The Town That Dreaded Sundown : Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

I thought it was horribly all over the place, sometimes its a slasher and other times it was smokey and the bandit / The Andy Griffith Show.

I found it funny too how at the lovers lane the couples had gone all the way out to the middle of nowhere to park their cars and rest their heads on their lovers shoulders or legs, then the girls would say, "Whats that noise or I should be going" and the guys were all like "come on lets stay just a little bit longer" because he obviously really enjoys resting his head on his lover haha.

This whole film just felt like it was something approved by an elderly church group.

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Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

I thought it was excellent.

I will agree that some of the comic moments (i.e. the car flying into the water) were a little jarring and felt out of place, but I didn't feel like the movie was all over the place.

As for the parked couples, at least one of the guys voices frustration that they're not getting busy, so it's not like the guys just wanted to hold hands. The girl refused his advances, so what's he supposed to do, rape her?

Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

I wanted to like it but the unfunny comedy elements killed it for me. Missed opportunity I'm afraid. There was a good film here that should now be remade as a serious movie.

Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

Love it. It has a gritty documentary style like texas chainsaw massacre. It works as a crime movie, a slasher, and a whodunnit. Also quite possibly the best use of a trombone. Plus the phantom killer is pretty spooky looking.

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Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

I love it too. I don't know if it is a good movie, or what you mean by that, but it is funny and entertaining. I think the old school vibe is intentional. I don't see why it should have been a serious movie. The treatement -b movies, documentary, 50s style- is as important as the subject.

Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

I hated it. I loved the story, the ideas, narration and whatnot, but the final product's execution is terrible.

"You're entitled to your wrong opinion. That's fine."

Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

The killer is properly unsettling and the attack scenes are effective. Although the trombone scene was utterly ridiculous.

Everything else is awful. The "comedy" bits are atrocious and completely unforgivable, pulling you right out of the film every time. Even if this story wasn't based on real murders, the dumb cop and his pointless antics would still be entirely out of place. The rest of the film is just stale. The performances are as stilted as the dialogue. There really isn't much to like outside of the scenes that actually feature the Phantom.

Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

I don't even understand how it was as bad as it was, It had so much going for it (interesting title, creepy real life serial killer, cool period setting, etc) yet it was awful, that annoying 'Sparkplug' character was the absolute pits - I would love to see a well done slasher type movie set in the past (like 40s/50s/60s time frame)

Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

The expository overdubs ruined any chance of a real story, plot, or reason to watch. They were poorly timed and made the whole thing feel cheap and amateur. Every time one started I couldn't do anything but groan and roll my eyes. So lazy and easy to do rather than showing us these things.

The comedy didn't work and it plods along as slowly as a movie possibly can. It wasn't gory, it wasn't exciting, it wasn't funny, it wasn't tense, it wasn't fast paced, it wasn't acted/written/directed well, etc. It was forgettable and boring dreck.

Really the only thing I can say was good was the cinematography, it was shot competently I would say. However everything else just felt like a jumbled mess with no real focus or point it was trying to get to...


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Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

It's the perfect horror movie. That is to say it's not a great movie, it might not even be a good movie.

What makes it the perfect horror movie is that it is based on a true story and it follows the true story so much better than say any horror movie thus far based on Ed Gein. So, it's very realistic. It's done semi documentary style and the acting is rather uneven which if you have watched any documentaries with live action acting is pretty much par for the course. The dialog is pretty terrible, but then again in real life people aren't all Shakespeare. Still, it was mostly silly. The screaming should have been the gold standard for horror movies, yet this is the only one where I was like wow she's just going on and on and on and well, still not running. The kills were just graphic enough to be horror movie kills, but not so much to be called gory IMO. The "comedic" moments were extremely unrealistic and not actually funny. But, they contrast with the realism of the rest of the film and take the film down a notch which in order to be a perfect horror movie the movie has to be not good in some ways. This movie had literally no tension in it so that takes it out of the realm of thriller, which is good it doesn't muddy the waters of classification as much that way.

This movie also is historical in the sense that it really happened. The names and dates were changed and the killing method in some ways, but other than that it is almost a straight telling of real events. It would work a lot better as a thriller if the "comedic" elements were removed and if there was more focus on the investigation which there already was a lot of and more on the killer rather than the keystone cops.

Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

It doesn't really follow the true story of the murders at all, almost a 100% is made up.

Also it's not remotely shot documentary-style. It's shot like a generic horror movie more from the fifties than the seventies. The unnecessary narration, constant tonal shifts with the out of place humour/wacky hijinks and the terrible acting make it seem more like a product of a more competent Ed Wood. Clearly not up there with the greats of the decade.

It was photographed well for the most part I give it that but there's a reason this movie is mostly forgotten. It's not that it aged badly, it just wasn't that good to begin with.

Re: Does anyone here actually think this is a good movie.

Yes, I do think it's a good movie. The comic scenes kind of remind me of the ones in the original Last House on the Left. They are part of the film's charm. The creepier moments were still as creepy as they should've been. They didn't hurt the movie at all.
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