‘The Town That Dreaded Sundown’ Remake Premieres On EPIX Halloween Night

The Town That Dreaded Sundown remake has been a film horror aficionados have been curious about for a while now. The Inquisitr initially told you about Ryan Murphy’s update to the 1976 classic last year.

Since that time, the project has really spread its wings, unleashing a batch of new stars and talented veterans on Charles B. Pierce’s classic docu-horror film about a series of real-life murders that happened in Texarkana, Arkansas, in 1946.

Dubbed the “Moonlight Murders” by the press, the perpetrator was never caught, earning the nickname “the Phantom Killer,” and reportedly inspiring the hook-in-the-door urban legend if the documentary Killer Legends is to be believed.

Murphy, the creator of American Horror Story, said he always connected with the material, and found it frightening. The look of the killer also pretty clearly inspired adult Jason Voorhees’ look in Friday the 13th Part 2.

So to say the film has inspired generations of filmmaking is an understatement.

Now if you want to see The Town That Dreaded Sundown remake, EPIX is making it easy for you. In an unusual move for a film that will play theaters, the premium movie network has scheduled its world premiere for Halloween night immediately following an 8 p.m. showing of the original.

It’s part of a block of horror programming called EPIX Dreadfest, according to Fangoria.

Here’s a glimpse at the trailer.

In 1946, the town of Texarkana was rocked by a string of lovers lane-styled murders by a sack-headed perpetrator. Police were baffled as to the killer’s identity, and enlisted the Texas Rangers for help.

For decades, the crimes have remained unsolved, though law enforcement officials eventually centered their investigation on a 29-year-old ne’er-do-well named Youell Swinney.

To this day, the town will watch the original film as part of a movies-in-the-park program, despite the fact that there are still some living who are old enough to remember what the fear and paranoia was like then.

It has become part of Texarkana’s tourism appeal.

Murphy’s approach for the retelling is to set it in modern day Texarkana with a new killer recreating the murders that made the town famous.

Currently, American Horror Story: Freakshow is the talk of the tube, and The Town That Dreaded Sundown remake should be able to capture many of those fans who make the connection between the popular TV show’s creator and this film.

What do you think, readers? Will you be watching EPIX Dreadfest to get a glimpse of the new Phantom Killer?