X
- 2014
- R
- Orion Pictures
- 1 h 26 m
- 2014
- R
- Orion Pictures
- 1 h 26 m
Summary 65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so-called 'moonlight murders' begin again. Is it a copycat or something even more sinister? A lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him.
Directed By: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Written By: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Earl E. Smith
- 2014
- R
- Orion Pictures
- 1 h 26 m
- 2014
- R
- Orion Pictures
- 1 h 26 m
The Town That Dreaded Sundown
47
6.7
Summary 65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so-called 'moonlight murders' begin again. Is it a copycat or something even more sinister? A lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him.
Directed By: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Written By: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Earl E. Smith
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
47
20% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
60% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
20% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
47
20% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
60% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
20% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Slasher smarts with guts and heart. Town is no Scream but it’s still one of the most entertaining, enterprising remakes in recent memory.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 21 User Ratings
6.7
43% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
48% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
10% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 21 User Ratings
6.7
43% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
48% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
10% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a meta-sequel and a kind of remake for the movie that released in 1976, both are slasher horror movies. The 1976 is basically just a slasher movie based on the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, which is a unsolved case to this day. The 2014 remake, which are the one we're reviewing, is a meta-sequel, kind of like in our world. It's smart, really smart, specially on how it's a remake, and the way it is a remake. The movie is gory, as expected for a slasher movie. It contains superb art direction, visuals, cinematography, and one damn of a soundtrack. Not only that, but the movie has a really good feel to it. It talks about how the original 1976 movie brought all the tragedy, all the sadness, all the terrible memories of these murders back. It also can replicate the terror of the moment, and the sadness of the aftermath. The intro of the movie shows this, and it does so very well. The ending, while it didn't surprise me much, it was pretty smart. The way this movie overall worked was incredibly smart, in a way i could never predict. It remakes the scenes of the original film, and it does so while not being a remake. As a meta-sequel, it's absolutely incredible, and as far as remakes go, it's very good too, and by how it is a remake is a smart way. The atmosphere always sets up a lot of fear, more than any other movies. The movie contains great use of gore, as it's violent in a good way. The storyline is so far the most incredible thing about this movie, it's smart, emotional, unique, and it can easily rip off tears. This is so far, the best remake, if i can even call it one, and probably the best slasher flick of the recent years, and of course, a great meta-sequel, that brings truly incredible acting, thrilling moments, an eerie, creepy atmosphere, and overall is both a perfect remake, meta-sequel, and aswell as being a perfect slasher flick, that truly brings respect for Texarkana, both for the people who suffered and still suffers from grief from those events, and for the dead, and it feels like a caring, lovely tight hug for Texarkana, as it's able to be a unnerving horror movie, while still bringing as much respect as possible for the families of the victims, friends of the victims, and for the victims themselves. The Town That Dreaded Sundown, is an amazing movie, and it's truly a masterpiece that i must recommend, it's thrilling, unnerving, beautiful, amazingly well written and acted, and beautifully directed, with absolutely phenomenal art direction, soundtrack, visuals, and also, it's a truly smart slasher movie, that truly brings respect to the tragedies that occured in Texarkana, and recognizes how much the original 1976 film made them remember the sadness and bring the grief back, and this movie, while it kind of brings it all back again, it respects it fully, and it really knows how to show it does. The Town That Dreaded Sundown gets a 10/10.
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Fantastic horror flick. Not just gory, but smart and gory. Starting to feel like the slasher genre is making a comeback. If you're a fan of horror films, watch this movie.
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While The Town That Dreaded Sundown is ambitious and supremely weird, it fails to cohere into something more resonant.
An initially promising genre reboot ends up feeling like a major failure of nerve.
This is an amazingly good reboot/sequel (it's a little of both). I actually did not see the original - however, in a clever premise the original movie is in important part of of the plot of the reboot and incorporated throughout. I really liked it because for the most part the tension and suspense is more in trying to figure out who the phantom killer is rather than gratuitous gore. I gave it a 9 because the killings, when they do happen, are rather graphic. The filming is awesome and the plot has some twists in so you are left guessing till the last minute.
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Like love on first sight, or murderous rampage for this case, The Town That Dreaded Sundown is impeccably captivating both in eerie night or gleaming daylight. Its visual quality is beyond any ordinary bleak and gritty outlook for horror films. It brings the unusual setting of a town on two states into an integral part of the story. Clever acting from the female lead succeeds in selling the role of a humble girl in terrorizing scenario, not your usual bimbo running in skimpy top.
The retro story is about a town where multiple homicides occurred decades ago. Capitalizing on the story, a movie of the same title was made to highlight the murders and it became a cynical celebration. After years passed the same series of killing starts again. This movie is brilliantly self-aware, using old clips as homage and also tool to heighten the thrill. As the title implies the struggle is that of the city, aside from the main character’s, and the movie depicts it very well with impressive veritable shots of the dry town.
I adore the use of lighting here, let it be the simple lights on nightfall, the reflection of sun on the glass or change of color it made to the hair of the characters. Every shot has brilliant angle, the camera moves about any room with stylish deliberate pace. It gives the entirety of human interaction effortlessly as information is presented with poise and without frantic rushing. There are not many environments that can be this believably livable and not appears as just a setting for movie.
The bloody gore is purely effective. There is little to none jittery cam or stale jump scare. Whenever blood pours it flows with impact. Some are seemingly old fashioned but they are delivered with sophistication. Addison Timlin as Jami does a great job as the down-to-earth girl. She has the vibe of innocence that serves better as audience can easily invest to her story and also self-continuity. Script helps the authentic feel as much of the dialogues are deceptively plain yet sentimental. A few twists along the way will captive viewer through the tour of the town.
The Town That Dreaded Sundown bleeds with refinement, this is an amazingly riveting cinematic work.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Im schwülen texanischen Frühling 1946 tötet ein Killer in Kapuze fünf Menschen – die “Texarkana Moonlight Murders” bleiben ungeklärt. 30 Jahre später verbinden sich in The Town that dreaded Sundown blutige Tatsachen und Fake-Doku-Bilder zum vielleicht ersten Slasher überhaupt. Jetzt greift American Horror Story – Coven-Regisseur Alfonso Gomez-Rejon zum Stoff und dreht den Film zum Film zur Mordserie. Auch er streut scheinbar echtes Material in seine Interpretation, lässt das naheliegende Found-Footage-Format aber links liegen. Stattdessen prägen Warte, bis es dunkel wird bedrohliche Rottöne und stylische Perspektiven aus Gomez-Rejons TV-Vergangenheit. Obendrein kaschieren viel Splatter und Sex die dahinplätschernde und leider mäßig spannende Geschichte um eine Überlebende auf der Suche nach dem Mörder. Das erfundene Ende nebst Twist missen zudem das zähe Grauen des thematisch nicht unähnlichen Zodiac.
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The Town That Dreaded Sundown can't seem to figure out what it is. I never saw the original film and I feel like I missed a lot of things because of that. There were constant shout outs to the original. I was expecting a slasher film based on all the indicators I got from the posters and reviews but this film is more of crime film than it is a slasher film. This movies takes itself way too seriously considering it is a just a masked man going around and killing everyone. That was what made Friday the 13th films watchable because even though they weren't really offering anything new they were still fun. This film gets too dramatic and although I like the villain the rest of the characters are forgettable and so in the movie as a whole.
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Awards
Toronto After Dark Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Fright Meter Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
iHorror Awards
• 1 Nomination
