Tubi Thursday: The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976)

 Another Film with a Remake (available on Tubi as well) to cover.

It is up through the end of the Month (June), so decide quickly whether you want to see this or not after you read this...

In a small town in Texarkana (the most unwieldy name for a City, no?), everything is returning to normal in 1946.

The 'great' War is over and everyone is returning to their lives.

Unfortunately, a strange, masked man is going to put a stop to that peace!

He attacks people in a car one night, but they aren't killed.

About 21 days later, the Cops- still working the case- are out on a rainy night.

One of the Deputies- from Crypt of the Living Dead- hears some shots and finds the two victims.

He narrowly misses the killer.

They keep working the case as the next deadline approaches.  At least them figuring out the pattern isn't a plot hole like in Beverly Hills Cop 2.

Sadly, the bait cars don't work, and a Couple is killed again.

Most famously, the woman is killed via knife...attached to a trombone slide!

Things continue to ramp up, but the Film still finds time for random Comedy.

In a way, it is jarring.
In another sense, I can see the logic.

That said, going from 'Cops accidentally uncovering a Cat' to 'Dawn Wells is shot and stalked by a killer' is a JARRING transition.

Unfortunately for all involved, the Case ends up being unsolved.  The Film plays coy with the whole thing, which is easy to do when the last murder was in 1946.

That said, they still got (unsuccessfully) sued over this.  The End.

A fun bit of Drive-In fare that still holds up fairly well.  This is one of those Films that I've known of and seen Reviews of for at least a Decade, but never watched until today.

The Plot is pretty good, even if they take some big liberties with it.  The Narrator says that they 'only changed the names,' but that's a lie.

I will grant you this- the changes do make the case more compelling as a Film.
For instance, the Cop nearly catches the killer on the second incident, while the real people found the car the next morning.

They also do a weird mix and match with incidents, like having the bit with Wells being taken from a different incident.

Charles B. Pierce made a memorable, if disjointed Film here that I can't really hate.  Plus, they gave the guy who made the Star Wars Concept Art (as well as designing many Characters) his breakout work (he drew the famous Poster).

I'll say this too- the Film acts like the killer was never caught, but he was right here in the Batman Opening Credits (yet another true crime I connected to this Show!)...

If viewed in the right lens (a Drive-in Flick for teens), it can be viewed favorably.  Just beware the tonal whiplash.