An Untypical Slasher Film: The Town that Dreaded Sundown

 

                     Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s “The Town that Dreaded Sundown” was your typical yet not so typical slasher film. The movie has all five elements of a slasher horror film: the killer, the terrible place, the victims, the weapon, and the Final girl. However, Gomez-Rejon takes this movie to a new level with modernizing all five of these elements.

                   The plot of the movie is based on the telling of what happened to our main girl, Jami. She relives one horrible event that has happened to her a year ago. In the town of Texarkana, there is a story about a serial killer named the Phantom Killer. He goes off after couples who are “looking for privacy,” and just trying to get laid. When the Phantom Killer finds these sexually frustrated couples, he brutally murders them to the point where they are mutilated beyond recognition. This Phantom Killer has been around for the last 66 years and no one has yet found him or put a stop to him.

                    So what makes this movie different than other slasher films? Easy. All of these elements of the typical slasher movie have been modernized. Not only have the slasher/horror elements been played with, but there are other outside things all have important roles in this movie.

 

                  One of the elements that is talked about in Carol Clover’s article on slasher films is the terrible place. This is the only element that remains fairly typical throughout the entire movie. When the Phantom Killer arrives to the scene, it is usually out in the middle of the woods or in a tall building that has a huge center staircase acting as the tunnel that Clover talks about. The only thing here that isn’t typical is the scene where the Phantom Killer comes to a vigil ceremony held for the three victims that died, while being in costume. That’s a bold move for a serial killer. Besides that, there is nothing significant about these terrible places.

                    The next element that we can’t help but notice is the victims. The Phantom Killer kills couples who are trying to engage in sex. Usually in slasher films, as Clover points out, it is those who are already sexually active that are killed off. However, we have a mix of victims. The first two we see in the film is Corey and Jami. Due to Corey and Jami being extremely nervous when they are in the car, it is safe to assume that they have never done anything sexual before. Corey only gets to feel up Jami’s thighs before she realizes that they have company. It ends up that Corey gets killed off. The next set of couples that we have is a girl named Kendra and her soon to be fiancé. As soon as the soldier returns home, we cannot help but notice how these two lovebirds are all over each other. If it wasn’t frowned upon, they probably would have had sex at the airport… Instead, they get a motel room. Its kind of obvious that these two people have had sex before by how willing they were do it when reaching the motel. Then, we have the two characters who are gay. When they decide to take off into the night, they end up pulling off the side of the road into what seems like a junkyard. While sitting in the car, we learn that neither one of the guys has had sex with a man before; they don’t know how to do it. They start talking about what they can do, and before any of that can get started, the Phantom Killer arrives. So it doesn’t matter whether you are innocent or not, the Phantom Killer will find you if you are considering having sex.

         

                      Another important element that you cannot ignore in the slasher films is the weapon. Traditionally, the slasher will use a weapon that requires being in close contact with a person. Clover lists all of the traditional weapons used in slasher movies. These include knives, hammers, axes, icepicks, hypodermic needles, pokers, pitchforks and other handheld, manual devices. In The Town that Dreaded Sundown, Phantom Killer does use knives, but he also a gun and a bow and arrow, which is very unlikely. Also, the Phantom does something I’ve never seen in any scary movie before: he creates his own weapon. He takes a knife and ties it to a trombone. To kill with it, he blows into the instrument and as he slides the bottom part of the trombone out to play different notes, it stabs the victim. Clover is correct when she states that these weapons act as an extension of the body and are a phallic symbol.

                       The final girl character is the same as in any other slasher film, in the sense that she is beautiful and has a name that is both feminine and masculine. What is untypical about Jami’s character is the fact that she is sexually active. In the first scene with Corey, they talk about sex, but they don’t have it. Needless to say, Corey gets “killed off” while Jami escapes. She easily could have been killed, but because she had a message to spread, Phantom lets her live. Later in the film, Jami gets a new love interest. Even though they have only met up twice they end up having sex. As the night fades, it’s the boy that gets murdered and she lives yet again. Jami’s character is different because of her sexuality, she lives in the end.

                 Lastly is the killer. While Phantom Killer has that violent/sexual messed up character trait, he isn’t all that traditional either. He is psychotic, but there isn’t an explanation of a backstory that we were all hoping for. As stated earlier, Phantom states “This is for Mary…Remember.” There’s not one time in the movie where we learn who Mary is, why she was killed and what her connection to Phantom Killer is. Nothing. Instead, we learn that the reason he kills is so his name will be known to others for generations to come. Also mentioned above, he kills people who are innocent and who aren’t innocent. There are characters, such as Jami’s grandmother, the two gays, and everyone at the gas station who were killed just because they were in the wrong spot at the wrong time. And lastly (SPOILER ALERT), Phantom Killer is two different guys! Corey faked his death and Foster is killing people just so he can kill people. Corey and Foster have absolutely nothing in common besides this “darkness” that connects them. Weird, huh?

                Along with all of these elements, there are other things that happen that make this film different from other slasher films. Did I mention that there is a homosexual, interracial couple? Props to Gomez-Rejon for realizing that there doesn’t need to just straight couples. It’s also interesting that Kendra’s boyfriend was killed off, considering he is a part of the military. Strange to kill off someone with such a respectable title.

                  In the beginning of the film, one cool thing we get to experience as viewers is the I-camera Clover talks about. When the scene opens at the drive-ins, you can hear heavy breathing in the background while the camera is in the killer’s perspective. The camera moves around to show everyone at the scene as if he/you are looking for your next victims. Pretty sweet!

                For representation of gender, its interesting to look at Kendra and Jami’s characters. Both are the screaming, arm flailing kind of girls who just want to get laid. However, both start earning a masculine sense of character during their sex scenes. We get to see Kendra in her full glory, but Jami remains “protected” while having sex. In other words, we don’t get to see Jami’s goods, besides her naked back. What really matters here is that during sex both women are on top, taking the man’s role. It doesn’t make the men look too manly in these scenes.

               The most interesting thing I’ve picked up on in the movie is this sense of violence versus sex versus religion. Religion and the face of the church, (well, the Reverend’s face) keep appearing throughout the movie. The Church is in the first scene at the drive in, they appear where the gays are playing in the band at an event, and the Reverend’s face is plastered on a billboard, right in front of the gay couple in the woods. While the Phantom Killer kills with the intentions of “having sex is wrong, you’re sinners,” its extra alarming when the gay, interracial couple is off the side of the road. It makes it seem that what they are doing is extremely sinful.

             In conclusion, The Town that Dreaded Sundown, is not your typical slasher film. While it does contain many of the same elements, it has a modern spin on it.