Unseen Terror 2014: Day 14

A mere eight months after World War II has ended, the peaceful and quaint community of Texarkana is suddenly shaken up by the presence of a hooded, silent killer. At first, he attacks a young couple at a lovers' lane, sending them to the hospital with gashes, bite marks, and multiple injuries. The local police chief suggests warning youths to stay away from lonely roads and areas, but when another pair is discovered by a local deputy, this time slain and lying in the woods, the force comes to the conclusion that they will need outside assistance. With that, a famous Texas Criminal Investigator is brought in, and the crew begins their search for a man that one person simply dubs "a phantom."


Director Charles Pierce's The Town That Dreaded Sundown has been on my "to watch" list for what feels like an eternity. The influential proto-slasher picture, based loosely on a true story that continues to haunt the small area of Texarkana, has been sited as a notable influence on multiple pictures in the horror field, including Friday the 13th Part 2, wherein Jason Voorhees dawns a sack to wear over his head before switching over to his infamous goalie's mask in the later sequels. There's even a remake/sequel on the way from Orion Pictures, which will hit select theaters and On-Demand channels around the same time. Outside of a Blu-Ray purchase, I was ready to give up hope that there would ever be a way of viewing this cult classic by not spending more than twenty dollars. Suddenly, it popped up on Netflix Instant Streaming. Huzzah! After four years of doing this marathon, I was finally ready to dive in.


And….*takes deep breath*….I was pretty disappointed by it.

Before my elitist friends and/or readers chew my head off similarly to how the Phantom killer reportedly chewed on one of his own victim's body parts, let me explain and try to justify my own opinion (which is just that). I think that The Town That Dreaded Sundown is competently made, well-directed for the most part, and hides its low budget rather well. Heck, the performances from leads Andrew Prine and Ben Johnson are actually quite good, as is a small role that Ms. Dawn Wells of Gilligan's Island fame takes part in. At least two of the scenes involving our mysterious murderer stalking and ultimately ending the lives of his victims are close to being classified as creepy.


What swayed me to the side of ultimately disliking the film came down to its awkward setup and execution. I was hoping that the decision to cast a narrator for The Town That Dreaded Sundown was only going to be a temporary and one-time use. Instead, Vern Stierman's voiceover pops in way more often than I believe he should have, making the picture feel like a compilation of an afternoon television show, or worse yet, a History Channel special involving better actors and actresses. To call it heavy on exposition is being kind. There's also the incredibly bizarre choice of throwing in far too many comedic elements. I'm sure that these were supposed to make the film feel more grounded, and keep the audience's attention intact, but for the most part, they feel so out-of-place and take you out of what's going on so often, that it kills the possibility of setting up a real mood or atmosphere (a sequence involving the police having to dress in drag while waiting for the Phantom's next strike is just too weird to be funny). The poor lighting also doesn't help matters, making every stabbing, shooting, and beating nearly impossible to see, and I was honestly perplexed every now and then as to whether anybody was even being hurt by this masked madman.


Maybe I was misled into thinking that The Town That Dreaded Sundown was going to be a completely different film than what it was. Back in the day, I assumed that it would be supernatural-based, which it most certainly wasn't. After glancing at the poster (you can thank the tagline for essentially giving away the ending), I also assumed that it would be much bloodier and nastier. When neither of these turned out to be true, I was still willing to go with the flow and hope to find a new favorite flick to add to my future collection. But even after all was said and done, I think the movie just never quite lived up to its true potential. If it was supposed to pique my interest in the case of the "Moonlight Murders," then it did an average job at it. I wouldn't be opposed to watching this aforementioned remake/sequel coming out within one day from the time of my review being posted (I can assure you, I'll be watching more unnecessary sequels and remakes sooner than you can imagine), but I don't know what my expectations will be.



However, I do know that if it doesn't involve death by trombone stabbing, then I'm giving it all of my fingers down.



Speaking of remakes, tomorrow I'm taking an even bigger, deeper breath, and journeying into 2005's remake of John Carpenter's The Fog!

Unseen Terror 2013: Day 10

In a peaceful forest park, two female hikers are found ruthlessly slaughtered and torn to pieces, and the kills are discovered to have been committed by a massively large grizzly bear. Soon afterwards, a forest ranger, a pilot, and a naturalist team up to bring the beast down. Meanwhile, the forest park's own supervisor, fearful of causing a public uproar and stirring up public suspicions, attempts to keep the ranger quiet and tries his best way to fix this newfound "problem" before it gets out of hand.


So, it only took one year for Steven Spielberg's Jaws to spawn its first wave of imitators, eh? I can see it now: somebody said "Hey, why not set this film on land and call it 'Paws' in order to make it more marketable?" Okay, that last part may been slightly fabricated, but it may not be far from the truth. I figured that I'm always in need of more good old fashioned animals-killing-hapless people films to add to my "seen it" list, so I might as well take a good look at one of the more infamous of these. I say infamous, because this film actually held the distinct honor of being the highest grossing independent film of 1976, taking in $39 million worldwide, holding that record for two years until a little film by John Carpenter broke its record. From the moment that the opening credits are being flashed (with music composed by Robert O Ragland, who could have led a pretty awesome alternate life in pornography with a name like that), you know what you're in for.


