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Town That Dreaded Sundown (The) (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - 88 Films Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (24th October 2025). |
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The Film
 1946: The United States is just adapting to post-war civilian life when the peaceful town of Texarkana when terror strikes in the night and parking couple Sammy Fuller (The Revenge of Bigfoot's Mike Hackworth) and Emma Lou Cook (Misty West) are attacked by a hooded figure who brutally bludgeons the pair and mutilates Emma with his own teeth. The pair survive but can offer no information about their assailant. Sheriff's Department Captain Ramsey (Simon, King of the Witches' Andrew Prine) and chief of police Sullivan (Jim Citty) agree upon an advisory for the town and school against parking on lonely roads. Twenty-one days later, however, the "Phantom" strikes again, this time killing both of his victims. No further along in their investigation than with the first attack, the town calls in renowned J.D. Morales (Terror Train's Ben Johnson) of the Texas Rangers to take over the case. Morales imposes a town-wide curfew and restricts the flow of information on the investigation to the press, and yet it seems as though the Phantom is always one step ahead of them, deviating from his known pattern and expanding his hunting grounds (cue Gilligan's Island's Dawn Wells as "special guest" victim) and the only way it seems like they have a chance at catching him is to wait for him to strike again while fearing that he may return to his everyday normal existence or move on to terrorize another town. Following his no-budget Bigfoot cash-in faux-documentary hit The Legend of Boggy Creek, director Charles B. Pierce made a trio of historical adventure drive-in flicks for exhibitor Joy Houck Sr. – father of fellow regional filmmaker Joy Houck (Night of the Strangler) – and his company Howco International before a four picture deal with American International – in the latter "Samuel Z. Arkoff presents" after the departure of James H. Nicholson when the company gravitated towards more R-rated fare – that commenced with The Town that Dreaded Sundown, a fictionalized retelling of the true crime "Phantom of Texarkana" murders that terrorized a town over two short months claiming the five lives out of eight attacked. The case remains unsolved with speculation that the killer was either arrested for another crime, died ending the crimes, or returned to a seemingly normal existence. With a low "body count" and four incidents spread out over ninety minutes – and one taking place entirely offscreen and stumbled upon by Ramsey – Pierce makes the most of the three set-pieces which are not so much graphically violent as they are suspenseful in buildup, intense at their peak, and downright sadistic while focused primarily on the faces of the terrified victims and the breathing and eyes of the sackheaded phantom. In between that, the police procedural aspect is rather ordinary despite the presences of Prine and Johnson, and much more interesting are the narrated montages about the effect of the crimes on the town (almost enough to make one wonder if disparate crimes were connected to one another to create a panic and drum up gun purchases and locksmith services). Pierce himself provides comic relief as deputy Benson in scenes that are jarring including a comedy police chase right out of a Smokey and the Bandit-type film of the era populating the drive-ins (for the most part the anamorphic photography of James W. Roberson (Superstition) seems to aim more for "scope" than creative compositions). The scoring of the usually reliable Jaime Mendoza-Nava (The Witchmaker) is all over the place providing mood to the suspense sequences but leaning into the lighter aspects in depicting town life and underlining the comedy. 
Video
Following its theatrical release from American International and television screenings, The Town That Dreaded Sundown hit VHS from Warner Bros. in a panned-and-scanned transfer that gathered dust on video store shelves despite the sackhead artwork. The film skipped DVD and first turned up on Blu-ray/DVD combo in the U.S. from Shout! Factory as part of their Scream Factory line – with The Evictors as a standard definition extra – followed by the film's first U.K. Blu-ray release from Eureka. 88 Films' 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray comes from the same strong MGM master which boasts some rich primaries and looks generally sharp due to the non-regional filmmaking touch of well-lit and exposed night sequences. Blacks are mostly deep and inky, greatly aiding the rendering of the night attacks and the killer popping out of the shadows but some wide shots due exhibit minor crush (for instance, we are not sure if the darkness during the third attack was supposed to hide the lack of squibs when the killer guns down a fleeing victim against a shadowed fence or if whatever effects they attempted just could not be seen). 
Audio
The original mono mix is presented in LPCM 2.0 and the dialogue is always clear while the clarity of the audio does call attention to some of the finer points of Nava's score including some early marching band that may chill some people upon reviewing in light of the trombone murder later in the film. Optional English SDH subtitles are free of any noticeable errors. 
Extras
Fans of the film may be happy that 88 Films' edition drops the Scream Factory/Eureka historical commentary and actor interviews in favor of their own exclusives, making this a companion piece to those earlier editions. First up is a new audio commentary by filmmaker and author Sean Hogan and novelist and critic Kim Newman who discuss the film in the context of unsolved true crime films like the many pictures about Jack the Ripper as well as the string of late sixties and seventies serial killer films like Deranged, The Boston Strangler, and 10 Rillington Place as well as certain parallels with the film's contemporary real life Yorkshire Ripper and Zodiac Killer and the influence of Pierce's film on the David Fincher film. They also discuss the facts of the case and compare them to the film's depiction of the crimes and the investigators, Prine's own real-life frustration with the unsolved murder of his girlfriend actress Karyn Kupcinet (as well as noting that it was Prine who suggested the film's incidences where his character and Morales have near-encounters with the killer). The disc also features a second new audio commentary by film journalists Dave Wain and Matty Budrewicz in which they discuss the strengths of Pierce in this film's – and that of The Legend of Boggy Creek – scenes of suspense and terror versus the more ordinary procedural scenes and the "redneck comedy" they cannot get past. They provide some background on Pierce's television and advertising career leading up to his first features as well as their own youthful experiences of The Legend of Boggy Creek and the elements carried over to this film. They also provide even more background on the case including the various books on it – and by way of that, the real-life suspects that Pierce may have been alluding to in various scenes without actually naming them – the film's reception including two lawsuits against Pierce, and the metafictional remake/sequel.  Also new to this edition is "Piercing Insights - Stephen Thrower on The Town That Dreaded Sundown" (39:49) covers a lot of the same ground but in more of the context of Pierce's career, his influences, and how he thought of himself as a family filmmaker with his westerns produced in between The Legend of Boggy Creek and The Town That Dreaded Sundown but who nevertheless had to return to the well of horror. He also reveals that The Legend of Boggy Creek actually resulted from a visit to Los Angeles for casting a different production and realizing that there was some pop culture knowledge of the Fouke Monster outside of Arkansas, and how Pierce built upon the effective formula in that film in the The Town That Dreaded Sundown's sense of verisimilitude along with its odder choices like the comic relief and embellishments to the murders (the aforementioned trombone element to one of the murders that Wain and Budrewicz suggested was a covert reference to one of the real-life suspects). The disc also includes the theatrical trailer (2:21) and an image gallery (1:31). 
Packaging
The first pressing includes a double-walled O-ring slipcover and an A3 foldout poster.
Overall
Charles B. Pierce's attempt to repeat the success of The Legend of Boggy Creek in the true crime genre with The Town That Dreaded Sundown was not as successful but remains a chilling if tonally uneven account of the still unsolved Zodiac Killer-like murders of "The Phantom of Texarkana".
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