Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN is an amazing movie. It's a horror film, a police procedural, and a documentary, all in one. In 1946, a hooded figure known only as "The Phantom", stalked the town of Texarcana, killing the unwary. The movie strays somewhat from the facts of the actual case, but not enough to make it unbelievable. The only scene that is truly "out there", and plays loose w/ the facts, is the notorious "trombone scene", where a woman is killed, using her own "re-purposed" trombone against her. In reality, it was a sax. Other than a few other, minor details, the story is solid enough. This is also a very good film for fans of Andrew Prine and / or Ben Johnson, each of whom put in excellent performances here. Of special note is Dawn Wells, who certainly proves there's more to her than "Mary Ann"! Her harrowing scene near the end is the best of the movie! It's also the most accurate. Frightening, informative, and entertaining, TTTDS remains a unique and influential film...

I was surprised never to hear of the Texarkana Moonlight Murders until last night; I had studied the case of the Zodiac Killer and never knew an unknown prowler was terrorizing lovers lanes in the US 20 years earlier (I guess the fact that the so-called Phantom Killer never sent a single cipher is what makes him less interesting today). Nevertheless, after the Zodiac terrorized America, the Texarkana murders got the big screen treatment with The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), a film that, I understand, got played in Texarkana every Halloween for years. The question is why, given the horror is undermined by bad attempts at comedy and that comedy is based on a rather unflattering portrayal of the local yokels. It turns out it's no wonder why the Phantom got away- according to this movie, it was because the Keystone Cops were on the case. The "Sparkplug" character was intolerable, far too stupid to be funny- he has no idea where keys go, and the fact that he drives a car carrying our hero detective into a swamp right when they've apprehended a main suspect is bewildering. In drag, he and the fat detective with the moustache as decoys also look like the least convincing teenagers I've ever seen in film. Given the creative liberties taken with the story, it's disappointing the Phantom never "got" Sparkplug- I surely would have been rooting for the killer in that scenario.It's a shame, because the rest of the film is fairly competently done- not so much as a slasher film but as a murder mystery, which is more of what I was after. They should have stuck with that approach.

Told in a documentary type way, TTTDS, is just another one of your atypical stalk and slash movies that has at least two things going for it: it was made before the advent of Carpenters genre changing movie, and it's supposedly based on a true story.But you can define and dissect the two things going for it.Firstly, the fact that it was made before the stalk and slash craze just shows how amateur the whole thing is, and regarding the true story, well it's just stating that someone, somewhere, got killed once, and someone saw the person who killed them, but they were drunk anyway and lied through there teeth about everything.So its no surprise that I'm not a fan of this now cult movie, and the fact that here was a meta sequel, reboot, remake to this film earlier in the year, just makes me wonder what the fuss is all about, because the fundamental part of a horror film is to be scary, and this just doesn't do anything.What we do have is one of the most maundering voices doing a running commentary about what happened all those years ago, and every now and again having someone walk past a courting couple car with a bag over their head, and killing them.And it didn't help that a lot of the cast looked like rejects from seventies 'grown up' films that you used to find in your dad's cupboard.After all this mundane malarkey, it all ends with a slow motion shoot out and our friendly narrator telling us what happened to all the characters.Thanks........

Ultra-Low-Budget-Drive-In-Movie that has Gained a Huge Cult Following. It has Now Been Recognized as Being Influential to the Slasher Genre and a Solid Addition and Early Entry to Films About Serial Killers.Obscure Director Pierce Known Also for The Legend of Boggy Creek (another Cult Fave) from 1972, Shows Signs of Talent and Embryonic Abilities. Here a Brutal Killer is Presented Without Much Restraint and Seems to be a Forerunner of "Slasher Movie" Type Detachment.The Director Doesn't Shy Away from Gore and Splatter and there are a Few Scenes that are Quite Unsettling. The Movie has Taken Many Slings and Arrows about its Decision to Incorporate Comedy Relief and in Retrospect it was a Mistake and Holds the Film Back from Greatness. Ben Johnson does His "Melvin Purvis" (Dillinger 1972) Bit, even Stopping to Buy Some Cigars, and is OK and Adds a Bit of Class. Andrew Pine as a Deputy is Solemn and Welcome. But Again, Director Pierce's On Screen Appearance as Spark Plug is Universally Acknowledged as a Big Error in a Film that Doesn't Have Many. The Docu-Style Adds Creepiness and Works Fine. The Film has Gained in Reputation Fast Because it is Finally Available in Pristine Prints on Blu-ray and Seeing it as Originally Presented Only Enhances the Experience and Brings an Appreciation for a Forgotten Film that has Lingered in the Memory of Drive-In and Grind-House Patrons and those that Only Know it by Word of Mouth or Awful Video Releases & Bootlegs.