The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Encyclopedia
The Town that Dreaded Sundown is a 1976
, R-rated horror
film directed by (and co-starring) Charles B. Pierce
. It is based on the Phantom Killer, who murdered five people in the 1940s in the city of Texarkana, Texas
, at Spring Lake Park and was never caught. The film is presented similarly to Unsolved Mysteries
, with a narrator dictating the actions as they are shown. Ben Johnson
stars as the law-enforcement officer attempting to catch the killer. Dawn Wells
(Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island
) appears as one of the victims. Although the movie claims "only the names have been changed", much of the film is fabricated from the real events.
Linda Mae is found lying severely wounded on the side of the road the following morning and both she and Sammy are taken to a nearby hospital. A doctor tells Deputy Ramsey and Sheriff Barker that Linda Mae was "bitten" and "literally chewed" on different parts of her body by the assailant. Police Chief Sullivan asks about the Lovers Lane Case and he tells the other officers to warn people about parking on lonely roads. Ramsey states his belief that the mysterious person will strike again.
On March 24, Howard and his girlfriend, Emma Lou, go out driving in the rain. After hearing gunshots, Ramsey, patrolling in his car, finds Howard's parked car, but no one around. Ramsey hears more gunshots and in the woods he finds Howard and Emma Lou, both dead, having been shot several times. The hooded killer gets in the parked car and drives away.
Since the killer, now known as "The Phantom" seems to have no motive and the townspeople begin to dread sundown. A few days later, Ramsey goes to the nearby train station to meet Captain Morales, a famous criminal investigator and Texas Ranger who arrives in Texarkana to find the killer. Morales has the officers set up a curfew for the entire town. Many people are on the case, including a few associates of the FBI whom also arrive in town to assist. But a number of criminals and crazy people come forward admitting to the murders, while a horde of other citizens are demanding protection.
Ramsey tells Morales that on April 14, 21 more days after the second attack, the killer may strike again. Morales sets up decoys (cops posing as couples in unmarked parked cars). That every night at the local Junior and High Schools Prom, many people are leaving under the watchful eyes of the police officers nearby. Peggy gets her trombone and leaves with her boyfriend Roy. Roy suggests parking at their favorite spot, despite Peggy's wariness over the recent murders. After making out, the two of them nod off and wake up in their car at 2:40 in the morning. As Roy starts the car and begins to drive away, the Phantom jumps on their car, grabs Roy and causes both of them to fall out. The Phantom whacks Roy on the head with a pistol and chases Peggy down, and ties her to a tree. A dazed Roy gets up and tries to run away, but the killer shoots him dead. The killer gets Peggy's trombone, attaches a knife to the end and "plays" the instrument, stabbing Peggy in the back a few times, killing her.
The next day, Morales is upset that the Phantom was able to kill again with all the law officers out looking for him. In a nearby diner, Morales, Ramsey and the group talk to Dr. Kress, who says that the Phantom is apparently motivated by a strong sex drive and will probably not get caught. He also says that the killings are like a game of the Phantom. Morales asks the doctor if the killer is insane, in which Dr. Kress replies "oh, yes!". At a nearby table, an unseen man, (wearing the killer's boots and slacks) stands up and walks out of the diner unnoticed after he has apparently heard everything the officers were talking about.
Back at the station, Morales talk to a man named Johnson, who says that he was held at gunpoint by a man claiming to have killed five people. Morales and Ramsey get a call about an armed man. They spot him speeding away from a store and chase him down. The man, Eddie, is arrested after they find that he is driving a stolen car. Johnson identifies him as the man with the gun. Under interrogation, Eddie says that he is the Phantom, but Morales does not believe him and correctly suspects that Eddie is just another nutcase who wants to confess to being the killer in order to gain publicity and fame for it.
On Friday, May 3, Helen drives away after grocery shopping and is unknowingly followed by the unseen killer whom is identified by his familiar boots. While she is at home in a remote farmhouse, her husband, Floyd, in the living room, is sitting in an armchair reading a newspaper when the Phantom walks up to the window and shoots him twice with a silenced pistol. Helen only hears the breaking glass and enters the living room to see Floyd fall out of his chair to the floor dead with two bullet wounds in the back of his head and neck. Helen runs to a phone to call the police when the killer bursts into the house though the front door and shoots Helen twice in the face. While the Phantom enters the living room to look at Floyd's dead body, Helen, despite having a through-and-through bullet wound through her mouth and right cheek, and gazed by the second bullet on her head, manages to crawl out of the house through the back door and stumbles into a cornfield. The Phantom follows her out with a pick axe. After a cat-and-mouse game of hiding in the cornfield, Helen gets to a nearby house and bangs on the door and windows yelling for help. A concerned farmer, armed with a shotgun, comes out to help her in. The killer, seeing the man with a gun, angrily flees.
