The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a 1976 American slasher film co-produced directed by Charles B. Pierce and written by Earl E. Smith. The film stars Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, and Dawn Wells. It is loosely based on the 1946 Texarkana Moonlight Murders, crimes attributed to an unidentified serial killer known as the Phantom Killer. The Town That Dreaded Sundown premiered in Texarkana on December 17, 1976, and was released on December 24. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, but was a box-office hit, grossing between $4 million and $5 million against a production budget of $400,000. A metasequel of the same name was released in October 2014.