The cast of characters are nothing special, and in fact there may be almost too many of them for you to keep track of if you're just looking for mindless violence (which I have to confess I might have been doing). Setting that mindset aside, those that we do see and get to know decently well are near-duplicates of the characters found in Spielberg's film. But who gives a damn about the characters? We're here for the bear and kills delivered by said bear! Right? Well, the bear kills, rarely seen as they may be, are pretty rad. At the time of Grizzly's filming, the bear used was the largest in captivity, though they don't give you any clear, full shots until about the fifty minute mark or so. Speaking of the bear and shots, easily the funniest thing I've seen on this year's countdown occurred during a moment where the grizzly turns into a peeping tom-type slasher, watching a woman take a casual stroll towards and into a waterfall before, naturally, slaughtering her. So awesome. Never saw that in Jaws, did we?

Oh, did I mention that Grizzly desperately wants to be Jaws? Because by the half way point, it clearly doesn't give a damn anymore, with the creative juices running on nothing but Dr. Thunder and Mr. Pibb, embracing the knockoff factor. The confrontations between certain characters feel exactly the same as they did in the killer shark film, and I'm sure Murray Hamilton and Roy Scheider would have had a ball watching the bits of dialogue between actors Christopher George and Joe Dorsey. Shit, even the final action sequence plays out the same way as its influence did, though it ups the ante in terms of "explosiveness" and firepower for which I will give it a lot of accolades for. True, it also makes it exponentially more stupid, but this film had dived into the territory of stupid FAR before its own conclusion was set up.

From a filmmaking standpoint, this is very, very bad, but my goodness, you'll have a lot of fun with it, especially if you or your friends are familiar with the concept of "riffing" certain motion pictures. The kills are fairly solid, the plot is ridiculous, the acting is corny, and its tone gives off the vibe of "don't take this too seriously." Plus, I can't imagine that any horror film with a poster drawn by comic book legend Neal Adams can't be filed under any category other than "campy." You can actually seek this bad boy out on Youtube of all places by doing a quick search if you're interested!



Tomorrow, the animals take to the skies with PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING!

Unseen Terror 2013: Day 2

The product of a fundamentalist household, shy & quiet Carrie White discovers that she may nest telekinetic powers. While researching these suspicions, she is soon asked to the prom by a fellow classmate. Initially reluctant and suspicious of trickery, she agrees. What follows, however, is a night that nobody at Carrie's school of Bates High will ever forget...should they live to tell about it.


Holy jumped up jesus, had I never really seen Carrie until this year? Seriously? Well, yes, I never had. I am also currently in the process of reading the novel of the same name, which I hope to finish by the end of the month if I'm lucky. I would have been finished sooner had I not been occupied with finalizing this very list and with, again, dealing with hospital bills. If you happen to have eight thousand dollars to spare, you will be my best friend until the day that I die. And that is a promise.

Unlike Ms. Carrie White though, who seems to have no friends whatsoever (save for one or two highly debatable ones), and is one of the more fascinating and tragic figures of horror cinema. I can see why Sissy Spacek has become so synonymous with the title character. She may not have the look of Ms. White down (according to the novel, she's a bit more slovenly and chunky), but she has absolutely nailed the characteristics and personality. She's naive, stupidly earnest, likable, and creepy when the time is right. I wish I could say the same for her mother, played by the devilish Piper Laurie. She's a complete psychopath for most of her screen time, and her character is the first in many of Stephen King's long obsession and hatred for all things religious-related. I always have to blame one Doug Walker for ruining/enhancing my love for Mr. King by introducing the Stephen King Drinking Game, though admittedly that may only work for tales such as It and the like. But yes, Laurie is great as Carrie's mother, reciting bible verses in an attempt to keep her daughter as clean and pure as possible, striking her down, throwing water on her. You know, the usual fun stuff.


I would argue that Carrie also really helped make director Brian De Palma into a decently well known somebody, as the guy had a handful of well received pictures prior to the release of this King adaptation, but I doubt he would have been able to make a film like Scarface years later had this film been a critical or financial failure. Even more shocking considering that the original novel that this was based upon was thrown out by Stephen King himself, but urged to be finished by his wife. Truth be told, the chemistry and direction he's able to get out of everyone here is just fantastic, and I'm disappointed that Spacek herself didn't win the Academy Award she was nominated for here. Pino Donaggio's score deserves some sort of extra praise as well. I recall liking his work on last year's Unseen Terror entry, the rather well done Don't Look Now, and wish this very talented man had more work on his resume outside of a few select works. The violin, when utilized properly, is just as effective as a piano could ever be.


As it stands, I'd place Brian De Palma's adaptation of Carrie in the top five of best adaptations of a Stephen King novel to date, up there with films like Stand By Me. It cuts out a lot of the fluff I've been trudging through in the novel so far that feels wholly unnecessary and just cuts to the chase, leaving you with a largely more satisfying product and never forgetting to develop the characters into interesting people. Even if you know the whole concept and infamous conclusion to Carrie, but have never seen any version of the story, go watch this. It really is a great film. I'm curious as to how the upcoming remake with Chloe Moretz and Julianne Moore will turn out, as this version is forever fresh in the minds of the horror public, and even the public at large. They will have very big shoes to fill, despite their instantly recognizable names and attachment to a respectable director as well (Kimberly Peirce of Boys Don't Cry fame). Perhaps you'll see a review pop up sometime this month?



Come back tomorrow as we'll fly in for another Stephen King work with THE LANGOLIERS!