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2014 - 86m.

Charles B. Pierce's The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a fairly obscure 1976 effort that's mostly notable for a scene involving a trombone and the fact that the killer wears a burlap sack over his head - something I've always suspected was borrowed for the second Friday the 13th flick. Making it a total surprise when a remake was announced. Even more surprising, though, is that this turns out to be more of a spiritual successor and (almost) sequel than re-do and that it's made by some of the main people behind the not-always-great-but-always-watchable "American Horror Story" series. Right from the opening moments that blends news footage, scenes from the original film and narration I was drawn in by the clever way they've decided to approach things. This isn't a direct revisit but rather a pretty meta effort that not only acknowledges the original but takes that flick's true story vibe to heart and runs with it.

Welcome to Texarkana. A small town smack dab in the middle of both Arkansas and Texas it was also the location of some murders in the 40's that became the topic of Pierce's film. It's become such a part of the town, and really its only claim to fame, that they have an annual Halloween night showing at the local drive-in. It's a campy way to remember the killings and isn't very popular with some of the locals. Jami (Addison Timlin) is there with her boyfriend and not really into it so they end up leaving and heading over to the now sparsely used lover's lane to talk. Only they're not alone and fall victim to an apparent reincarnation of our hooded killer who violently murders Jami's beau and chases her down. She manages to escape and it sends the town into a tizzy.

Soon there's a new batch of killings and it's up to Jami to use her wannabe reporter skills to try and uncover the identity of the all-new "The Phantom" (as dubbed by the media) with the help of researcher Nick (Travis Tope) while the local law enforcement has to deal with angry locals and multiple deaths. This all leads to some well-staged moments that do a decent job capturing a small town vibe, way too many scenes of Jami and Nick investigating while falling for each other and even a cool return of the aforementioned trombone before it stumbles its way to a weak finale.

When the 2014 version of The Town That Dreaded Sundown works, it works really well. Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon has a fluid style and uses varying angles and quick cutting to his advantage making this a really great looking modern slasher and I really did love the creative way they've resurrected the story but the problem is the story itself is filled with middling moments (like I said, I care not for our two leads filing through newspaper clippings and doing interviews - though the scene with Denis O'Hare playing Pierce's son is a winner), the mystery elements are half-baked, it loses the forward momentum it has in the first third, and a lot of the characters amount to nothing due to being underused. This is really a shame since there are some really solid character actors on hand in roles that are throwaway at best.

In the lead, Timlin looks like she'd easily belong in producer Ryan Murphy's "Glee". She's fresh-faced and likeable enough but isn't the strong kind of heroine (or 'Final Girl' as it were) these types of movies deserve. Tope does well enough also but, like Timlin, I wasn't too worried if he lives or dies. In side roles they've definitely brought on lots of familiar faces as Veronica Cartright (Alien, The Birds) is steady as Jami's grandmother and the recently passed Edward Herrmann (The Lost Boys) is suitably creepy as the town's over-the-top preacher while the trio of Anthony Anderson, Gary Cole (Office Space) and Ed Lauter (3:15, Youngblood) all play law officers that drift through the entire flick - though I was amused by Anderson telling everyone to call him 'Lone Wolf'.

It's unfortunate that the final product couldn't have matched the concept but that doesn't mean you should avoid The Town That Dreaded Sundown. It has its moments and I dug a lot of the set-up making it worth seeing simply because it's bold enough to deviate from the regular path most reinventions of older movies tend to. Plus it made me want to rewatch the 1976 original - a movie I rarely thought about after seeing it on VHS when I was a pre-teen all those years ago.

Available on blu-ray from Image Entertainment (U.S.) and VEI (Canada) containing a good looking transfer and various, mostly passable, interviews with cast and crew. (Chris Hartley, 7/20/15)

Directed By: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.
Written By: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

Starring: Addison Timlin, Veronica Cartwright, Gary Cole, Edward Herrmann.