Twilight Zone: The Movie

Twilight Zone enters the '80s in stunning style with four new stories (or updated) for a modern audience...

It opens with Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks driving along a lonely road in the sticks. The radio is broken so they play "Guess TV Themes", then following that the subject changes to The Twilight Zone. Prepare yourself for the next bit. It might make you jump!!

Time Out, being an original is also the most infamous, as it involved the death of actor Vic Morrow and two children on set. It opens with a rascist called William Connors, played by Morrow, meeting two friends in a bar. He tells them that he failed to get a promotion because a Jew got the job before him and following a torrent of abuse, he leaves the bar. Shortly after arriving outside the doors, he realises he's in Nazi Germany, being treated as a black person, then at a Ku Klux Klan ceremony, etc. This is a very dark episode, and given the circumstances not one which I remember which great affection. I am a fan of John Landis work, but this one just didn't really do it for me.

Kick The Can is Steven Spielberg's directional segment. It's a fantasy about a man who arrives at a Sunnyvale rest home, and decides a little magic is needed to bring back the old people's youth, and he knows where to get it. A magical story, which is not horrifying at all! but it works anyway and Spielberg adds on a wonderful conclusion.

Segment three is called "It's a Good Life" (one of my favourites!) and is a remake. It stars Bill Mumy who starred in the original. The story opens with a school teacher called Helen Foley, played by Kathleen Quinlan (later from Apollo 13), who knocks down a young kid named Anthony who she gives a ride home to. Needless to say, she doesn't quite realise what she's getting into! Anthony has powers beyond belief and has the power to control everyone! Is Helen the answer to his prayers? This segment was directed by Joe Dante, who went on to directed many other 80's classics including Gremlins and The Burbs.

The final story is a remake of the classic "Nightmare At 30,000 Feet". Directed by George (Mad Max) Miller and starring John Lithgow as the passenger suffering turbulent times and not knowing what's outside the window makes it so much worse! Jerry Goldsmith's music should also be mentioned he, as I consider it to be one of his best. It almost sounds like the kind of thing Danny Elfman would have written had he been given the job in later years.

The conclusion has Lithgow being driven off in an ambulence by Dan Aykroyd, while listening to the midnight special on the radio.

Wanna see something really scary?