First images from Blumhouse’s The Town That Dreaded Sundown remake

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

We've known for a while that a remake of Charles B. Pierce's 1976 classic THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN was heading our way with Alfonso Gomez-Rejon at the helm of the Jason Blum (INSIDIOUS) and Ryan Murphy ("American Horror Story")-produced project. Now we've gotten our first looks at the Phantom Killer (above and below) just ahead of the films premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in October.

Addison Timlin, Gary Cole, Veronica Cartwright, Joshua Leonard, and Spencer Treat Clark star in the remake about…

“65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so-called ‘moonlight murders’ begin again. Is it a copycat or something even more sinister? A lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him.”

We get a little more detail about the film from the festival’s breakdown below:

Drawing inspiration from the 1976 classic of the same name, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s striking debut is not so much a remake as it is a shrewd reinvention, resulting in a genuinely innovative and unexpected meta-horror experience. Set in a world in which the original film exists and is very much part of popular consciousness, this update sees the quiet streets of Texerkana plagued by a maniac who bears striking resemblance to the same Phantom Killer who wreaked havoc on the town decades before. Is history repeating itself? Or has somebody just seen the original film too many times? Perhaps the key to the mystery lies with a young high school girl Jami, who must uncover the truth if she wants to survive the carnage. Meticulously styled with an unmistakable 1970s genre vibe, but with an ultra-modern twist, this is that rare beast; a horror reboot that actually feels like it has been made with horror fans in mind.

Hopefully we'll be seeing a trailer for this one soon. I dug the original film (the infamous 'trombone' scene scarred me as a child) so I'm curious to see how this one plays out.