Nerdgasm of the Month: It's Like 'Downton Abbey' Meets 'Scream'

One of my all-time favorite murder mysteries, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, is finally getting a new remake, courtesy of BBC One and co-producer Lifetime. (!!!)

I first read the novel back in in middle school at the prodding my mother, a huge Christie fanatic. I was immediately intrigued because it took on the format of a traditional slasher flick. (Ten strangers isolated from the outside world being picked off one by one.) And as a kid raised on countless Friday the 13ths and any other horror movie I could watch, this book seemed like great middle ground, a compromise between a son and a mother who wanted him to read more "classics."

And Then There Were None is also the OG when it comes to large ensemble murder mysteries. I guess it's no surprise that movies like Clue and Murder by Death, which lampoon the genre, appear on my Top 10 All-Time Favorite list.

Some pop culture pundits have said that Hitchcock's Psycho is the Original Slasher Film, but really, ATTWN should be crowned that title. And for those of who have never read the book or have never seen one of its many adaptations (see below), let me sell it to you this way: It's like Downton Abbey meets Scream.

Ever since catching an Agatha Christie double feature at the New Beverly two months ago, I've been pining for someone to produce a really compelling remake after the 1945 black-and-white original (above), the 1965 camp classic, the 1974 European remake, Russia's bleaker and more loyal 1987 adaptation, and the little-seen 1989 version that starred Frank Stallone and Brenda Vaccaro (I shit you not).

That day has finally come.

Check out the 30-second promo of the miniseries that just aired in the UK (We Americans will get to watch it on cable sometime in the new year.)

@TheFirstEcho