The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014)

Perfectly adorable

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It's based on the original movie with same title, which itself is based on true events. Three layers of meta or so, since the characters here know and watch the 1976 movie, with the killer repeating the scenes. Unlike the 1976 movie, this one feels much more engaging and fresh - not just because of the intriguing story which keeps you on the edge guessing who is the killer, but also because of the visuals. It has some creative camera work which greatly adds to the overall atmosphere. The director from Spain was the right choice, because in case with some American horror director they most likely would make yet another boring by-the-book reboot. The main heroine is a way too lightheaded and naive though.7.5/10

This film is not a remake, but sequel. The action takes place in modern times and there is another wave of killings in Texarkana. However plenty of scenes and characters are simply copied from the movie of 1976. In general - the film was boring, predictable, characters were artificial (especially terrible "Lone Wolf" - why the same nickname?). Not worth your time.

Two thirds of a century after a series of brutal, vicious, and unsolved killings took place in Texarkana, Arkansas, and one film, loosely based on the crimes, was made, another killer begins making the rounds, using the original killer's M.O. Not really a remake, as it does have an original take on the story, and not exactly a sequel, either, as the characters are aware of the previous film's existence, and even turn to it for clues to the killer's next move, this meta-film has an interesting idea, and much more tension and suspense than I had expected. The hooded killer stalking his victims is effectively chilling, and just when it seems to begin copying the cornfield scene from the original, it does something a bit different with it, and gives the audience a creepy scarecrow image, not present in the earlier film.It mixes fact with fiction, as an article is being written about the killer, and a previously unknown victim, which could provide a clue to the killer's identity.But for all those things working in its favour, the characters are mostly dull, bland, and boring, the cinematography is typical high contrast with over saturated colours, and while the final chase is effective, the reveal of the killers' identity was uninspired and unbelievable.

''65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so-called 'moonlight murders' begin again. Is it a proverbial copycat or something even more sinister?''First contextual lesson I learned is that 'Texarkana' is absolutely nothing occult, but simply a hint that the town runs on the border between Texas and Arkansas. Nicely presented lesson for those far away from USA.At start the movie made me remember a book named 'World of Darkness - Slasher' which role-plays serials, from mortals to undying, ever- returning dread-legends. Perspective clouded like that I contemplated an Avenger type of serial, who had earned his reincarnation by punishing the soulless, bleak personalities all overcompensating it with sex. Teenage carnal- craze and nymphomania meeting their nemesis. Of course I was proved wrong, but if I would be a screenplay writer I would have my own variant to beg with at kick-starter now... ;-)Bonus Star 1: I rated higher, for the movie is flawless in the background and setting it does present. It is simple, like a backwater area where not too much did change or progress since the original 70's. Still it does so convince with it that one could instantly imagine a vacation there. Therefore a plus for atmospheric workout.The mentioned bonus one made me theorize that there is no serial, but a town populace smart enough to get rid of their pests. Kinda: We endured you until you finally joined the army, but now you came back and we have to get into that old serial costume once again... would have been a twist I could live with.Bonus Star 2: The only narcissist pests in the entire movie were either used for story-purposes or butchered with less than a minute on screen! That alone means the movie deserves all stars ever given to any faked-footage and similar brain-dung dished as a movie.The couple meeting at the airport (or train station) enters a cheap motel, has some loveless quick sex and is butchered before spoiling the movie. Skilfully avoiding the freakish to dominate the intended story!The unshaven, pale yokel lurking until he finally gets laid with the female protagonist of the movie was kept from dominating the story as well. Former Sheriff Lucas Buck (G. Coleman) humorously playing a different kind of lawman here was worth a chuckle, too. I hint at an old TV series named 'American Gothic'. In the movie he gets shot while receiving a b.low-job, leaving it only to my lack of skill that I add no pun about cum-shots.The movie is NOT very special, the movie is NOT innovative, neither is the movie UNIQUE. If you are in need for such go look elsewhere.The real strength of this movie, as many reviewers noted before me, is that it is SOLID. It is a well-done movie among all the freaky and crappy stupor dished since the nineties of last century made USA go insane in their mix of egomania and self-pity-f*ck 9/11. The movie has no exceptional strength, but avoids more mistakes and failures than any movie my own 'Splatter & Slasher' specialist ever dished at me. The final twist is so crappy, that it DOES spoil a lot, if you are too weak to uphold your own fantasy. I did not fail on that, I am just too retarded to write a good screenplay-alternate. ;-) Oh, and the pedagogue bonus of the quite sexy female protagonist going to finish university is a GOOD real-life reminder to all who were knocked out of the first way upward in society. Finish the freak- show or purgatory called your own life's problems, and then go back to graduate, it IS better than enduring poverty until it finishes you or me off. I had been urban homeless, it is no fun & freedom...