The Town That Dreaded Sundown Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Blu-ray Movie Review

Tempting Fate

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 11, 2015

The original 1976 version of The Town that Dreaded Sundown, produced and directed by maverick filmmaker Charles B. Pierce, remains a classic slasher film despite some dated elements. Four years before the first Friday the 13th spawned Jason Voorhees, Pierce created the mysterious "Phantom" of Texarkana, basing the film on an actual series of murders that had terrorized the town for several months in 1946. Shot documentary style, and featuring authoritative narration by Vern Stierman, the original Sundown still works because it's credible. Its villain is no superbeing who can't be killed, but a flesh-and-blood psychopath who could be an ordinary citizen by day—which makes him all the more frightening.

The 2014 version of The Town that Dreaded Sundown (hereafter "Sundown 2014") isn't a remake but a sequel to Pierce's film, and it's a clever continuation that encompasses both the underlying events and the impact of the 1976 film on Texarkana, the town where it all began. What put this unusual town straddling the border between Texas and Arkansas on the cultural map? Was it the murders themselves or the movie that Charles Pierce made about them? Sundown 2014 incorporates both elements in a smart script by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (the Carrie remake) that turns the meta-horror format pioneered by Scream into something more serious: a subversive meditation on how pop culture picks winners and losers, elevating some figures into celebrities while forgetting others entirely. (Leave aside that some of those celebrities have to die for their fame. Isn't being murdered worth it, if your name lives on?)

Sundown 2014 was the brainchild of the prolific Ryan Murphy, creator of Glee and American Horror Story. It was Murphy who brought the concept to his equally prolific co-producer, Jason Blum, whose horror credentials include the franchises Paranormal Activity, The Purge , Insidious and, most recently, Sinister. Murphy and Blum handed directing duties to Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who was making his first feature but was no stranger to sophisticated horror, having directed multiple episodes of American Horror Story. The combined clout of Murphy and Blum attracted a stellar cast, including the late Edward Herrmann and Ed Lauter, in what would turn out to be among their final roles.

Premiering at Austin's Fantastic Fest in September 2014, Sundown 2014 became the first film since 1999 to appear in theaters under the Orion Pictures logo, which has been defunct since 1999 and is now owned by MGM. Blum's company released it via VOD, but the video distribution is being handled by Image Entertainment, which is offering the Blu-ray exclusively through Best Buy.

You don't have to know the 1976 Sundown to enjoy Sundown 2014, but fans of the original will appreciate many detailed references and riffs blended into the narrative and visual fabric of the sequel. Just about everyone in Sundown 2014 either knows the 1976 film intimately or ends up studying it for clues, as history seems to be repeating itself. For those who need a quick tutorial, Sundown 2014 opens with a summary of the 1946 murders and the history of the first film, delivered in a solemn voiceover echoing the original Vern Stierman narration. The voice is that of actor Denis O'Hare, a regular on American Horror Story and familiar to fans of True Blood as the fearsome vampire Russell Edgington. He will later appear as Charles B. Pierce, Jr., the son of the first Sundown's director.

As in real life, the original Sundown has become a Halloween tradition in Texarkana, watched all over town, including at a makeshift drive-in (the real one having closed long ago) by teenaged couples in cars, much like the victims of the Phantom's first attack. On Halloween of 2013, however, the pleasures of this previously innocent indulgence are shattered when a real version of the hooded Phantom re-creates the movie version's attack on a couple parked in a secluded spot. As in the film, the girl survives; the boy doesn't. The only difference from the film is that this Phantom speaks. He says: "This is for Mary. Make them remember."

With the discovery of the attack's survivor, fear descends again upon Texarkana. Gun shops do a brisk business, target ranges are full, and the pews at the church of Reverend Cartwright (Herrmann) are filled. Police from both sides of the border converge on the town, which straddles two states. Sheriff Underwood (Lauter) and Chief Deputy Tillman (Gary Cole) represent Arkansas, while Ranger "Lone Wolf" Morales (Anthony Anderson) is the chief lawman from Texas. Fans of the 1976 film will recognizes Morales' name as a variation on the character played by Ben Johnson, J.D. Morales, who was based, in turn, on a real-life counterpart, Captain "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas. The fact that the new version is African-American is just one of numerous (and deliberate) departures in Sundown 2014 designed to ensure that you never know what's coming next.

