It’s a meta-meta movie about a movie about a real life slasher-killer who haunted Texarkana almost 70 years ago. And it’s creepy. 

If you’re browsing around Netflix in March, you’ll almost certain to see The Town That Dreaded Sundown as one of their new arrivals, and if you’re a follower of cheesy horror movies, you may vaguel remember the original Dreaded from the nearly-forgotten-but-should-be-legendary A.C. Benson (hey, he did Legend of Boggy Creek! Come on, guys!). But this new one, from the American Horror Story/Glee guys, director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and Roberto Aguirre-Sarcasa, isn’t a remake. And it isn’t a sequel. And it isn’t a reboot. It’s kind of all of the above,

In this new version, you’ll see clips from Benson’s 1976 classic, and you’ll hear references to the original 1946 murders in Texarkana — and yeah, this time, there really was a string of unsolved murders way back when. You’ll see representations of actual, historical characters, like the legendary (there’s that word again) Texas Ranger M.T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas (played with panache by Anthony Anderson, if that doesn’t give you Disney Channel flashbacks, nothing will), and catch a glimpse of “Sparkplug,” the fictional character who was at the center of Benson’s version and is barely a walk-on here. And you’ll see key characters played by — one more time — legends like Gary Cole, the original Alien‘s Veronica Cartwright, the late Ed Lauter, the late Edward Hermann, and the totally awesome Denis O’Hare, who apparently can do no wrong. All those recognizable faces, all those often wearisome slasher-movie tropes, and what seem to be the revelation of actual facts about the murders in the forties will actually make your head spin. In a good way.

We all know that Netflix is filled with — hey, let’s face it, a whole lot of crap. But once in a while something a tiny bit amazing floats to the surface, and this is one of those times.

We’d love to hear what you think of the meta-sequel to The Town That Dreaded Sunrise. Go take a look, if you haven’t already, and drop us a note here. We’re going to warm up some Jiffy-Pop and go watch it again. And if you’d like to see the Jacobs version, just to further blow your mind, it’s available to rent for under four bucks on Amazon Instant Video, right here.