The Town That Dreaded Sundown

Despite having the same title as the 1976 cult true-crime drama, this absorbing horror thriller from director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (American Horror Story) is more gruesome sequel than remake. A return to Texarkana 65 years after the Phantom Killer terrorised the town - and on the evening when that original film has its annual Halloween screening - is the prelude for a hooded maniac to go on a copycat rampage. Or is it the original madman? At the centre of this modern-day mayhem is student Jami (Addison Timlin) who survives the first attack and then sets out to uncover the truth. The fact the 1976 film becomes part of the narrative (True Blood's Denis O'Hare plays the son of that movie's director; there's a bloody homage to the trombone murder in the original) conjures up the meta-cinema riffing of Scream or Cabin in the Woods. But, ultimately, this is a straightforward, slickly edited psycho-killer flick with moments of razor-sharp tension and a welcome appearance from Alien star Veronica Cartwright as Timlin's granny.