How a Real Life Serial Killer Created the Slasher in THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN

[@MattDraper]

What’s your favorite slasher movie?

[@greenkoopa]

Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 because Ken Foree vs Leather How do you avoid visual errors when you upload, Matt?

[@TheSjostedt]

Nightmare On Elm Street is the first that comes to mind for me.

[@ginofrancejr555]

Nightmare on elm street the original

[@carsonsmith7314]

I have four: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974, Halloween 1978, Psycho 1960, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Though My Bloody Valentine is another good one.

[@nick_4972]

Probably the first Scream

[@BoyNamedSue4]

Was not expecting this one so quick. A really underrated film. Shame more people aren’t familiar with it.

[@JazziG59]

What are your thoughts on the 2014 version?

[@kommissarchaos9086]

The thing that really gets me about this movie is that most of the extras are actual citizens of Texarkana, and the thing is that the actual crimes only happened 30 years before this movie was filmed, so theoretically speaking the actual killer who actually committed the crimes could’ve been in this movie as an extra

[@konstantywierzbowski3176]

THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN has my favorite slasher poster ever. Head with simple bag on it, over the city at sundown. It gives amazing vibes, I love the way it's painted.

[@JazziG59]

Agreed, this and The Burning are my favorite posters.

[@duncanstone8758]

Mom and Dad were young marrieds 30 miles away in Hope during the Phantom attacks. Whenever Dad was at work Mom was terrified that the Phantom was going to get her.

[@ginofrancejr555]

All time cult classic blending the real life crime with some fictional elements. Made it truly unique among slasher films

[@AldenRDavis]

"THE TEXARKANA MOONLIGHT MURDERS," a term coined by the contemporary press, was a series of four unsolved serial murders and related violent crimes commited in the Texarkana region of the United States in early 1946. They were attributed to an alleged unidentified perpetrator known as the "Phantom of Texarkana, the "Phantom Killer," or the "Phantom Slayer." This hypothetical suspect was created with attacking eight people, five of them fatally, in a ten-week period. It happened from February 22 to May 3, 1946. In the end, the "Phantom Killer" was never caught, nor identified or seen again.

[@gamerbear84]

Good job copy/pasting from Wikipedia. Very impressive. :P

[@rameshbhattacharjee4374]

The Phantom Killer Hated People Making Love In Cars, It Was An Insult To The American Auto Industry

[@FOXZILLA5734]

People should really look up the history behind the phantom killer of Texarkana, really scary stuff. Always great giving spotlight to over looked slashers, especially ones based on real life events.

[@CarlosSuarez-uv3mt]

This notification popped up the moment my lunch time started at my work. Perfect timing.

[@bensneb360]

I feel like the first movie help establish and was an inspiration to the future trend of serial killers and murder podcast, in both it’s low budget grittiness and “uncovering and trying to solve a real murder” story telling

[@rayancedrichaddad1197]

I never heard about this Cult Classic Slasher Movie. Thanks Matt Draper for talking about. This is a complete audiovisual encyclopedia about this Cult Classic Movie.💯💯

[@benderbendingrodriguez420]

Perfectly explained why this film specifically feels so different as a watch. Nothing scarier than real life

[@jonathanmulondo9206]

I didn't even realize that this was a true crime horror movie til I was older. A interesting blend of slasher and mystery and despair

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

As an Arkansan, this movie, Sling Blade, Mud, and the third season of True Detective are like our proudest cinematic achievements. 😅

[@brettg1440]

This film was such a huge part of my childhood. I remember renting it multiple times from my local gas station in the little TX town I grew up in. I was so excited to see the follow up in 2014. But, it is so true that it was not marketed well at all. I recall my then fiancé (now wife) and I having to drive almost 100 miles away to see it. I actually own some props from both films. I own the zoetrope from the sequel that depicts the murderer knifing a victim if you spin it. A really cool camera shot in the film.

[@johnpittsii7524]

Thanks for the amazing video Matt ❤

[@arthurj.downeyjr_2013]

Several huge names in Hollywood started off in Unsolved Mysteries reenactments! Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey is one example.

[@thomasffrench3639]

This is an amazing analysis of Town that Dreaded Sundown. I thought it was okay, but now I want to rewatch it because of this video. When I watched it, it reminded me a bit of Zodiac, but a lot less structured.

