Based on a True Story: The Town That Dreaded Sundown

I'm watching The Town That Dreaded Sundown(76) in anticipation of the sequel/remake coming on netflix next month- I'm actually going to take a break from my regularly scheduled viewing to watch it.

First, the poster scared the bee-jeebus out of me as a kid as a newpaper ad.  Now that I know that the poster was done by Ralph McQuarrie, I understand why it had that impact- he was the artist responsible for much of the visual look of the original Star Wars trilogy and did the Midian mural for Clive Barker's Nightbreed.

The fact that it's a "based on a true story" that's actually based on a true story, a real, historically verifiable story, makes it all the more creepier.

The Phantom Killer of Texarkana, Texas,  attacked four couples between Feb. 22, 1946 and May 3, 1946, with only three of the eight surviving.  He was never caught.

I find the case fascinating because the MO of the killer- couples in lovers' lanes-is reminiscent of the Zodiac Killer in the seventies, and if the Phantom Killer was in his twenties in 1946, he'd be in his fifties and still pretty vital in the 1970's... something to think about anyway...