The next day, Ramsey and Morales get a call about an abandoned car that fits the description of the car Ramsey saw that rainy night. They find the car and they get some shotguns from their police car and run off into the woods to look for the Phantom. They find the Phantom walking around an old quarry, walking around with the hood still on him. Morales and Ramsey chase the Phantom through the woods and to railroad tracks where the Phantom jumps over the tracks and a moving train gets between them. Morales fires under the moving train and hits the killer in his left leg. The Phantom manages to stumble away into the woods on the other side of the tracks. Over the next few days, police officers and Bloodhound dogs search the woods and the nearby swamps, but the wounded killer is not found. Afterwards, the killings stop, but the fear continues on to this day. The voice-over narrator explains that no one ever found out what happened to the Phantom.
by American International Pictures
in December 1976.
The film received a VHS
release by Warner Home Video
in the 1980s. As of 2011, it has still not been officially released on DVD
and rights owner MGM has no plans to release a newer version.
1976 in film
The year 1976 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film...
, R-rated horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
film directed by (and co-starring) Charles B. Pierce
Charles B. Pierce
Charles B. Pierce was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, set decorator, cinematographer and actor, and is considered one of the first independent filmmakers...
. It is based on the Phantom Killer, who murdered five people in the 1940s in the city of Texarkana, Texas
Texarkana, Texas
Texarkana is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States. It effectively functions as one half of a city which crosses a state line — the other half, the city of Texarkana, Arkansas, lies on the other side of State Line Avenue...
, at Spring Lake Park and was never caught. The film is presented similarly to Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries
Unsolved Mysteries is an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until 2002, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...
, with a narrator dictating the actions as they are shown. Ben Johnson
Ben Johnson (actor)
Ben "Son" Johnson, Jr. was an American motion picture actor who was mainly cast in Westerns. He was also a rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and rancher.-Personal life:...
stars as the law-enforcement officer attempting to catch the killer. Dawn Wells
Dawn Wells
Dawn Elberta Wells is an American actress known for playing Mary Ann Summers on the sitcom Gilligan's Island during its run from 1964 until 1967.- Early life :...
(Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
) appears as one of the victims. Although the movie claims "only the names have been changed", much of the film is fabricated from the real events.
Plot
Sunday, March 3, 1946. In the small town of Texarkana, Arkansas, Sammy and Linda Mae are out parking in a car. The car hood pops open and a man wearing a hood over his face takes something from the engine. Sammy realizes that someone is out there and fruitlessly tries starting the car as the hooded man breaks the drivers side car window with a pipe and pulls Sammy out. Linda Mae screams, and the man goes for her as well.Linda Mae is found lying severely wounded on the side of the road the following morning and both she and Sammy are taken to a nearby hospital. A doctor tells Deputy Ramsey and Sheriff Barker that Linda Mae was "bitten" and "literally chewed" on different parts of her body by the assailant. Police Chief Sullivan asks about the Lovers Lane Case and he tells the other officers to warn people about parking on lonely roads. Ramsey states his belief that the mysterious person will strike again.
On March 24, Howard and his girlfriend, Emma Lou, go out driving in the rain. After hearing gunshots, Ramsey, patrolling in his car, finds Howard's parked car, but no one around. Ramsey hears more gunshots and in the woods he finds Howard and Emma Lou, both dead, having been shot several times. The hooded killer gets in the parked car and drives away.
Since the killer, now known as "The Phantom" seems to have no motive and the townspeople begin to dread sundown. A few days later, Ramsey goes to the nearby train station to meet Captain Morales, a famous criminal investigator and Texas Ranger who arrives in Texarkana to find the killer. Morales has the officers set up a curfew for the entire town. Many people are on the case, including a few associates of the FBI whom also arrive in town to assist. But a number of criminals and crazy people come forward admitting to the murders, while a horde of other citizens are demanding protection.
Ramsey tells Morales that on April 14, 21 more days after the second attack, the killer may strike again. Morales sets up decoys (cops posing as couples in unmarked parked cars). That every night at the local Junior and High Schools Prom, many people are leaving under the watchful eyes of the police officers nearby. Peggy gets her trombone and leaves with her boyfriend Roy. Roy suggests parking at their favorite spot, despite Peggy's wariness over the recent murders. After making out, the two of them nod off and wake up in their car at 2:40 in the morning. As Roy starts the car and begins to drive away, the Phantom jumps on their car, grabs Roy and causes both of them to fall out. The Phantom whacks Roy on the head with a pistol and chases Peggy down, and ties her to a tree. A dazed Roy gets up and tries to run away, but the killer shoots him dead. The killer gets Peggy's trombone, attaches a knife to the end and "plays" the instrument, stabbing Peggy in the back a few times, killing her.
