The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Charles B. Pierce

Writer:

Earl E. Smith (writer)

Release Date:

1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller | Mystery | Crime

Tagline:

In 1946 this man killed five people... Today he still lurks the streets of Texarkana, Ark.

Plot:

A Texas Ranger hunts for a hooded serial killer terrorizing the residents of a small town, set in 1946 Arkansas. Losely based on a true story.

Plot Keywords:

Arkansas | Serial Killer | Police | Sadism | 1940s

Cast

Ben Johnson	...	Captain J.D. Morales
Andrew Prine	...	Deputy Norman Ramsey
Dawn Wells	...	Helen Reed
Jimmy Clem	...	Sgt. Mal Griffin
Jim Citty	...	Police Chief R.J. Sullivan
Charles B. Pierce	...	Patrolman A.C. Benson
Robert Aquino	...	Sheriff Otis Barker
Cindy Butler	...	Peggy Loomis
Christine Ellsworth	...	Linda Mae Jenkins
Earl E. Smith	...	Dr. Kress (as Earl E. Smith)
Steve Lyons	...	Roy Allen
Joe Catalanotto	...	Eddie LeDoux (as Joe Catalanatto)
Roy Lee Brown	...	Rainbow Johnson
Mike Hackworth	...	Sammy Fuller
Misty West	...	Emma Lou Cook

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:R | Norway:15 | Norway:18 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Garland City, Arkansas, USA

Company:

Filmways Pictures

Trivia:

This movie is a semi-documentary based on the real life string of mysterious killings that terrorized the people of Texarkana Texas in 1946. The murder spree became known as the "Texarkana Moonlight Murders" and ultimately would claim five lives and injure many others, the only description of the killer ever obtained was of a hooded man. To this day no one has been convicted and these murders remain unsolved.

Goofs:

Continuity: Several times in the movie when we see a close-up of the cops driving in their car, you can see rows of houses behind them out the back window of their car, but in the immediate next wide angle shot they're out in the wooded countryside, with no houses anywhere in sight

Quotes:

Rainbow Johnson: That's him! That's him! Mister, you owe me a dollar for driving you today! And ten dollers for taking ya to Lefkin!
Eddie LeDoux: [to the cops] What's the matter with that donkey? He crazy? Get him outta here!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

Women were Crying & Screaming in the Theater!

I saw this movie when it first came out in Miami, Florida. When the 6feet 8inch. psycho killer wearing a potato-sack as a mask with the eyes cut-out, appears, and butchers the lover-lane couple, with his heavy breathing and the potato sack mask going in and out, a young woman in her 20s ran out of the theater hysterical, and a few other women were screaming! Made a few years before the slasher films of the 1980s, this film was way before its time. The killer was brutal, sadistic, and very realistic. The murders were done in a very realistic manner, and with a cast of almost complete unknowns, it had a documentary feeling to it. Veteran character actor Ben Johnson was excellent as usual, and a nervous looking Andrew Perine did a creditable job, but it was the killer who stole the show. Excellent movie, tame by today's standards, but a horror classic never-the-less.