The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014)

This film is not a remake, but sequel. The action takes place in modern times and there is another wave of killings in Texarkana. However plenty of scenes and characters are simply copied from the movie of 1976. In general - the film was boring, predictable, characters were artificial (especially terrible "Lone Wolf" - why the same nickname?). Not worth your time.

The list of grindhouse horror classics that were rebooted and worked well is pretty short ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes" are two that did work), and this one mostly works and had a clever twist on not simply being a remake or reboot. The premise here is that 65 years after the masked serial killer in Texarkana went on his killing spree, a new copycat killer is now recreating the murders from the 1970s Charles B. Pierce grindhouse film version of the actual murders. This film boasts a producer, director, and writer from the American Horror Story team, so you would expect something clever and this film does deliver. I think I was most excited when this film brought the Pierce film into the story as a major plot point, including creating a creepy fictional son of Pierce played by AHS regular Denis O'Hare, making the film rather meta. Also appearing in the film are Veronica Cartwright, Anthony Anderson, Gary Cole, Edward Herrmann, Ed Lauter, and even Danielle Harris if you look fast. Overall, this was a clever reboot that although it's not as scary or creepy as I'd have hoped, is smart and never boring.

Two thirds of a century after a series of brutal, vicious, and unsolved killings took place in Texarkana, Arkansas, and one film, loosely based on the crimes, was made, another killer begins making the rounds, using the original killer's M.O. Not really a remake, as it does have an original take on the story, and not exactly a sequel, either, as the characters are aware of the previous film's existence, and even turn to it for clues to the killer's next move, this meta-film has an interesting idea, and much more tension and suspense than I had expected. The hooded killer stalking his victims is effectively chilling, and just when it seems to begin copying the cornfield scene from the original, it does something a bit different with it, and gives the audience a creepy scarecrow image, not present in the earlier film.It mixes fact with fiction, as an article is being written about the killer, and a previously unknown victim, which could provide a clue to the killer's identity.But for all those things working in its favour, the characters are mostly dull, bland, and boring, the cinematography is typical high contrast with over saturated colours, and while the final chase is effective, the reveal of the killers' identity was uninspired and unbelievable.

Hate to tell the truth but whether or not you personally "liked" a film does not necessarily qualify you to review it.This reviewer was hosting horror festivals when the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD came out, and the hardest thing to do in a horror flick is be subtle.But this director has mad skills. And can do subtle.The framing in many of the scenes is incredible, there are times you almost feel the characters on-screen are the only people left on the face of the earth.And Gomez-Rejon also is shrewd enough to get more mileage out of Addison Timlin's face than a Prius.And a nice face it is. I counted over 50 closeups and then stopped counting. Her character is the glue, the connection, for this story and she is set up as a shy girl who (quote) never gets asked out.Which is why this story is fiction and not a documentary.And you the viewer get to watch the whole story through her eyes.The juxtaposition of the new movie and the "old movie" only makes my point -- putting this film alongside Whedon's Cabin in the Woods for cleverly deconstructing a tale from within the story arc itself.