Phantom of Texarkana: The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976)

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
Rating: **1/2
Starring: Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine and Dawn Wells

Based on the Texarkana Moonlight Murders back in 1946, The Town That Dreaded Sundown was one of the more mediocre yet fun psychodrama to be released in the 70s, shot in a semi-documentary form for a gimmicky attempt to entertain.

Taking place in the 50s, months after World war II, the small town of Texarkana was preparing for a better future as its people mingle around their lives with no to little worries in their minds. That was until one night, at a lover's lane, a couple gets brutally attacked by a man in a white hood; both survived, but the lady was badly bitten. This causes a stir among the locals and soon, more attacks come through and the situation got so bad that they call in as many possible reinforcements from the state of Texas to help stop the madman on the loose. But will this be enough to stop a masked fiend hellbent on murder?

Juggling its tone between genres, mainly police drama, camp comedy and a proto-slasher flick, The Town That Dreaded Sundown is cult classic best remembered for its dazed nature. At most, it is a simple movie with much periodic flourish and enough background details to make it an entertaining piece of a pseudo-mockumentary tied slasher thriller of sorts. It sometimes come off as serious, with a gritty look and a tone providing authenticity to a somewhat fictionalized take on a true unsolved murder case, featuring a very intimidating take on the elusive "Phantom Killer of Texarkana" despite the simplicity of his getup, blue eyes that burn in fury and his heavy breathing distorting his mask. 

For all its seriousness, though, the movie shifts to a more comical feel at times, with cross-dressing cops littered to lure the killer in and, the movie's most (in)famous scene, the killer tortures and murders a girl strapped to a tree with a knife attached to a trombone. (Yes, he trombones and stabs the girl to death. Why do a simple stabbing that much complexity? Sorta makes this guy desperate to make a name for himself) The large number of casts doesn't do much to help with the plot's direction and focus, resulting to some scenes mostly involving very prolong moments of police business which barely made any sense, thus pacing the movie horribly.

The Town's fusion of horror, comedy and drama unsurprisingly made it hard for a lot of horror junkies to not know or at least recognize this film; the story is easy to digest, its tone uneven yet memorable, it practically have something to offer for a wide variety of fans and the overall result is a movie that's crazy enough to be a fun and silly hodge-podge monster of exploitation. So, I can easily say this without choking: do yourself a favor and catch this film. It's one less weird cinema to watch, but it's all worth a view especially if you're a slasher fan.

Bodycount:
1 male shot to death
1 female found tied to a tree and shot
1 male shot
1 female stabbed to death with a knife attached to a trombone
1 male shot to death
Total: 5