Twilight Zone - The Movie
May 9th 2008 02:09
“You’re traveling through another dimension …” Crazy thing is I never saw Twilight Zone – The Movie (1983) when it came out, and never got round to seeing it n VHS. I finally saw it the other night on a new re-mastered DVD, twenty-five years after it came out. Four talented directors, four tales from the supernatural dimension Rod Serling coined The Twilight Zone … dah-dah-dah-dah, dah-dah-dah-dah, dah-dah-dah-dah!
The original television series began in 1959 and was a huge success. It had its rivals such as The Outer Limits and Night Gallery, but The Twilight Zone was always the show people remembered, especially its ironic twists and strict moral code. It was inevitable a big screen version would be made, but it took a while.
It needed to be a movie that the whole family could go to, so rather than doing what a lot of toned-down shows do when they go big screen ie up the violence ante, Twilight Zone balanced a tightrope between the adult realm and adolescence, no more so than in director Steven Speilberg’s segment which dealt with a group of nursing home golden oldies re-experiencing their youth, literally. Definitely a precursor to Speilberg’s Peter Pan adaptation Hook, his segment was also the most saccharine of the four short tales and the least memorable, although Scatman Crothers is always good value.
The first segment, which includes a prologue, was written and directed by John Landis. In the prologue Dan Ackroyd and Albert Brooks are driving at night rambling on about this and that and eventually onto the subject of The Twilight Zone series. Before you can say Large Marge ... “Boo!”
The late Vic Morrow (who was killed on set in a helicopter crash along with two children) plays an embittered, racist bigot. He’s spitting fire to his colleagues in a bar about Jews, niggers and kooks, then after a confrontation with two Afro-American men at another table he storms out, only to discover the streets outside have transformed to the streets of wartime Germany. Next thing he knows he’s running for his life from Nazi officers.
He manages to escape only to find the landscape has changed again and now he’s in the Deep South and the Ku Klux Klan have mistaken him for a black man whom they wish to hang. The nightmare gets worse when, after managing to elude his captors, he dives into a river only to surface in Vietcong territory circa ‘Nam.
Landis’ segment is second equal with the third segment written by Richard Matheson and directed by Joe Dante. In this, the most bizarre tale of the four, a young teacher (Kathleen Quinlan) driving home ends up befriending a young boy (Jeremy Licht) on a bicycle whom she accidentally backs her car into. He invites her back to his place to meet his family, whom he really doesn’t care much for.
His home environment is strange, like a cartoon gone askew. His parents, uncle and older sister all faun over the young boy, and it becomes apparent he has a kind of psychological hold over them, Worse, he has a supernatural grip on them and he exerts it grotesque and disturbing effect. The tale’s potent edge is flattened by a frayed finish, but there are several stand-out sequences involving superb animatronic effects created by Rob Bottin, fresh from The Thing (but without the blood and gore).
It’s the final segment, again written by Richard Matheson, and directed by George Miller, which is easily the best and most memorable. It features John Lithgow in a brilliantly sustained performance of utter paranoia. He’s a man on board a passenger jet suffering from a severe case of nerves. It’s the fear of flying taken to irrational extremes. The cabin crew tries to calm him, but it doesn’t help when he spots a demon on the wing of the plane trying to tear one of the engines to pieces.
Of course no one else can see the demon, so they think the man is delusional. And the turbulence and storm outside only aggravates the problem. The crew need to get the situation under control. Sure, one of the engines is out, but it was struck by lightning. Or was it?
Twilight Zone - The Movie for the most part works pretty well. It’s a homage to the television series (but not the most inspired), as well as being a joint vehicle for the four directors all of whom had directed a seminal horror movie two years earlier; Landis with An American Werewolf in London, Speilberg with Poltergeist (well, Tobe Hooper supposedly …), Dante with The Howling, and Miller with The Road Warrior (okay, so that’s an apocalypse movie, same diff …) Even if it’s just for the last nightmare at 20,000 feet segment it’s worth a squizz.
Here's the second half of the last segment:
And here's the last part of the original tale from the television series:
The original television series began in 1959 and was a huge success. It had its rivals such as The Outer Limits and Night Gallery, but The Twilight Zone was always the show people remembered, especially its ironic twists and strict moral code. It was inevitable a big screen version would be made, but it took a while.
