During the slasher movie fever of the 80s, masked killers were all the rage, thanks to Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Leatherface. Jason was arguably the greatest and baddest of the decade, but before wearing the infamous hockey mask Friday the 13th Part 3wore a burlap sack over his head in his debut, Friday the 13th Part 2. The hockey mask became iconic and the bag was never seen again. However, for many, it was not forgotten and never ceased to be chilling no matter how many times you watched it.
What is ‘Terror by Night’ about?
Much of that fear is rooted in recollection of reality, as Jason’s appearance in the second film is eerily similar to the real-life killer dubbed The Phantom Killerwhose crimes inspired the creation of the 1976 film ‘Night Terrors’ (The city that feared the sunset, what can you buy here) thirty years later, plus a sequel/remake in part in 2014 what you can see on prime video.
Although “Terror at Night” did not achieve the success of a similar film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre two years earlier, he was still in touch with audiences, providing a thrilling mystery and spooky atmosphere along with a little humor that worked at times, even if it was arguably inappropriate. What made it work, other than the great performance from the Oscar winner Ben Johnsonit was its connection to real events and its open ending.
In the finale, the killer is still on the loose, which surely left 1970s theatergoers exhausted and staring at the back seats of their cars as they left the theater. In fact, the film builds on that too by including a scene showing the killer, filmed from the shins down, queuing up at a theater to see a screening of “Terror After Dark.”
How real are the events of “Terror of the Night”?
The movie “Terrors of the night” is not entirely accurate. Liberties were taken for dramatic effect. For example, in the film, the killer is seen and hunted down. It never actually happened, but it would have been a pretty boring climax if it had stuck to the whole truth. The murders happen on different days, in different ways (including a creepy scene that has a knife attached to a trombone), with different people finding the bodies. While this may have been done to create a more cohesive and exciting storyline, it wasn’t necessary. The real life story of The Phantom Killer (Ghost killer) and the havoc it has wrought, known as The Texarkana Moonlight Murdersthey’re scary enough on their own without Hollywood getting involved.
Who was the phantom killer?
The Phantom Assassin operated in 1946 for less than three months in Texarkana, a city on the Texas-Arkansas border. You attacked for the first time on February 22, around midnight, at a time that would help create an urban legend. Jimmy Hollis, 25, and his girlfriend of 19, Mary Jeanne Larey, had just gone to the movies and were now sitting together in Jimmy’s car on a secluded driveway to kiss. It was then that a man wearing a white pillowcase-like mask came out of the darkness and ordered the couple out of the car. He shot Jimmy with a gun before raping Mary. Luckily, both survived, but neither was able to identify their attacker due to his mask.
A month later, on March 24, the attacker would escalate, leaving no breathing victims to talk about the man in the mask. It was then, in another part of Lover’s Lane, that Richard Griffin and his girlfriend Polly Ann Moore were attacked in Richard’s car, both of whom were shot and killed several times. The killer then disappeared into the night without a trace.
After tasting the blood, The Phantom Killer he wasn’t going to wait another month to attack. It took him just three weeks to commit another double homicide. This time it was April 14 and it involved another teenage couple, Paul Martin and Betty Jo Booker, the latter just 15 years old. Both were killed again, but this time the victims were not found together. Booker’s body was found two miles away, leaning against a tree with one hand in his coat pocket.
Again, some three weeks later, on May 4, the killer would strike one last time. His latest act had a different motive, for here he hit not teenagers in their cars at night, but a couple in their 30s as they sat at home. She had gone from rape to murder, from posing corpses to breaking and entering.
As Virgil and Katie Starks sat on their farmhouse at night, a shot rang out and the living room window shattered. Virgil was fatally shot from the outside. His wife was also killed and ran for her life when the killer broke into their home and fled to a nearby residence. Katie would have survived, but she was never able to see her attacker.
But then the phantom killer disappeared…
The area lived in fear, waiting to be attacked again, but another attack never came. The killer had entered the night as a ghost, then disappeared as such. A thorough investigation was conducted, suspects were named and questioned, but no one was ever arrested. The most popular theory among many in law enforcement and journalism was that the killer was a local car thief named Youell Swinney. He denied any involvement, but in 1947 he was sent to prison for other crimes and the killings stopped.
It doesn’t matter who it was, somehow The Phantom Killer he had managed not only to escape, but also to stay away from him. Within a few months, as was evident The Phantom Killer had stopped for some reason, tensions subsided, but his atrocities were never forgotten. He has become legendary, almost an urban legend.
In the 1970s, serial killers sadly became commonplace in America, with similar killers such as The Zodiac Killer yes sam’s son using familiar motifs that remind The Texarkana Moonlight Murders, but in the 1940s he was just the ghost everyone was talking about.
In 1976, two years before Michael Myers’ White Mask in Halloween from John Carpenter forever changed the landscape of the horror genre, director Charles B. Piercebest known for directing the 1972 film Bigfoot The Legend of Boggy Creekhe decided to revisit the terrifying stories he had heard in his youth and make a film about them. The Phantom Killer.
Was ‘Fright at Night’ a great movie? No. But it had its impact in influencing the slasher genre. Most importantly, it wasn’t supposed to be a great movie. Fear was already ingrained in the audience even before the opening credits rolled. Nothing on screen could live up to the exaggerated fear in viewers’ imaginations, especially those of Texarkana. He was leaving the theater and walking home with your boyfriend or girlfriend in the dark when the real terror set in.