[@LoganWood121]

I call that the 'Draper Effect'

[@andrewlavigne44]

Excellent video, Matt!

[@arielamaya4177]

The theory I’ve heard repeatedly was that the phantom killer had military training from eye witness describing the killers firing stance and mo of sir valance his victims before killing them. Scary stuff man

[@mandalorianhunter1]

Dang Matt pumping out content that I'm missing on Patreon. Yeah it's sad this guy was never caught.

[@SpookyouKnowIt23]

Boggy Creek is truly underrated. You should do a video on that.

[@larrycooper7261]

I'm from Texarkana, and was on set to watch some of the movie being made, including the opening scene. I was dating a girl who was in the high school prom scene, and had a number of other friends with "walk by/face in the crowd" parts. I resisted the urge to try for a part because, at the time, I had long hair and didn't want to cut it off for 2 seconds of screen time.

[@garrettmasters7281]

Happy to see another video use White Bat's "Black Rainbows" in it! Kudos to you Matt

[@TheSjostedt]

Are you planning talking about the Omen-films? I really enjoyed The First Omen, and would like to hear your take on the series.

[@MattDraper]

I'll definitely do an Omen retro at some point!

[@dpglounge4900]

Can we get a vid on the just as underrated on a true crime mystery 2007 Zodiac

[@BoyNamedSue4]

He killed Mary Ann which makes him the most evil killer in cinema in my book.

[@richardgrenon3574]

I thought she survived?

[@shadowwolf9503]

​@@richardgrenon3574She did

[@aleksejsruy]

My favorite slasher behind Scream, honestly.

[@Looneyboy]

Great video!

[@hyena61]

Is there any chance the Phantom killer could be the Zodiac Killer also ?

[@Seasonal-Shadow_4674]

This guy would have been the perfect villain for the punisher or the crow It sucks that antiheroes don’t go after serial killers ever Society roots for antiheroes to kill lowlives and think serial killers are boring threats and not that realistic as apparently not that many people arr affected by serial killers so therefore they dont matter and aren’t significant enough to be the victim of an antihero.

[@jasonbryant1552]

I saw it once because it was mentioned in a scene from Scream. I was shocked that Dawn Wells was in it. But I never watched the sequel

[@fearlessjoebanzai]

It used to be on the KZbin, but it was a really bad quality version that was gave it an even eerier feel!

[@jasonmaclean719]

If anything Pierce did give us one of the best MST3K's, Boggy Creek 2

[@Aliciahicks2019]

Having family from Texarkana who actually have talked about this is trippy af

[@Renegadetev1]

I live here 😂

[@kimfalleiro]

never heard of this movie , but as someone just getting into horror/slasher movies i will have to check it out

[@carsonsmith7314]

Not going to lie, I heard of this one but I've never seen it. I might need to see the original, if out of curiosity.

[@MattDraper]

It's an oddity, but I think it's worth checking out for any fans of horror or true crime

[@Richard-d2i]

One I'd missed but gonna grab asap 😊 thanks 👍

[@LauraParadis594]

Awesome video! Subscribed

[@owensreviews625]

The only time I ever heard of this film was when it was name dropped in Scream (1996). But after watching this, I really want to see it for myself.

[@vasglorious]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the historical inaccuracies in The Town That Dreaded Sundown.

[@ethinwhite3454]

Another great essay.

[@domdomdomdom]

I really love the 2014 film, except for that SCREAM-esque ending reveal.

[@planetzoob7559]

The first one fills like an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, thanks to Sparkplug. The second always felt like your typical slasher to me.

[@AABB-bm9kk]

I understand this may seem a bit semantical, But I think it important to point out that SKs don’t “create” anything - but fear and misery.🤔 Film-makers create films 🙂✌️

[@ThomasGidley-kv2uj]

This movie delivers and Johnson and Prine are great.

[@brandonlrushman2870]

My mother is a huge horror fan!!!! I remember being absolutely terrified of the original film as a small child! It scared me so bad that my father forbid the film be in the house! 😂 as an adult (29 now) I don’t understand why it scared me, my mother had me with her when she saw all the classics so I’m still puzzled. Maybe because I live in Texas? Rewatching it, it’s soooooo boring!!!!!!

