Campiness At Its Finest The year is 1946 and while some last minute soldiers are still making their way home, most of them are already back from the war and are starting up families, going to work or school, or just enjoying their time at home. Little did they know that on this day, Sunday, March 3rd, that a hooded killer would begin his onslaught right here in Texarkana, Arkansas. They call him The Phantom Killer and his legacy begins here and now.
This film is in some desperate need of restoration and an official DVD release, for that matter. The dated film reel is too dark during most of the scenes I wanted to see most, which is just about every scene with The Phantom Killer since most of his kills take place at night. I feel it hurts the film more than anything. If it was just grainy throughout the film, then it'd kind of add to the general feel of the movie. The film is not only grainy, but the colors also bleed into each other, lighting is off in some scenes, some scenes have terrible audio quality, and some scenes wind up being too dark to see what's going on. I understand that the film was a bit low budget and it's basically a B-grade horror film, but restoration would help in some aspect.
Getting back to the B-grade horror film point, the film definitely lives up to that monicker. The acting is pretty bad, for the most part. Ben Johnson and Andrew Prine are pretty much as good as you're going to get in the cast as Captain J.D. Morales and Deputy Norman Ramsey. Everyone else is pretty much what you'd expect in a film like this. The silly attempts at humor really hurt the film more than anything. I mean, do you really want to see Patrolman A.C. "Spark Plug" Benson dress up in drag and basically get felt up by a fellow officer? Or cop cars running around in circles when they're in the middle of a high speed chase? Seriously, all that was missing was the Benny Hill music. Spark Plug is pretty much the comedy relief of the film and, in my opinion, just doesn't really need to be there to begin with.
While the film does have its drawbacks, what is done right is done fairly well. Some of the killings are pretty creative. The trombone kill is probably the scene that'll be the one anyone brings up first when this film comes up in conversation. The opening kill scene is the one I was referencing about being too dark at times, but what you can make out is pretty intense. The darkness puts the viewer a bit more on edge as you don't really know where the killer is going to pop up next or what he's going to do to his victims. Speaking of the victims, most of them do a really good job of acting terrified. It seems so genuine at times. I also liked The Phantom Killer. When someone with a mask over his face is generally able to express emotion somehow through body movements or bady language, I find that pretty impressive. The breathing heavily through the sack over his face was a bit over the top on one hand, but really added to the character on the other.
I guess my biggest gripe with the film is that I wanted more of The Phantom Killer and less of the cops rounding up the troops and acting silly. It just left me wanting more. With a film that's based on true events around a killer that was never caught and the murders never fully solved, the open ended finale doesn't help a whole lot either.
The Town That Dreaded Sundown could be considered a hidden gem to many people. Despite the fact it was silly, over the top at times, and was basically a part of the films that sparked the slasher horror film genre(which could be good or bad depending on what your opinion on slashers is), I still enjoyed it and recommend hunting it down. Yes, it's a B-grade horror film, but the horror that's in this film is worth seeing and is the highlight of the film.
Rating: 7/10
THE KILLER WAS NEVER CAUGHT I REMEMBER MY 16 YEAR OLD COUSIN SEEING THIS AND BEING AFRAID TO STAY AT HOME BY HIMSELF AFTER SCHOOL. HE WOULD WALK TO MY HOUSE AND WAIT UNTIL HIS PARENTS CAME HOME FROM WORK. HIS REASONING WAS THAT WE LIVED NEAR TEXARKANA, AND AT THE TIME, THE MURDERES HAPPEND BARELY 30 YEARS BEFORE. AND SINCE THE KILLER WAS NEVER CAUGHT, IT WAS PLAUSABLE THAT HE COULD STILL BE OUT THERE WAITING TO KILL AGAIN.
Twenty-somethings get engorged and tingling then a psycho with a flourbag over his head ruins the would-be climax I suppose this film is more important in a historical sense than an artistic one: it's a proto-slasher film (from 1976, before the great age of the slasher flick), about a proto-slasher (a real whacko carving up Texarkana in 1946).
Just to establish this as being a docu-drama, and therefore obviously non-exploitative, let's have a long narration fill in the settings for us, instead of any interesting technique: It's eight months after the war, and Texarkana is returning to normal and full of that heady optimism which will turn to conformist paranoia by the mid-'50's. We get to see a long montage of jes' plain life with jes' plain folks. (In case you were wondering, '40's and '70's makeup and hairstyles don't blend very well -- imagine an episode of The Waltons with a masked killer.)
The first attack: SUNDAY, MARCH 3 (superimposed, so we won't forget the date). We can't get mad at the cliches because it's all true: The couple parking on lover's lane, the frigid girl who hears something outside... Then a psycho with a flourbag over his head shows up.
Next morning. Oddly enough, they're still alive; both have been badly beaten, and the girl was bitten savagely all over her back, belly and breasts. We're introduced to a station full of cops, including Deputy Ramsey.
Fast forward to the next superimposed date: SATURDAY, MARCH 24. The narrator is still around to give this all an air of legitimacy; unfortunately, he insists on telling us things that are either irrelevant or ultimately redundant, since the characters promptly tell us the same thing. Deputy Ramsey patrols the lover's lanes, hears shots in the woods, and comes upon the corpses of two young lovers -- and almost catches the Phantom as he get away in the lovers' car.
The narration tells us all about the effects of "the second attack by the killer" (technically, this is only the first attack by the killer -- the first time, he didn't kill anyone, so he wasn't a killer yet): Everyone buys a gun, everyone puts heavy-duty locks on their doors. This despite the fact that both attacks have been young couples on secluded roads; this pattern seems to elude the good people of Texarkana.
Between now and the next killing, two things happen. One, we call in Captain J.D. Morales, legendary investigator of the Texas Rangers. Two, we spend far too much time in comic relief with a patrolman named Sparkplug. It's an unforgivable blooper in budgeting screen time: We get to see Sparkplug's terrible driving as he chauffers Morales, but the actual investigation is summarized by the narrator.
Deputy Ramsey hits on the pattern: He strikes every three weeks! So, by all means, let's make sure that SUNDAY, APRIL 14TH is scheduled for the junior/senior prom. After all, just because their parents are locking their doors and loaded for bear doesn't mean that the kids are smart enough not to park. Sure enough, a trombonist and her date go and park (and apparently take a nap -- is that what parking's all about) and get attacked by the Phantom. There's a long chase scene, and finally he dispatches them (using her trombone as a bayonet, no less).
By this time, everything is complicated by crazies confessing and claiming to be the Phantom. (Insert a car chase with one of the pretenders here, where both cars manage to squeal their tires while driving over a lawn.) The police have called in a psychologist, who does nothing for morale (or Morales): He guesses that the killer will never be caught.
For the next attack (FRIDAY, MAY 3RD, in case you were curious), the killer breaks pattern: He attacks a young beautiful wife (yes, that is Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island -- she thought she'd be safe once she got off that damned island...). Her husband bites the dust, but she manages to drag her hideously wounded self through the corn patch to the nearest neighbor's house.
Another three weeks go buy, and this time -- he doesn't strike! Ramsey and Morales are climbing the walls with anticipation. But there's nothing for several weeks. In fact, it isn't until fall that someone finds the car stolen by the Phantom on the second attack. Morales and Ramsey explore the nearby sandpit -- and there's the Phantom, enjoying his solitude! (He even wears his flour sack when he's not on the hunt; I guess it's just comfortable.) They chase him and shoot him in the leg, but he manages to get away into the swamp. The bloodhounds lose his scent. And he's never heard from again.
Is he dead? Is he in jail on another charge? Or is he -- gasp -- still living in Texarkana, waiting for that day when something tickles his brain and he starts killing again?
Like I said, the fact that this is a true story is used by the filmmakers to cover a bunch of flaws that would be unforgivable in a normal movie. The narration is by and large inept, telling us things that we'd love to see on screen while boring visuals are being shown to us. The inexplicable focus on Sparkplug only serves to distance us further from Ramsey and Morales, the closest thing we have to protagonists. Some of the attacks are done well (the last two, especially), but tension is immediately drained when the narrator comes back in to summarize the next few weeks of police activity.
It's good material, though, and I think it's about due for a remake.
sorry Texasarkana what? I was surprised to find out that this was a true story. It was alot of screaming and blood. Whew! Hope he's dead by now!!!!!!
low buget shocker is a five star treat,and yes it really did happen ben johnson,friend of john wayne and oscar winner for the last picture show,stars and makes this low buget thriller really work. this is a case where the lack of money really hels this movie look more like a documentary than a movie,and that adds to the chills it gives you. in 1946 in texarkana ark. a hooded killer stalked the town after 6 murders and one near chance of being caught, the killer just stoped and was never heard from again. ben johnson plays the ranger tring to catch the killer. like i said this one just gets under your skin and leaves a cold chill running up your spine. check this one out
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