The next day, Morales is upset that the Phantom was able to kill again with all the law officers out looking for him. In a nearby diner, Morales, Ramsey and the group talk to Dr. Kress, who says that the Phantom is apparently motivated by a strong sex drive and will probably not get caught. He also says that the killings are like a game of the Phantom. Morales asks the doctor if the killer is insane, in which Dr. Kress replies "oh, yes!". At a nearby table, an unseen man, (wearing the killer's boots and slacks) stands up and walks out of the diner unnoticed after he has apparently heard everything the officers were talking about.
Back at the station, Morales talk to a man named Johnson, who says that he was held at gunpoint by a man claiming to have killed five people. Morales and Ramsey get a call about an armed man. They spot him speeding away from a store and chase him down. The man, Eddie, is arrested after they find that he is driving a stolen car. Johnson identifies him as the man with the gun. Under interrogation, Eddie says that he is the Phantom, but Morales does not believe him and correctly suspects that Eddie is just another nutcase who wants to confess to being the killer in order to gain publicity and fame for it.
On Friday, May 3, Helen drives away after grocery shopping and is unknowingly followed by the unseen killer whom is identified by his familiar boots. While she is at home in a remote farmhouse, her husband, Floyd, in the living room, is sitting in an armchair reading a newspaper when the Phantom walks up to the window and shoots him twice with a silenced pistol. Helen only hears the breaking glass and enters the living room to see Floyd fall out of his chair to the floor dead with two bullet wounds in the back of his head and neck. Helen runs to a phone to call the police when the killer bursts into the house though the front door and shoots Helen twice in the face. While the Phantom enters the living room to look at Floyd's dead body, Helen, despite having a through-and-through bullet wound through her mouth and right cheek, and gazed by the second bullet on her head, manages to crawl out of the house through the back door and stumbles into a cornfield. The Phantom follows her out with a pick axe. After a cat-and-mouse game of hiding in the cornfield, Helen gets to a nearby house and bangs on the door and windows yelling for help. A concerned farmer, armed with a shotgun, comes out to help her in. The killer, seeing the man with a gun, angrily flees.
The next day, Ramsey and Morales get a call about an abandoned car that fits the description of the car Ramsey saw that rainy night. They find the car and they get some shotguns from their police car and run off into the woods to look for the Phantom. They find the Phantom walking around an old quarry, walking around with the hood still on him. Morales and Ramsey chase the Phantom through the woods and to railroad tracks where the Phantom jumps over the tracks and a moving train gets between them. Morales fires under the moving train and hits the killer in his left leg. The Phantom manages to stumble away into the woods on the other side of the tracks. Over the next few days, police officers and Bloodhound dogs search the woods and the nearby swamps, but the wounded killer is not found. Afterwards, the killings stop, but the fear continues on to this day. The voice-over narrator explains that no one ever found out what happened to the Phantom.
Cultural impact
- The killer in this film wears a white hood, just as Jason VoorheesJason VoorheesJason Voorhees is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. He first appeared in Friday the 13th , as the son of camp cook-turned-murderer, Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S...
does five years later in Friday the 13th Part 2Friday the 13th Part 2Friday the 13th Part II is a 1981 slasher film directed by Steve Miner, who also directed its sequel, Friday the 13th Part III and several other popular horror films. A sequel to Friday the 13th , it is the second film in the Friday the 13th film series. It was a moderate box-office hit, opening on...
.
- This film is referenced in the 1996 movie, ScreamScream (film)Scream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette...
.
- This film is referenced in the series, Dawsons Creek.
- The advertisements for the 2009 movie TriangleTriangle (2009 film)Triangle is a 2009 British-Australian psychological horror film, directed by Christopher Smith, and starring Melissa George, Rachael Carpani and Liam Hemsworth. It is set in the Bermuda Triangle. The film was released in the UK on 16 October 2009....
features an Axe-wielding figure with a simple hood similar to the character in The Town That Dreaded Sundown.
Release
The film was released theatrically in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
in December 1976.
The film received a VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
release by Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
in the 1980s. As of 2011, it has still not been officially released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and rights owner MGM has no plans to release a newer version.