Delving into our collective nightmares, this horror-documentary investigates the origins of our most terrifying urban legends and the true stories that may have inspired them.
A few years ago, Joshua Zeman made "Cropsey", a punch in the gut documentary that started as an examination of an urban legend and turned into a full-scale exposure of something far worse. What many would rather have us forget, Zeman brought to life: a mental facility that was not doing its patients any good, to say the least.
This time he is back, examining not one but four urban legends and finding what may just be the truth behind them (or, if nothing else, real events that pushed the legends further into public consciousness). The hook man, the candy poisoner, the babysitter and the killer clown. Each is looked at in some detail (although limited by the film's running time).
With the hook, we travel to Texarkana, find a little-known serial killer who was never caught, and explain how fact and fiction were blurred through the film "The Town That Dreaded Sundown". The fact the city annually shows a film about the killer, who could have been alive and attended a performance, is a bit disturbing. And how these "Texarkana Moonlight Murders" are relatively obscure, even for serial killer buffs, is a mystery in itself.
In the candy poisoner segment, we learn of the legend of candy tampering, which is just that: a legend. Although circulating for one hundred years, instances are so rare as to be virtually non-existent. And then we have Ronald Clark O'Bryan, the man who took these legends and used them to cover up his real crime... and legend becomes reality.
The babysitter story, with a killer being inside the house, is best remembered as the plot for "When a Stranger Calls". Interestingly, we find that babysitters are not likely targets -- perhaps even less likely than the average person. But then the story takes a juicy turn, when we learn of a serial rapist and murderer who preyed on babysitters, and how a town's racial prejudice probably sent the wrong man to prison. This story deserves its own documentary.
Lastly, the killer clown. Apparently there is an urban legend (not as well known) of clowns that drive white vans and abduct children. And while they circulate around Chicago, the story cannot be traced to the obvious source of John Wayne Gacy (though he certainly intensified it). Here we never quite get to the root, but along the way learn a great deal about Chicago's history with clowns, which is interesting in itself.
This film is every bit as good as "Cropsey", though it does suffer from the format. From the short segments, we are left with one of two impressions (or both): that these needed to be longer but could not be because of running time, and that this was likely supposed to be an ongoing series for Chiller that never came to be. One can easily imagine Zeman traveling to a new town each week and getting to the bottom of an unsolved mystery and an old legend, being the gruesome counterpart to Jan Harold Brunvand.
And we hope he does make more.
