Town That Dreaded Sundown
When is the marketing tagline ābased on actual eventsā just a cover for the fact that it is promoting a really bad movie? Well in the case of this 1976 release, absolutely. Yes, it is based on a string of unsolved murders in 1946 Texarkana, Arkansas, but actual historians who had researched the case later dismissed this particular film as being utter bullshit, most notably the āunsolvedā aspect meant to frighten viewers into thinking that the killer was still roaming about society: In truth, the police did pick up a notorious car thief whose wife admitted to knowing intimate details about the murders which had never been made public and (unable to convict her husband without any forensic evidence) the police had charged him instead with felony car theft which under the habitual offender laws of that time had resulted in a life sentence of which he served 25 years, thus getting the guy whom they knew was responsible for these murders off the streets. This movie does pay a bit of notice to that with the arrest of a similar character late in the film, but plays it off as being more of a red herring in order to set up one last rampage. The opening narration of the film uncomfortably suggests that since the events of the story take place so soon after the end of World War II, the mystery killer is most likely a crazed veteran shellshocked beyond redemption who is incapable of fitting in and the opening attack scene (the first two victims survive) depicts him as being a heavy handed type complete with a burlap sack over his head (a look later copied by Jason Voorhees for his first appearance in Friday The 13th Part 2). His preferred kill methods appear to be a blunt instrument to bash heads in with and a standard issue revolver to shoot his victims dead, only getting creative during a bizarre yet hilarious kill involving a trombone. The victims who had survived donāt seem to have a clue as to even his basic appearance and the deputy who has taken up the case (Andrew Prine, a B actor who actually had lost a girlfriend in real life to an unsolved murder) is just not equipped enough to be able to conduct a proper investigation. This leads to the summoning of āthe greatest Texas Ranger to ever liveā to come in and take over the case. As played by legendary Oscar winning character actor Ben Johnson, the film gains some dramatic weight, but the character loses credibility fast when his āmaster planā involves staking out male police officers in drag as decoys hoping that this will heighten the instincts of the killer (itās clear from some of the damage that heās done to his female victims that heās quite the sexual psychopath) all while the town is holding its annual HIGH SCHOOL PROM on the same night and as all the cops are out dressed like women waiting for the killer, a legion of horny teens are fanning out all over the town afterwards with nobody to protect them, thus giving the killer a virtual buffet of easy victims to choose from and choose he does, slaughtering an innocent teenage girl and boy while Johnson waits to hear from his drag queen dragnet. Obviously, Johnson knows that he has fucked up (bad) and tries to compensate by stomping around the crime scene ordering the officers to comb it for every last bit of evidence (they find nothing) and briefly bringing in a renowned criminal psychologist for some insight that any one of us could have written on the back of a napkin. But Johnsonās renowned Texas Ranger still has time for some unwanted comic relief scenes involving himself and a bumbling patrolman (played by the filmās director, B movie shitmeister Charles B. Pierce) who has haphazardly been assigned as Johnsonās personal driver. With all of the bodies and paranoia piling up in the town, the film brings in none other than Dawn Welles (Gilliganās Islandās Mary Ann who only worked for a couple of days on this and must have REALLY needed the money) during the third act to be able to fill the required quotient of victims being advertised on the poster. Finally, (and worse of all), we get an obviously fictional (i.e. there is NO way that this ever happened in real life) climatic confrontation where Johnson and Prine pursue The Killer (wearing his burlap mask in broad daylight so that they know itās him) with Johnson hitting a full shotgun round on The Killerās kneecap and STILL he gets away even as the question of if any of the townspeople had sought medical attention for such a grievious injury or even just started walking around with a limp goes completely unanswered. Itās amazing that this film ever had the ācultā label latched onto it or why it even has a following in the first place, although that may be answered by the fact that the film lingered in obscurity for so many years and was extremely hard to find by many horror fans (a status which sadly has given many horror films an unwarranted level of popularity over the years). It also holds the extremely rare stature of having onscreen murders which come across as being more tedious rather than titillating (even the very worse slashers at least have the benefit of competent gore effects) and its killer is (in a nutshell) pretty laughable to watch (although to be fair Jason also looked ridiculous with the burlap sack over his head before he switched over to the hockey mask), coming across more as being a guy with pent up sexual problems who just happens to be smart (and lucky) enough to elude both the police and the Sherlock Holmes In A Cowboy Hat Texas Ranger. And who wants to watch a slasher where the killer escapes? Probably the same types who would enjoy something as hokey and boring as this entryā¦
3/10