THE TOWN DREADED SUNDOWN

US, 2014, 86 minutes, Colour.
Addison Timlin, Veronica Cartwright, Anthony Anderson, Travis Tope, Joshua Leonard, Gary Cole, Edward Herrmann, Ed Lauter, Denis O' Hare, Spencer Treat Clark.
Directed by Alfonso Gomez- Rejon.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown was an independent film, with touches of horror, by the celebrated director Charles B. Pierce. This film is something of a remake as well as a sequel.

While the screenwriter, Roberto Aguirre- Sacasa, utilises the original screenplay by Earl Smith, the original film is also incorporated into the screenplay. This is an interesting device of having a film within a film.

The killings in Texarkana, on the border of Texas and Arkansas, took place in 1946 and have stayed in the memory of the townspeople. After the release of the film in 1977, it is screened annually on the anniversary of the murders at the local drive-in. The film also has the device of the film director’s son living in the town, being interviewed, having memorabilia, talking about his father, and offering a solution to the identity of the killer.

Much of the rest of the film is showing the victims of the killer, young couples and sexual encounters, a soldier returning to his girlfriend, two gay teenagers, the deputy sheriff…

The heroine is Jami, Addison Timlin, who escapes from the first encounter and decides to investigate the past – while people are being killed in the present.

There are some veterans in the cast including Veronica Cartwright as the grandmother, Ed Lauter as the sheriff, Gary Cole as the deputy and Edward Herrmann as a rabble rousing preacher.

As a film about a serial killer, the film works quite well – both with the added emphasis of the impact of the film and its effect on Texarkana citizens.

1. The original film of 1977? Its being shown in the town of Texarkana on the anniversary of the killings? The excerpts from the original film? At the drive-in? Throughout the film? Mirroring the contemporary events? The device of having the son of the director being a character, discussing his father’s film, offering a theory about the murderer’s identity?

2. The film as something of a sequel, copycat killings, the effect on the town, the town’s consciousness about the killings in 1946? The Phantom Killer? The sinister mask? The mysterious identity and motivation?

3. The glimpses of Texarkana in the 1940s? On the border of Texas and Arkansas? The captions indicating the nature of the Bordertown, different authorities, different responsibilities, two of each because of the two states? The memory of the killings, the myths?

4. The role of the Rev, his sermons, rallying people, the denunciations of sexual misconduct? Suspicions of him? The issue of his sending the aggressive email? Interrogation? Arrest?

5. The focus on Jami, with Corey, not wanting to watch the film at the drive-in, leaving, making out, the approach of the killer, the death of Corey, the attack on Jami?

6. The local police, the sheriff, the deputy and his seeming indifference (at interrogations, the sexual encounter and his being shot in the eye)? Deputy Foster and his reassuring Jami?

7. Jami, prospect of university, living with her grandmother, her grandmother’s memories, supporting her granddaughter? The decision to leave, and the unexpected killing of the grandmother?

8. Jami and her investigations, research, articles, questioning people? Nick and his interest in her, his advance and her reaction? Later being with him? His being killed?

9. The range of victims, paralleling the chronology and the kind of victims of the original killer, and of the film? Couples, the boys tortured, the women harassed and killed, the two gay teenagers, the man returning from military service and his girlfriend? The death of the deputy sheriff?

10. Jami, the information about the film director’s son, his having been seen in the bar, going to meet him, interview him, his memorabilia, his theory about the final victim, his son and his obsession, the possibility of being the murderer?

11. Jami, leaving town, at the service station, the death of her grandmother, the death of the attendant? Suddenly seeing that there were two killers? Their attack, her pulling off the mask, the revelation of Corey, his having pretended to be killed – and the scene of his funeral and his distraught mother attacking Jami? His motivation, wanting to be noticed, to be famous? The connection with the last victim and his vengeful son? The revelation that the other killer was Foster, his motivation, joining with Corey?

12. Jami, the deaths of the two men, the solution of the mystery?

13. The cleverness in the plot, having a remake, having a sequel, and the film within a film?