Day 2:The Town That Dreaded Sundown

       1976, the concept of the Slasher sub-genre has been introduced to audiences through films like Psycho, Black Christmas, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Though bearing some of the most prominent features of the genre, it's true form wouldn't be realized until the release of 1978's Halloween. These "proto-slashers" can sometimes bring a very unique take on the concept due to their not being a full formula to follow. The Town That Dreaded Sundown falls into this category.

      The film opens with a narrative explaining it's post World War 2 setting in Texarkana, TX. A young couple has parked their car at an apparent make out point where they are met by a surprise attacker. The young couple barely survive their run in with the potato sack wearing "Phantom". After local police discover two more bodies one of Texas's best detectives is called onto the case. What follows is a mash up of a crime mystery and horror film favoring the former.

       One of the unique traits TTTDS has when compared to it's peers is the use of narration to progress the story. The films plot is almost seemingly told in chapters, each one opening with a brief narrative explaining the feelings of the townspeople and how the police plan to proceed. Adding specific dates for all the attacks helps the semi-documentary feel of the film.

      Most of the run time is spent following the police officers. Which gives it a heavy crime drama feel that overpowers it's horror elements. The scenes with Phantom are eerie, dark, and come off brutal despite minimal gore. These murder scenes are well done, but take up very little of the overall film. Instead of building suspense towards these moments we are tasked with listening to rather dry cop characters. The only highlight of these scenes is the somewhat baffling inclusion of slapstick comedy.

    When TTTDS is doing horror, it's dark and engaging. Everything else about it seems to show it's age and becomes quite boring. The scenes that establish this as a very important and influential slasher film are all there. It's very obvious that this served as a great inspiration to the films of the 80's. But call me old fashioned, I'd prefer it if the film spent more time establishing the victims as opposed to all the officers involved in the case. The more stalk and slash, the better. And unfortunately there is very little stalk and not enough slash. I really wanted to like this more than I did.

Body Count:3\

Side Note: Literally nobody in this movie knew how to drive. The film is littered with cars swerving off the road or even flying off ledges. It's actually one of the only effective comedic elements of the film. Also the Phantom is quite OBVIOUSLY the inspiration for Jason Vorhees' design in Friday The 13th Part 2.