Review of The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014) by Dc F — 28 Nov 2014

The Town that Dreaded Sundown is a 2014 meta-horror thriller slasher film directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, produced by Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy, and starring Addison Timlin, Spencer Treat Clark, Veronica Cartwright, Gary Cole, Edward Herrmann, Joshua Leonard, Anthony Anderson, Ed Lauter, Denis O'Hare, and Travis Tope. The film is a remake/sequel to the 1976 cult classic of the same name.

Sixty-six years after the masked psychopath known as the Phantom Killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the Moonlight Murders begin again. It's unknown if it's either a copycat or something much more sinister. Lonely high school girl Jami Lerner (Addison Timlin), who has dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown marks the third installment of my Thanksgiving weekend quintet of reviews. The quintet began with Mercy and Stretch, and will continue with this, Not Safe for Work, and Mockingbird. I liked the original 1976 cult classic, but surprisingly enough, this new version manages to be superior to the original as well as a genuinely effective standalone horror film.

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's taut direction is nothing short of fantastic. With the help of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's above-average script, Gomez-Rejon makes a smart move by making this film a meta-sequel that also serves as a re-working of the original film rather than a straight-up remake. Gomez-Rejon and Aguirre-Sacasa play batshit wicked games with the ideas of remakes and sequels, examining the connection between real-life violence and movie violence. In a way, this is like the long-lost cousin of Wes Craven's New Nightmare and Scream, except it's darker and less tongue-in-cheek.

Michael Goi's slick cinematography looks incredibly gorgeous. Goi's usage of color and framing is stylish all across the board. Goi's work on American Horror Story was fantastic and he outdoes himself here. The score by Ludwig Goransson is really eerie and the production designs by Hannah Beachler are very impressive.

Going back to the film's meta concept, I liked the contrast between what the adults think the 1976 film really is and what the teens think the 1976 film really is. The adults see the film as a disturbing capitalization on their grief, with the religious folk believing it is a sin to be watching such trash, whereas the teens just think of the film as an entertaining slasher picture rather than a horrific account of what happened in Texarkana back in the 1940's.

By the way, if you're looking for blood, guts, and gore, The Town that Dreaded Sundown delivers. Not only is genuine tension built, but the death scenes are indeed grisly and brutal yet entertaining to watch. This film definitely deserved its R rating. Hell, the Phantom Killer in this film copies the death scenes from the original film down to a tee, even going as far as to recreate the infamous trombone death scene.

The performances are also pretty solid. Veronica Cartwright, Edward Herrmann, Gary Cole, Joshua Leonard, Anthony Anderson, and Spencer Treat Clark are all pretty damn good in their supporting roles, but the real standout, to me, was the luminous Addison Timlin as Jami. Timlin was absolutely fantastic in the role. Really, you need to see it to believe it. I was so impressed by Timlin's performance.

Now, onto the flaws. Firstly, with the exception of a few of the main characters, hardly any of the supporting characters are given a lot of development, so I never exactly cared whether they lived or died. Secondly, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's screenplay focuses a little too much on its cleverness, so much so that at times, it lacked personality.

Hell, there's a character in the film played by Denis O'Hare named Charles B. Pierce, Jr. Get it? Because he's the son of the director of the original film? And of course, we have the classic slasher genre tropes. So this film focuses on a killer who comes out murdering people when night falls, and what do people do? They continue going out at night. Um, guys, this killer goes out slaughtering people at nighttime. Wouldn't you think of hiding and keeping yourselves safe? Fuck, the movie is called The Town that Dreaded Sundown.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10.

Problems aside, The Town that Dreaded Sundown is one of the most entertaining and clever slasher films to come along in quite some time. The screenplay is smart and clever despite issues here and there, the direction is amazingly competent, it's very well-acted, the death scenes are a blast to sit through, the cinematography is beautiful, and the meta plot device works really well (for the most part, anyway). If you're a fan of the original film, you might enjoy this version a lot more.