The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

Weird 70's Slasher that would come out two years before Halloween. This one is about a sicko with a sack over his head who is sadistically killing the Arkansas folk down in a town called Texarkana. The killers only real pattern seems to be that he kills at Sundown and the murders seem to happen about 21 days apart. Other then that he may shoot one victim, stab another or just bludgeon them to death. The town is scared shitless and nobody knows who, how or where the masked killer will strike next. This movie has some very strange happenings going on. Stuff like a girl being killed with a knife and a trombone at the same time. I think this was to get the point across that the killer is unpredictable but gets some kind of sick, perverse, pleasure out of all this. At times the film can be very dark and realistic. For instance the killer isn't perfect and some of his victims get away but are usually beaten close to death. One character has her back and breast severely bitten with huge chunks of skin missing but then the movie gets a little lame for me with all the comic relief. The police seem like they are right out of Last House On The Left. They just kind of make fools of themselves by driving into a lake or bumping into walls, all while silly music is playing in the background. Despite the crappy comedy scenes, I really enjoyed this one. They almost went about it with a documentary type style with narration and times and dates. This is because the movie is supposed to be a true story. The killer never gets caught in the end of the film which just makes the movie all that much more realistic. It leaves us off with the narrator explaining how the townspeople all have different ideas on what happened to the killer who had them fearing Sundown. This one is totally worth a watch and you can't help but being reminded of movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and especially Friday The 13th Part 2 with the sack over the head. Any lover of gritty 70's horror films should get a kick out of this one.