special, the movie is NOT innovative, neither is the movie UNIQUE. If you are in need for such go look elsewhere.The real strength of this movie, as many reviewers noted before me, is that it is SOLID. It is a well-done movie among all the freaky and crappy stupor dished since the nineties of last century made USA go insane in their mix of egomania and self-pity-f*ck 9/11. The movie has no exceptional strength, but avoids more mistakes and failures than any movie my own 'Splatter & Slasher' specialist ever dished at me. The final twist is so crappy, that it DOES spoil a lot, if you are too weak to uphold your own fantasy. I did not fail on that, I am just too retarded to write a good screenplay-alternate. ;-) Oh, and the pedagogue bonus of the quite sexy female protagonist going to finish university is a GOOD real-life reminder to all who were knocked out of the first way upward in society. Finish the freak- show or purgatory called your own life's problems, and then go back to graduate, it IS better than enduring poverty until it finishes you or me off. I had been urban homeless, it is no fun & freedom...

Michael Radny my feelings about this film is split. On one hand you have a decent film which tells a story about a serial killer, then you have a film (which may or may not be intentionally funny) which is a splatter gore fest. The majority of this film is good to watch when nothing else is on, but that is the problem. This film is at most times pretty tedious to battle through. Some moments seem clever and smart, but other moments seem rather unamusing and not at the least bit entertaining.The Town That Dreaded Sun Down is at times fun to gloss over, but at times also hard to watch due to its prolonged scenarios. Not much of this film screams "this is worth watching", however at times the plot drifts off into a pretentious overdrive. Netflix supplied this to me, and being one of the last horror films for me to watch, was not a good one.