The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

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Videos & Photos

  • Clip: Makeout Point Murder
  • Featurette: Dawn Wells Story

Movie Info & Cast

Director:

Charles B. Pierce, Charles B. Pierce

Producer:

Charles B. Pierce, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Tom Moore, Charles B. Pierce

Writer:

Earl E. Smith, Earl E. Smith

Release Date:

Dec 24, 1976

Runtime:

1hr 30m

Synopsis

The story of a berserk, hooded killer who terrorized the border town of Texarkana, Arkansas in 1946--leaving no fewer than five murder victims in his wake. He was never caught. Based on one of America's most baffling murder cases.

Cast

  • Ben Johnson
  • Andrew Prine
  • Ben Johnson
  • Dawn Wells
  • Andrew Prine
  • Jimmy Clem
  • Dawn Wells
  • Jim Citty
  • Jimmy Clem
  • Charles B. Pierce
  • Jim Citty
  • Robert Aquino
  • Charles B. Pierce
  • Cindy Butler
  • Robert Aquino
  • Christine Ellsworth
  • Cindy Butler
  • Earl E. Smith
  • Christine Ellsworth
  • Earl E. Smith

Letterboxd User Reviews

2.9
40.5K
20.2K
7.6K
RATINGS 32 FANS
2.9
  • Aug 6, 2020

    That empty feeling when you've waited decades to see a film and then are counting down the minutes for it to end :(

    651 Likes
    Helen_S
    Helen_S
    Oct 11, 2026

    Not a bad film by any means, but not necessarily a great one either. There’s a certain charm to these older horror films, and I can appreciate the atmosphere and unsettling tone this one manages to establish without relying too heavily on excessive violence or cheap scares.…

    77 Likes
    haydencomb
    haydencomb
    Oct 24, 2020

    A slasher so committed to originality it introduces a trombone kill like it’s a totally normal Tuesday in Arkansas.

    266 Likes
    CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️
    CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️
  •
    Apr 26, 2024

    Imagine being brutally murdered by a serial killer in real life then years later they make a movie based on the true events, portray the scene of your horrific end, then immediately follow it with scenes of a bumbling idiot policeman doing 60s tv sitcom slapstick style…

    227 Likes
    JayShmoney
    JayShmoney
    Oct 6, 2014

    There's a killer on loose nicknamed the Phantom and everyone is scared shitless. It might be safe during the day, but watch out when nightfall comes in this old school extremely important entertaining slasher. Paperboy. The narrator has a silky smooth sounding voice. Is…

    211 Likes
    Todd Gaines
    Todd Gaines
    May 21, 2026

    This is a really b-o-r-i-n-g watch, but there's a ridiculous trombone scene in this that makes me feel like the Phantom crawled so that a few years later Jason could run in Friday the 13th.

    200 Likes
    Geoff Ketchum
    Geoff Ketchum
  •
    Jan 3, 2022

    Selective narration, ominous chyrons, bold uses of slowmo, intense speculation about the killer's sexual hangups? This has "Tarantino influence" written all over it. As many have noted, the police procedural gets a bit too goofy at times, but Charles Pierce directs the hell…

    187 Likes
    anna nomaly
    anna nomaly
    Mar 9, 2022

    A strange approach to a slasher film, more of a procedural with a TCM/Larouquette-esque narrator and an almost anti-style, consider it was made before HALLOWEEN. Maybe Caroenter’s film was a response to this type of small-town murder spree mystery?  Low key and kinda…

    181 Likes
    Joe Lynch
    Joe Lynch
    Aug 8, 2021

    Based loosely on a true story, this early example of the slasher genre is not as bad as some think it is, but it's also not as great as it should. On one hand, it was a film that in many respects took advantage of the fact that it had no real limitations by the rules…

    167 Likes
    Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine
    Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine

Queue Community Reviews

62%
Community 411
❤️ LOVE
10%
👍 LIKE
52%
😐 MEH
23%
👎 DISLIKE
15%
Top Reviews
  • Morgan
    Morgan disliked
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown

    felt wayyy too long for the actual length it is and was so boring and confusing, the remake is a lot more fun

    🔥 2 4Y
    GENAI
    GENAI liked
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown

    Hilariously bad. Like so many moments were so funny I have no clue how they stayed in the movie. I had too much fun to say its a bad movie, but god, it is NOT good💀

    😭 1 3Y
    Trevoe
    Trevoe liked
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown

    This movie helped pave the way in the slasher genre but also kind of gave horror a different tone/edge. Some the things in the movie are brilliant and still have me thinking about it. I personally feel what drags this movie down for me is the cop detective who done it stuff. 5/10

    3Y
  • Andrikk0s
    Andrikk0s liked
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown

    When someone says “you are so cute I wanna bite you” it doesn’t mean real bites. 
“And when the sun went down, there was an empty… ghostly appearance on the town”

    3Y
    Brett Bettendorf
    Brett Bettendorf is "meh" on
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown

    Not scary at all, the acting was horrible. It made hard to watch. I’ll have to watch the 2014 version to compare.

    2Y
    JJ Jet-Plane
    JJ Jet-Plane disliked
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown

    more of a police procedural than slasher, and a boring police procedural at that, 3/10

    6M
  • Orlando Ramone
    Orlando Ramone liked
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown

    A surprisingly creepy movie based on a true story.

    4Y
    Deejango
    Deejango liked
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown

    Great movie. Ps they still looking for the killer

    4Y
    Ryan Collins
    Ryan Collins liked
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown

    Decent story but some of the acting is terrible

    2Y

Atom Users Reviews

No one has posted a user review yet.

Metacritic

52
metacritic
Based on 4 Critics
5.6

USER SCORE (5)

Mixed or average reviews based on 5 Reviews
40

A couple of professional actors, Ben Johnson and Andrew Prine, head the cast, but the film looks nonprofessional in every other respect.

Metacritic review by Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
The New York Times
83

An overlooked gem in the annals of low-budget horror.

Metacritic review by Katie Rife
Katie Rife
The A.V. Club

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) (1976)?
The movie is 1hr 30min long.
What's The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) (1976) about?
The story of a berserk, hooded killer who terrorized the border town of Texarkana, Arkansas in 1946--leaving no fewer than five murder victims in his wake. He was never caught. Based on one of America's most baffling murder cases.
Who's the cast of The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) (1976)?
  • Ben Johnson
  • Andrew Prine
  • Ben Johnson as Captain J.D. Morales
  • Dawn Wells
  • Andrew Prine as Deputy Norman Ramsey
  • Jimmy Clem
  • Dawn Wells as Helen Reed
  • Jim Citty
  • Jimmy Clem as Sgt. Mal Griffin
  • Charles B. Pierce
  • Jim Citty as Police Chief R.J. Sullivan
  • Robert Aquino
  • Charles B. Pierce as Patrolman A.C. Benson
  • Cindy Butler
  • Robert Aquino as Sheriff Otis Barker
  • Christine Ellsworth
  • Cindy Butler as Peggy Loomis
  • Earl E. Smith
  • Christine Ellsworth as Linda Mae Jenkins
  • Earl E. Smith as Dr. Kress
Who's the director behind The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) (1976)?
Charles B. Pierce and Charles B. Pierce directed The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) (1976).
Who produced The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) (1976)?
Charles B. Pierce, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Tom Moore and Charles B. Pierce produced The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) (1976).
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