Twilight Zone The Movie review by Bobby Blakey
From 1959 to 1649 host Rod Serling captivated audiences with some of the most unique stories on TV with The Twilight Zone. Throughout the years there have been numerous revivals of the TV series in various forms, but in 1983 directors Joe Dante, John Landis, George Miller and Stephen Spielberg teamed up to bring the famed series to the big screen for Twilight Zone the Movie. The film features a great cast including Dan Akroyd, Albert Brooks, Al Leong, Steven Williams, John Laroquette, Kathleen Quinlan, John Lithgow, Nancy Cartwright, Donna Dixon, and the late Vic Morrow who was sadly killed making this film.
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Twilight Zone The Movie follows a driver who has a big surprise with his passenger leading to four stories of horror. The first follows a bigot who hates Jews, Black and Asians. One day he will live in World War II, be hunted down by the KKK and get attacked in the Vietnam War and feel the effects of his hatred. In the second segment in a nursing home, the elder inhabitants learn that their minds can keep them young. Segment 3 follows a traveler who hits a boy on a bicycle with her car and takes the boy home. Soon she learns that the powerful boy brought her home indeed. In the final story, a writer is scared to
fly and soon he sees a monstrous creature destroying the airplane engines during a stormy night.
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This film was on heavy rotation for me as a kid. Every segment was fun and engaging to my young mind with the only one I didn’t fully understand at the time being the first one, which is sadly the timeliest now. I always loved that each story was something completely different in tone and level of strange or horror. Each one is a remake or reimagining of original episodes that had to be a treat for fans of the original series at the time of its release.
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Despite each section being a mini movie of sorts, they all feel like bigger productions thanks to the talent, directors and attention to detail. They knew the source material and direction needed to make this anthology work, which wasn’t as prominent of a genre at the time. I have always wondered how each of these cast members felt getting the chance to take on such iconic source material but still make it all their own. That is what makes this film work to this day is that there is no need to ever have seen the show or these stories to still enjoy them in all their perfection and bizarre nature.
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As a kid my favorite segments were always “Kick the Can” and “The Good Life” which I am sure had to do with the kid focus on them. Revisiting it again after so many years I still love them, but the insanity and realism of the “Time Out” and the brilliant performance form the always great John Lithgow in “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” have pulled ahead in the race. Every segment has something for everyone and brings everything you could want in an anthology.
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The opening of the film is seemingly just a fun jaunt to kick things off, but the fun twist that feeds into that makes it all the better and the perfect ending to a great fun flick. If you have never seen it or just want to revisit it more than once, then grab your copy of Twilight Zone the Movie on Blu-ray from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.