The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014)

Slashtastic. I invent words when they need inventing.

Ok. I can't wait. Lets get right into this bloody beast. Your story goes... The town the original murders took place in (Texana - on the border of texas and arkansas), and the local of the original 1980s horror flick... are once again plunged into fear and darkness when a killer arises dressed in the mask of the films killer, and taking out people in homage fashion. It will be up to one feisty smart cookie to figure out the mystery if she... can... survive... after... sundown.

Boom! Best slasher of the last few years. Hands down. I said it. I will continue to say it, and if you are a horror/slasher fan and are not saying it - awesomeness revoked. There is GORE, SEX, COOL KILLER (meaning he looks menacing and not silly), and a couple of fun twists.

I mean this film had it all. Now there are sure to be some folks that didn't like the very artsy direction. This is a horror film that pretends it doesn't know it is one. Director Alfonso Gomex-Rejon brings a class of art rarely seen in the genre these days. Would I have expected this from a guy that started out directing episodes of GLEE? Nope. But that is another part of the surprise that was this film.

Even in this shot you can feel the colour coated cool... 

I mean a film based on a 1970s horror flick that few people know and fewer people wanted to see remade... What are the odds?

Well... you don't need odds when you have some really create writing. You are not going to find any oscar winning characters in here. No. But what you will find, a really interesting take on a remake. Use the original film. I mean they actually work the "True Story" angle in while accepting and relishing in the original films existence. This film wants to be a sequel, not a remake. To pull that off with the fun, and blood-letting, they managed here is an accomplishment I can not begin to praise enough.

The acting is up to the script, Addison Timlin in the lead is again proving to things... 1) She is damn (add as many Ms as you wants) fine... and 2) She is a talented young lady. A lovely combination. I hope to see much more of her. She proves her she could be a candidate for a new scream queen... we do need one right?

If I just lay here... Will you lay with me... I like wet dirt. 

The direction... well already covered that... and the GORE. Oh this is glorious. Almost every kill just "GLEEfully" dances across the line. I really enjoyed the story. As someone who enjoyed the original (but hardly thought it was a masterpiece) this film could have easily been its own film, the fact they incorporate the original out of love... just made it a little cooler. Respect matters dammit! Someone tell these kids...

And in this instance by Kids I mean all the young would be horror directors out there stumbling through cliches and horrible twist endings... Hey guys. The killer being dead and not being dead... the last one alive being offed in the final frame before the credits... the last survivor being locked away insane... all of these things are NO LONGER A FREAKING TWIST! In fact they suck the damn life out of 90% of the horror films out there today. Was there a twist ending here? Well kinda. But its more the Whodidit so when you find out who you either got it or you didn't. No biggy.

A real shame this film did not get the push it deserved. The right advertising the public would have rolled out by the thousands for a halloween release... but know please dump another PG-13 watered down horror flick on me (Ouija) please... again. Because every horror fan is you know... 13 and under!!!!!!! ahhhhhhhhh. Hollywood you hurt Ol' Boony's head.

But this... this warmed by horror scarred heart... I cannot explain by love for the final shot. Pure class. Anyone wanting to see how to leave a film ended... but not completely without possibility of a sequel... this is how you do it. You don't need a surprise resurrection in the last 5 seconds.

Movie scale 3.5 out of 5 stars
Horror/slasher scale 4.5 out of 5 stars

-Chuck Boonsweet