Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Serial-killer film: The Town That Dreaded Sundown

Part mystery, part western, part slasher film, “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” is a good little picture from 1976.

Based on a true story, the movie is about a killer targeting young couples around Texarkana, a city on the border of Texas and Arkansas.

In 1946, a man described as big and “strong as hell,” assaulted and in some cases killed young couples parked at night on dark, deserted roads.

The movie opens in a semi-documentary style with an authoritative-sounding narrator setting the time and place. It then moves into horror film territory, when a man wearing a sack with eyeholes cut out stalks and attacks the couples. It then crosses over into a detective story when the local police, baffled by the case, call in a noted Texas lawman, played by Ben Johnson, to lead the investigation. Despite his efforts to protect the town and close in on the killer, the murders and attempted murders continue.

One of the intended victims is played by Dawn Wells of “Gilligan’s Island” fame. She is listed on the channel guide as co-starring with Johnson, but her part, unfortunately, is very small.

Johnson lends an air of authority and class to the low-budget film. In 1971, he appeared in “The Last Picture Show,” in a part that won him an Oscar for best supporting actor.

Others in the cast include Andrew Prine and Charles B. Pierce who also directed the picture. In 1972, Pierce’s first film, “The Legend of Boggy Creek,” was a low-budget hit.

Films like this were once hard to find, but “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” not only ran recently on Turner Classic Movies, but also is here on YouTube.

(For more overlooked films, see Todd Mason's blog.) 

5 comments:

  1. Another to keep an eye out for, cheers Elgin. I wonder if your TCM schedule is the same as mine over here?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That’s a good question, Col, about TCM. Over here, we get BBC America on cable, and BBC World on radio. So you might be getting a different TCM schedule. Here is the TCM October line up that I am getting:
      http://www.tcm.com/schedule/monthly.html?ecid=subnavmonthschedule

      Delete
    2. Elgin, they are totally different. http://www.tcmuk.tv/tv-guide

      Delete
    3. Yes, very different. I wonder if the on-air hosts are different, too? We used to see a lot of a fellow named Robert Osborne. But he is all but retired, and now Ben Mankiewicz, (grandson of Herman J. Mankiewicz the writer of “Citizen Kane”) introduces most of the prime-time movies.

      Delete
    4. I don't even kn ow if we have a host over here. I'll have to tune in a few minutes before a film to find out.

      Delete