Movies Like The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a 1976 crime, horror, mystery, thriller film from Charles B. Pierce with a MovieMagicScore of 5.8/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Town that Dreaded Sundown and The Spiral Staircase.

Crime Horror Mystery Thriller

The Town that Dreaded Sundown

2014

A masked maniac terrorizes the same small community where a murderer known as the Phantom Killer struck decades earlier.

5.8

MagicScore

The Spiral Staircase

1946

On a stormy night, the mute servant to an ailing matriarch is stalked by a serial killer.

7.0

MagicScore

10 to Midnight

1983

Warren Stacy, an office equipment repairman, begins murdering women after they reject his advances. To minimize the evidence, Stacy always kills while naked, wearing nothing but gloves, and further evades the law with his strong alibis. Veteran detective Leo Kessler is convinced of Stacy's guilt and begins using questionable methods to catch him.

6.2

MagicScore

Maniac

2012

As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.

6.0

MagicScore

Curtains

1983

Six young actresses auditioning for a movie role at a remote mansion are targeted by a mysterious masked murderer.

5.3

MagicScore

Memories of Murder

2003

During the late 1980s, two detectives in a South Korean province attempt to solve series of gruesome rape-and-murder of young women.

8.1

MagicScore

Homicidal

1961

A woman named Emily checks into a hotel and offers the bellboy $2000 to temporarily marry her. We soon find out Emily is the caretaker of a wheelchair-bound mute named Helga, who was the childhood guardian of a pair of siblings: Miriam Webster and her half-brother, Warren, who is about to inherit the estate of their late father. Who is the mysterious Emily and what are her intentions?

6.4

MagicScore

The Last Broadcast

1998

In December 1995, a four-man team from the public-access program, "Fact or Fiction", braved the New Jersey's desolate Pine Barrens determined to deliver a live broadcast of the legendary Jersey Devil. Only one came out alive. It took the jury ninety minutes to sentence the lone survivor to life in prison. One year later, a filmmaker decides to mount his own investigation...

5.1

MagicScore

Psycho

1960

When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.

8.4

MagicScore

#10

Joy Ride

2001

Three young people on a road trip from Colorado to New Jersey talk to a trucker on their CB radio, then must escape when he turns out to be a psychotic killer.

6.5

MagicScore

#11

Peeping Tom

1960

Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of women. Also he's making a documentary on fear, which involves recording the reactions of victims as he murders them. He befriends Helen, the daughter of the family living in the apartment below his, and he tells her vaguely about the movie he is making.

7.4

MagicScore

#12

A Bay of Blood

1971

An elderly heiress is killed by her husband who wants control of her fortunes. What ensues is an all-out murder spree as relatives and friends attempt to reduce the inheritance playing field, complicated by some teenagers who decide to camp out in a dilapidated building on the estate.

6.6

MagicScore

#13

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

2006

The next great psycho horror slasher has given a documentary crew exclusive access to his life as he plans his reign of terror over the sleepy town of Glen Echo, all the while deconstructing the conventions and archetypes of the horror genre for them.

6.5

MagicScore

#14

Creep 2

2017

After finding an ad online for “video work,” Sara, a video artist whose primary focus is creating intimacy with lonely men, thinks she may have found the subject of her dreams. She drives to a remote house in the forest and meets a man claiming to be a serial killer. Unable to resist the chance to create a truly shocking piece of art, she agrees to spend the day with him. However, as the day goes on, she discovers she may have dug herself into a hole from which she can’t escape.

6.3

MagicScore

#15

I Am Not a Serial Killer

2016

In a small Midwestern town, a troubled teen with homicidal tendencies must hunt down and destroy a supernatural killer while keeping his own inner demons at bay.

6.3

MagicScore

#16

Highwaymen

2004

James Cray watched as his wife was killed by Fargo, a hit-and-run serial murderer. After severely injuring Fargo and going to prison for several years, James is now determined to avenge his wife's death. He drives across the country looking for Fargo's 1972 Cadillac Eldorado, which the now-disabled killer has turned into a rolling death trap. James' search is helped by a state traffic officer and a singer with her own agenda.

5.7

MagicScore

#17

Paranormal Entity

2009

Thomas Finley has been arrested for the murder of his nineteen-year old sister, Samantha and fifty-two year old, Edgar Lauren, a Professor and paranormal investigator. Police were called to the scene by Thomas himself in the early hours of the morning, finding him inside with his sister's body cradled in his arms. In his statement given in police custody, Thomas claimed that the victims were attacked by a demonic entity of unknown origin. Days later, he committed suicide. It is the opinion of those closely related to the family that a video found at the scene be shown to the public as a final testament to what actually happened inside the Finley home in those final days.

5.2

MagicScore

#18

The Legend of Boggy Creek

1972

A documentary-style drama based on true accounts of the Fouke Monster in Arkansas.

5.0

MagicScore

#19

Halloween

1978

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

7.6

MagicScore

#20

The Fourth Kind

2009

Since the 1960s, a disproportionate number of the population in and around Nome, Alaska, have gone missing. Despite FBI investigations, the disappearances remain a mystery. Dr. Abigail Tyler, a psychologist, may be on the verge of blowing the unsolved cases wide open when, during the course of treating her patients, she finds evidence of alien abductions.

6.3

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Town That Dreaded Sundown?

The top films similar to The Town That Dreaded Sundown by MovieMagicScore are The Town that Dreaded Sundown (5.8), The Spiral Staircase (7.0), 10 to Midnight (6.2). Each shares crime/horror/mystery/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Town That Dreaded Sundown worth watching?

The Town That Dreaded Sundown holds a MovieMagicScore of 5.8/10 from 208 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is The Town That Dreaded Sundown?

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) is a crime, horror, mystery, thriller film directed by Charles B. Pierce, starring Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Town That Dreaded Sundown?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more crime recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The Town that Dreaded Sundown Movies like The Spiral Staircase Movies like 10 to Midnight Movies like Maniac Movies like Curtains Movies like Memories of Murder

About movies like The Town That Dreaded Sundown

This ranked list pairs The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), a crime and horror and mystery and thriller film from Charles B. Pierce, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Ben Johnson take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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