It needed to be a movie that the whole family could go to, so rather than doing what a lot of toned-down shows do when they go big screen ie up the violence ante, Twilight Zone balanced a tightrope between the adult realm and adolescence, no more so than in director Steven Speilberg’s segment which dealt with a group of nursing home golden oldies re-experiencing their youth, literally. Definitely a precursor to Speilberg’s Peter Pan adaptation Hook, his segment was also the most saccharine of the four short tales and the least memorable, although Scatman Crothers is always good value.
The first segment, which includes a prologue, was written and directed by John Landis. In the prologue Dan Ackroyd and Albert Brooks are driving at night rambling on about this and that and eventually onto the subject of The Twilight Zone series. Before you can say Large Marge ... “Boo!”
The late Vic Morrow (who was killed on set in a helicopter crash along with two children) plays an embittered, racist bigot. He’s spitting fire to his colleagues in a bar about Jews, niggers and kooks, then after a confrontation with two Afro-American men at another table he storms out, only to discover the streets outside have transformed to the streets of wartime Germany. Next thing he knows he’s running for his life from Nazi officers.
He manages to escape only to find the landscape has changed again and now he’s in the Deep South and the Ku Klux Klan have mistaken him for a black man whom they wish to hang. The nightmare gets worse when, after managing to elude his captors, he dives into a river only to surface in Vietcong territory circa ‘Nam.
Landis’ segment is second equal with the third segment written by Richard Matheson and directed by Joe Dante. In this, the most bizarre tale of the four, a young teacher (Kathleen Quinlan) driving home ends up befriending a young boy (Jeremy Licht) on a bicycle whom she accidentally backs her car into. He invites her back to his place to meet his family, whom he really doesn’t care much for.
His home environment is strange, like a cartoon gone askew. His parents, uncle and older sister all faun over the young boy, and it becomes apparent he has a kind of psychological hold over them, Worse, he has a supernatural grip on them and he exerts it grotesque and disturbing effect. The tale’s potent edge is flattened by a frayed finish, but there are several stand-out sequences involving superb animatronic effects created by Rob Bottin, fresh from The Thing (but without the blood and gore).
It’s the final segment, again written by Richard Matheson, and directed by George Miller, which is easily the best and most memorable. It features John Lithgow in a brilliantly sustained performance of utter paranoia. He’s a man on board a passenger jet suffering from a severe case of nerves. It’s the fear of flying taken to irrational extremes. The cabin crew tries to calm him, but it doesn’t help when he spots a demon on the wing of the plane trying to tear one of the engines to pieces.
Of course no one else can see the demon, so they think the man is delusional. And the turbulence and storm outside only aggravates the problem. The crew need to get the situation under control. Sure, one of the engines is out, but it was struck by lightning. Or was it?
Twilight Zone - The Movie for the most part works pretty well. It’s a homage to the television series (but not the most inspired), as well as being a joint vehicle for the four directors all of whom had directed a seminal horror movie two years earlier; Landis with An American Werewolf in London, Speilberg with Poltergeist (well, Tobe Hooper supposedly …), Dante with The Howling, and Miller with The Road Warrior (okay, so that’s an apocalypse movie, same diff …) Even if it’s just for the last nightmare at 20,000 feet segment it’s worth a squizz.
Here's the second half of the last segment:
And here's the last part of the original tale from the television series:
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Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
I've seen it a few times over the years and totally agree - the last segment, Nightmare at 20,000 ft is the standout story and worth the price alone; it's brilliantly directed and the nerve-jangling, string-based score by Jerry Goldsmith is a classic work. It all comes together beautifully with a very memorable John Lithgow performance. Great memories!
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
"You wanna see something really scary":..........."Oh let the midnight special shine its light down on me"
When i was about 7 years old I watched my first Twilight Zone episode and it effectively rewired my brain.
The movies 3 stories are all rewrites from the original 50's series I think. (Haven't seen the movie in about 15 years).
Vic Morrow and the two kids dying on set was brutal...there is video of it somewhere that is very disturbing.
Comment by Damo
The first two were a bit weak.
But the last one made up for it.
Loved the Gremlin.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Damo, yeah, go the gremlin. I'm suprised they haven't remade this, or at the very least got four new directors and done a followup with four new tales from The Twilight Zone ... Great idea, make 'em for adults, with lots of sex and violence!!
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
I saw this movie back in the 80s, and I remember feeling the creepiness...
Comment by AllyCat
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile