Review of The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) by Cassandra M — 02 May 2009

I've seen this a couple of times now and really enjoy it. The first time I was right on the edge of sleep throughout, in fact I think I even drifted in and out a little, but despite not being fully clued in on the action I found the film to be pretty much totally gripping.

I watched it again recently, with the benefit of being more awake and I gotta say, this is pretty awesome stuff. From the get go it has a nicely authentic rural period feel and a neat documentary style edge given by the folksy, compelling narration of Vern Stierman.

It doesn't take long before getting to the meat of the film, which is a series of brutal murders committed by a terrifying hooded maniac. Though lacking much in the way of actual blood or gore, every scene with this imposing fiend (played to the menacing hilt by Bud Davis) is a nail biting delight and he kills with such a mean spirited passion that it wholly makes up for the lack of detailed grisliness.

Trying to catch this evildoer is the police force of Texarkana, helped out by elite lawman J.D. Morales, played in gruffly sympathetic fashion by veteran Ben Jonson. The great Andrew Prine, plays the other lead in inspired fashion, giving the same committed and keen ability that he brought to classic hippy witchcraft classic Simon, King Of The Witches.

There's comic relief too, courtesy of director Charles B. Pierce playing the enthusiastic but witless Sparkplug Benson. This is really something of a classic, the killer is one of the greats of the genre and his choice of garb bears interesting resemblance to Jason Vorhees in his pre hockey mask period.

He also comes up with one choice of weapon so twistedly inspired that its hard to believe it hasn't been ripped off in any later films. Its interesting to see a film where local police and outsiders collaborate without friction, as opposed to the usual cliché and also to see a generally sympathetic portrayal of law enforcement.

Pretty much the only criticism I have of this is that the comedy is at times too broad and the structure of the film is very simple, where I would have enjoyed a little more character insight or delving into small town life.

This aside, The Town That Dreaded Sundown is, in my opinion, a real gem of a film and I highly recommend it.