[@davidjones6470]

Excellent Thumbnail Excellent upload Yep heard about this fella,

[@dfailsthemost]

I remember the trailer for 2014 Sundown confusing me. Didn't seem like they were aiming to depict it as a slasher.

[@zaydk2196]

Matt, please cover The Omen and Fincher's Zodiac (and a comparison of Zodiac with Se7en)

[@MattDraper]

I'd love to talk about Zodiac sometime, it's one of my favorite movies of the 2000s

[@dantheman9167]

Boggy creek is a real place. I used to go fishing there when I was a kid.

[@TYRANTARES]

I'm gonna be real, I did not vibe with the tonal clash the slapstick moments surrounding Sparkplug brought to the film. I do not think they contributed to the juxtaposition of the light to dark scenes, I think they just felt like a tonal relic that definitely lowered the overall quality of the movie for me. Understanding now that it was Pierce himself just makes that worse, what the fuck my guy.

[@SpookyouKnowIt23]

Also I really expected a cutaway to Matthew McConaughey in Unsolved Mysteries (Season 5, Episode 12 ((1992) when you took a shot at not finding good actors in those shows

[@Modenut]

I love this film.

[@UncannyKaiju]

Do you ever make videos about things I DON'T love? I watched The Town That Dreaded Sundown in 2014, coincidentally the week the sequel came out. After finishing the movie I had to google it to read about the real story and was shocked to find a brand new one in the top search results.

[@punchtime579]

Would LOVE a Blair Witch Project retrospective in time for the 25th anniversary.

[@obi_dean]

this was the movie i was always looking for and never could find. It was the myth or white buffalo of my childhood lol

[@obi_dean]

and yes I still haven't seen it 😢

[@adriangutierrez3378]

Both movies are available for free on Tubi rn as of 6/21/2024

[@meimei8718]

Interesting

[@AkiDave]

Cooked!

[@REDREDKRUVY4814]

It sucks that everyone misses the point of The Town That Dreaded Sundown original.

[@REDREDKRUVY4814]

The whole point was that it wasn’t about accuracy, it was about what made the situation horrible in the first place.

[@davidhlavacek1990]

Town that dreaded sundown '74 > Town that dreaded sundown '14

[@tylordeboer7610]

I like the original for its early slasher and slightly campy at times vibes and for me, the sequel just doesn’t work on premise of the original being based on true events.

[@rubencandela3330]

You should watch memories of Murder by Bong Joon Ho

[@elbraymundo]

Wait it was written by the Riverdale guy????

[@obi_dean]

didnt even know they made a sequel lol

[@obi_dean]

sounds stupid glad I missed it

[@plasticweapon]

it's not a sequel. i don't know what it is.

[@WillScarlet16]

Slasher movies disturb me - they make me think humans haven't really evolved from Gladiator days when the actual butchering of human beings was seen as entertainment. You may counter that with "slasher movies are fiction" but then - how many slasher movies market themselves as being "based on true events" to draw more people in?

[@Renegadetev1]

Im a Texarkana native 😂

[@dawwe8869]

Eyy

[@112523]

serial killer was a term used way before these murders happened...

[@plasticweapon]

the term "serial killer" was a term coined by the FBI circa 1980. the murders happened in 1946. it's odd that you're making such a bold declaration that's so incorrect.

[@112523]

@@plasticweapon yeah no. They claim they did but it's older then that. America tends to claim silly shit like this for so reason

[@112523]

@@plasticweapon In 1927 an unknown Dutch journalist wrote a review about the film ‘The Coming of Amos‘ (1925) in the Algemeen Handelsblad newspaper. The film is about an Australian sheep ranger who falls in love with a Russian princess who’s admirers keep being murdered. The murderer is being described as a “serie-moordenaar” in the article. I do not know who the actual journalist was but it is the earliest use of the term I could find. And yes serie-moordenaar or seriemoordenaar translate into Serial Killer You can read the whole article. Its actually pretty interesting. But as this part states. It was likely first coined by a Dutch guy (GEKOLONISEERD!)

[@plasticweapon]

@@112523 that's a dutch variation of a term that would not catch on for decades.

[@112523]

@@plasticweapon its the exact same term but in another language. Which is exactly the point.

[@seanlamar29]

Love the original the remake sucked

[@plasticweapon]

he wasn't a "slasher", in real life or the film.

[@MrDancinKID]

Third !

[@nalleinsowilo6268]

I love this film