Another departure from the original film is the apparent importance of a young woman named Jami Lerner (Addison Timlin, Odd Thomas), a classic horror film "heroine with a troubled past" (both parents were killed in a car crash) and a bright future in college if only she can get away from her home town. Jami lives with her grandmother, Lillian (Veronica Cartwright, whose horror credits date back to the original Alien). Grandma Lillian can still remember tales from her own parents of the original Phantom's reign of terror, and she seems inordinately protective of Jami, particularly when Jami takes it upon herself to begin investigating events from long ago and becomes romantically involved with the nerdy records clerk from the city hall archives, Travis Tope (Nick Strain). After all, Travis could be anyone, and the authorities are sufficiently concerned for Jami's safety that they have posted a patrol car in front of the house, manned by the sympathetic Deputy Foster (Joshua Leonard, who recently played an unsuspecting therapist on Bates Motel).

Jami's research eventually leads her to Charles B. Pierce, Jr., who shares interesting information from his father's research for the original Sundown. Meanwhile, the new Phantom continues his inventive re-creations from that film, but always with a twist. (The infamous trombone murder is particularly inspired.) What is his purpose? Where does Jami fit into all of this?

Sundown 2014 is gorier and more explicit than its predecessor but not by so much that it will satisfy those who come to horror films seeking buckets of blood and extended "kills". Director Gomez-Rejon and producers Murphy and Blum are far more interested in atmosphere, as past and present bleed into each other, with the 1976 Sundown film serving as a conduit between them. At key points, footage from one movie segues into the other, and in one clever sequence, mock footage of Pierce, Sr. supposedly directing the original film has been created to suggest the essential role that the movie itself played in shaping subsequent events. Lurking in the background of Sundown 2014 is a concept that is even more disturbing than the Phantom himself, namely, the possibility that horror films not only exploit the ghastly crimes that inspire them, but also perpetuate their existence and even give them new life beyond the screen. Maybe they really are bad for people—just not the way your parents thought.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Town that Dreaded Sundown was shot digitally by Michael Goi, a frequent cinematographer for American Horror Story. According to IMDb, the camera was a Sony F-55. Post-production was completed on a digital intermediate, from which Image Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was presumably sourced. The Blu-ray image reflects all the usual advantages of digital capture; it's clean, sharp and detailed and lacks any of the analog "softness" that so often prompts studios to apply electronic sharpening in an effort to satisfy Blu-ray purchasers who are wont to complaining about lack of detail when an image isn't crisp. Blacks are solid, and levels of black are well-differentiated, which is essential to key scenes shot at night outdoors. The color palette is generally warm and richly saturated to convey the sense of southern heat and a friendly local environment upended by the Phantom's reappearance. (Much of the film was shot in and around Shreveport, Louisiana.)

With no extras and a trim 86-minute running time, Image has placed the film on a BD-25 and still managed to achieve an average bitrate of 29.91 Mbps, which is excellent. The Blu-ray image is rock steady, with no artifacts.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sundown 2014 has as a wonderfully atmospheric 5.1 mix, encoded on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA, that makes the sudden eruptions of violence (which aren't always the Phantom) all the more shocking, especially when they are sudden and loud. Gunfire, breaking glass, the well-timed roar of a car engine, a blow against a window—all of these sounds and more are used to maximum effect, and they all sound well-mixed and hyper-realistic. The dialogue is clear, and the energetically spooky score by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson (We're the Millers) suits the mood.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Except for a trailer (1080p; 2.40:1; 2:24), the disc has no extras.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

By the time Sundown 2014 gets to its big reveal, so many potential suspects have been eliminated that there's not much left in the way of surprise. Still, the filmmaking team keeps soldiering onward, and with forty years of slasher plot twists to choose from, they don't lack for options. In the end, though, everything leads back to the original 1976 Sundown and how it grew. It's one of the most interesting premises for a slasher pic in a long time, which makes the new Town that Dreaded Sundown highly recommended.