THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (1976)

Courtesy of Eureka, the 1976 original finally makes its way onto UK home video...

A brief, earnest male narration (Vern Stierman) introduces us to the relatively small town of Texarkana in Texas. We're told of how the close-knit community rebuilt itself after the upheaval of the Second World War and how, by 1946, the town was beginning to feel optimistic about its future once again.

But then, in early March, a young couple are attacked in their car on Lovers' Lane. Although both survive the attack, neither can offer the local Sheriff or his deputies any concrete evidence to go on. The only thing they learn from the attack is that the would-be killer wore a white sack and was a particularly strong male.

The police are baffled. The townsfolk in turn are disconcerted: they've never known such trouble in their midst. However, three weeks pass without further incident and it seems that everyone but Deputy Ramsey (Andrew Prine) has put the incident to the back of their minds. That is until, three weeks to the day and on the first night of the next full moon, the masked fiend strikes again. His quarries this time are a newly returned soldier and his local gal. Both are shot dead, with Ramsey arriving on the scene just late enough to witness the killer flee in the dead man's car.

As panic sets in, Sheriff Barker (Robert Aquino) enrols the help of famed ranger Morales (Ben Johnson). He has a proven track record for successfully captaining manhunts, and swiftly sets about getting the rather hapless local lawmen into shape. His methods include a vow of non-communication with the media, a curfew after dark and even having a group of policemen dress in drag to act as bait on the night of the next full moon.

While he and Ramsey do indeed correctly predict the date of the phantom's (Morales' term) next strike, they unfortunately lie in wait at the wrong locations. This allows the killer to slaughter two more innocents upon their departure from an ill-advised local prom. Elaborating any further seems unfair, as that would be taking this synopsis into the later stages of Charles B Pierce's disquieting film.

Loosely based on an actual post-war manhunt, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN is an odd mix of drama, horror, black humour, real-life crime and faux documentary. In this regard alone, it draws comparison to Jeff Gillen and Alan Ormsby's DERANGED.

But that's where the similarities end. SUNDOWN has an odd, episodic feel that shouldn't work but strangely does. The characters are not fleshed out any, but performances are sufficiently strong that we feel as though we get beneath their skin anyway. Johnson is haggard compared to his appearance in THE WILD BUNCH several years earlier but remains an authorative presence; Prine is the stand-out as the well-intended but limited local lawman.

Visually, SUNDOWN derives a marvellously moody atmosphere from its dusk-set woodlands murder set-pieces. Meanwhile, the period detail to the daytime scenes is convincing throughout: if there are anachronisms, they completely passed me by.

The comedy elements of the film are jarring, lightening the tone absurdly at times with moments of slapstick that verge on SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT silliness. Bungling deputy Benson (director Pierce) gets the daftest scenes, providing a comic relief that is in equal parts welcome and distracting. Perhaps the occasional "Curb Your Enthusiasm" type frivolous music was a stretch too far during these scenes. The early homage to Samuel Fuller is far more subtle.

Conversely, the terror scenes are shot in a stark matter-of-fact manner that totally complements Stierman's deadpan voiceover. Largely playing out without score, the phantom's attacks are brutal and unforgiving without ever resorting to unnecessary explicit detail. Fear is the key here, and is palpable even when the methods become bizarre: witness, for example, the scene in which the killer straps a blade to a trombone and kills a tied-up female in novel style. Leaving the killer silent and without identity throughout was also a simple but effective masterstroke.

Although the pace is unconventional due to the film's episodic, newsreel-type approach, Pierce ensures the film is quietly gripping at all times. Are the residents of Texarkana safe for one more night? Can Ramsey and the imposing Morales capture their bogeyman? Is the killer one of their friends or colleagues? Questions the film doesn't need to ask, because you're subtly drawn into doing so for yourself as events slickly progress.

Frightening, absorbing and confrontational in its refusal to provide easy answers, SUNDOWN is a film that feels very much of-its-time (1976) in-so-far as its unhurried, naturalistic play-out and Pierce's willingness to credit peripheral characters and even background extras with more to do than simply stand around looking wooden. His town feels real, and so then does the fear it feels.

Scream Factory released SUNDOWN as a dual format blu-ray and DVD combo pack a couple of years back in the US. Alas, that release was region A encoded. So, for those not au fait with multi-region blu-ray buying, it was a no-no. But thankfully, on the eve of the remake's UK DVD release, Eureka have seen fit to grace us with a worthy region B counterpart.

We were sent a copy of the blu-ray disc for review purposes.

The uncut film looks very good in 1080p HD, presented as an MPEG4-AVC file in its original theatrical ratio of 2.40:1 and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Blacks are deep and solid, exhibiting no trace of problematic compression issues. A nice gradient of shades are employed throughout which, along with natural flesh-tones and a very fine layer of grain, make for an authentically filmic presentation. Colours are bold and detail is remarkable when held against my copy of an old TV broadcast of the film.

While the print used does possess its fair share of debris in the form of little white and black pops here and there, the overall impact of the film here is that it's never looked anywhere near as good as this.

In truth, the film looks identical here to the transfer proffered on the US disc.

English 2.0 audio has been given the DTS-HD Master Audio treatment and benefits from a largely clean and consistent playback, with only minor instances of low background noise to speak of.

Two nice additions that weren't present on Scream Factory's disc are a music-only track, ad optional English subtitled for the Hard-of-Hearing. The disc opens to an animated main menu page. Oddly, there is no scene selection menu among the disc's pop-up functions.

Extras begin with the film's original 2-minute theatrical trailer, which is specklier than the main feature's print but still reasonably attractive. We also get a crisp, clean trailer for the 2014 remake.

A new on-screen chat with Prine, who looks not much different than he did 30-odd years ago, follows. His honesty regarding the film's merits is refreshing, while he also makes time in this 10-minute 'talking head' style chat to cover more from his acting career.

"Eye of the Beholder" is a 12-minute featurette in which cinematographer James Roberson is given the opportunity to give his opinions on what he seems to think wouldn't have been as welcoming a film without his input.

Co-star Dawn Wells remains pretty and bubbly in her all-too-brief 5-minute interview, discussing her vague memories of the film, her surprise due to its enduring popularity and recollections of a run-in of the canine variety while filming.

All of the above are presented in 1080p HD.

Finally we get a feature-length audio commentary track from Justin Beahm with historian Jim Presley moderating. The pair provide a fairly fluent, easy-going talk which takes in titbits of trivia surrounding the film's production along with discussing differences between Earl E Smith's screenplay and the case it based itself upon.

The US blu-ray contained all of the above, save for the remake trailer, along with text notes and a photo gallery.

Disc two is a DVD which wasn't made available to review. It is, however, identical to disc one in terms of content - albeit all features are in standard definition.

I believe this release also comes with a booklet but, again, no review copy was available.

The big difference here, of course, is that Scream's DVD contained a wonderful bonus in the form of Pierce's little-seen 1979 film THE EVICTORS (starring Jessica Harper).

Still, it's great to see THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN - the original film - finally get a much-deserved release on these shores. Even without THE EVICTORS (which is decent but not great), this is a mighty fine set for a mighty fine film.

Highly recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis