Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon in his feature-length directorial debut, the film was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and produced by Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy.
[3][4][5] The project was initially planned as remake of the 1976 film of the same name, with Gomez-Rejon directing it from a screenplay written by Aguirre-Sacasa and produced by Jason Blum through its Blumhouse Productions banner, alongside American Horror Story co-creator Ryan Murphy.
On October 31, 2013, in the city of Texarkana, Arkansas, the local drive-in theater is hosting the Halloween annual showing of the 1976 film The Town That Dreaded Sundown, based on the true story of the Phantom Killer who murdered several people in Texarkana in 1946.
Two days before Thanksgiving, Kendra Collins-Thompson and her boyfriend, Daniel Torrens, are killed by the Phantom while having sex at a motel.
There, a suicidal teenager shows up dressed as the Phantom and is killed, causing the townspeople to believe the murderer is actually dead.
However, band members Johnny and Roy go to a junkyard to experiment sexually, where they are attacked by the real Phantom.
Jami and Nick visit Charles Pierce Jr. and learn about Hank McCreedy, a sixth victim of the original Phantom whose story was forgotten.
When Jason Blum was asked in an interview why he wanted to remake the original film, he responded: Ryan Murphy found the movie, brought it to me and said, "I wanna do it".
[12] Both Deadline Hollywood and Bloody Disgusting indicated that the film would be released by Orion Pictures, a long-dormant subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in select theaters on October 16, 2014.
The site's critical consensus reads: "It may occasionally mistake more gore for genuine terror, but The Town That Dreaded Sundown is just stylish and clever enough to justify this second stab at the source material.
Variety found the film lacking and said "this tediously metatextual exercise conjures few inspired jolts of its own.
"[19] Bloody Disgusting praised the film's visuals but said "It’s unfortunate that the script can’t reach the same bar—particularly when it comes to the tired twist ending, which seems to exist simply because the filmmakers assumed audiences would expect it.
"[20] Empire Online gave the film three stars and called it "Smart, fun, mid-list horror with Scream overtones.
"[22] Jonathan Romney of The Guardian gave the film three stars and called it "a southern-fried Scream" and said it "proves that a brazen lack of originality doesn’t preclude inventiveness and brio.
"[23] However, Benjamin Lee also writing for The Guardian gave it two stars and called it "cookie-cutter carnage.
"[24] Image Entertainment acquired the U.S. home video distribution rights and released the film on DVD and Blu-ray exclusively at Best Buy on July 7, 2015.