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The Town That Dreaded Sundownwas a disturbing 1976 docudrama based on a string of murders that took place in and around Texarkana in 1946 . A post - modern remaking was relinquish in 2014 that used the original motion-picture show and dead on target law-breaking as a backdrop for a fictional story .
The previous Charles B. Pierce’sThe Town That Dreaded Sundownwas a modest budget score of the Texarkana Moonlight Murders that occur in 1946 . Five masses were mutilate by an unidentified assailant that the press dub The Phantom Killer . broadly establish on the offense , it used a docudrama data formatting to summate weighting to what was essentially a horror film capitalizing on the ill-famed incident . Pierce ’s photographic film was a modest hit on the exploitation circuit , but became a popular video title in the ' 80s . Alongside the rural horrors ofThe Texas Chainsaw MassacreandDeranged , it rally the pop wave of slasher films from that period .
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While miss in narrative crusade , The Town That Dreaded Sundownwas a genuinely unsettling thriller that used its rural location and local role player to capital effect . Similar to Pierce ’s first pic , The Legend of Boggy Creek , it appropriate the distinctive spirit of the area , which lend a sense of authenticity that a major studio apartment film could not replicate . However , Sundownhad a bigger budget , which appropriate the filmmaker to hire a few marquee name to help sell the film . Academy Award winner Ben Johnson , TV mainstay Andrew Prine , andGilligan ’s Island ’s Dawn Wells added to the authenticity of the output .
Differences Between The Town That Dreaded Sundown And Its Reboot
A remake from producerJason Blumwas announced in 2013 with little fanfare . Though there was a substantial fanbase for the original celluloid , few were even cognizant that a newfangled version was in production . When the film was made useable the undermentioned year , both horror fans and critics were agreeably surprised at the results . While it claim to be a remaking , Alfonso Gomez - Rejon ’s photographic film was , in reality , a post - modern follow - up which acknowledge the Pierce film as well as the actual murder in the 1940s . The remaking takes place in present - day Texarkana with the annual Halloween showing of the 1976 film at a local drive - in . A hooded phantom begin shoot down people again , this time with a connexion to a teen girl ( Addison Timlin ) who start to investigate the law-breaking .
Since the 2014 picture show is a " meta - sequel ” , there are several allusions to the original film , which is leave more focus than the real offence . Aside from the hooded cause of death and the fix , the two films are all different . Charles Pierce Jr. , an existent person who appeared in several of his Father-God ’s films , is a graphic symbol in the follow - up , played by histrion Denis O’Hare(American HorrorStory).The theatrical role within the film even offers a potential leading regarding the ( raw ) orca ’s identity element – blurring the blood line between fact and fiction even further . While Gomez - Rejon ’s flick relies a little heavy on post - Screammeta posturing , it do to be a passably tense and involving picture in its own right wing . The Town That Dreaded Sundowntakes an interesting route for a remake by acknowledge its yesteryear and trying to create something interesting for modern audience while still holding reverence for its origin ; while certainly different , both versions are worthwhile entries in the slasher Cuban sandwich - genre .
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