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Town That Dreaded Sundown, The

5/10

Stars: Addison Timlin, Travis Tope, Veronica Cartwright, Anthony Anderson, Ed Lauter, Gary Cole, Edward Herrmann, Spencer Treat Clark, Joshua Leonard, Arabella Field, Denis O'Hare

Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Not so much a revamp of, or even a sequel to the 1976 slasher movie of the same title - more of a rebound from it.

The town of Texarkana is obsessed with the 1946 'moonlight murders' that happened there, and were made the subject of the 30-years-later film that the townsfolk watch compulsively on their drive-in movie screen, as the hacker (in the days before computers gave the noun a new meaning) claims his next teenage victim.

Now the killings, by a figure wearing a sackcloth mask and wielding a machete, begin again, although one of the first victims (Timlin) oddly gets away, and becomes the town's prime researcher on the case as the body count mounts up.

Apart from the rather strange set-up - not so much a trilogy as a triptych - and a twist ending that may take you by surprise, this is sadly a thoroughly routine slasher film, apart from its barely-talented teenage leads being supported by an appealing cast which boasts a whole string of veteran character players, two of whom have since died.

David Quinlan

USA 2014. UK Distributor: Metrodome (Orion). Colour by Colorworks.
85 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 12 Apr 2015