In 1983, a film adaptation of Rod Serling's beloved sci-fi horror anthology series The Twilight Zone was released with great promise. Consisting of four stories directed by individual respected filmmakers of their time, John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller, the film went on to receive a mixed critical reception but solid financial returns, on top of revitalizing public interest in more Twilight Zone content. With several other television spinoffs and remakes of Rod Serling's timeless series, it's time to look back and see how this film adaptation played out on its own merits.
Now before I talk about the segments overall, a serious white elephant in the room must be addressed. During the making of John Landis' segment entitled Time Out, lead actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were tragically killed in a helicopter crash on account of negligence revolving around a stunt sequence. On top of an endless amount of legal action and serious safety standards being imposed in the filmmaking industry afterwards, the film as a whole has been regarded as infamous as a result of the tragedy. With this in mind, anyone's individual viewing experience may differ based on the real life horror stories during the making of this otherwise ambitious project, so it's best to recognize the segments on their own merit. Just like any case of separating the art from the artist, there is no shame in acknowledging the real life tragedies and still respecting the hard work on display. Out of respect for those whose lives were lost, one still needs to look at a film as a work of art and not something worth dying for, thus allowing us to judge the work for what it's worth in the long run.
Going into the segments themselves, the aforementioned Time Out segment doesn't really hold much water on its own. Despite a strong performance from Morrow, the sequence focusing on an unhinged racist getting thrown around different points in time feels too straightforward to gain any sort of substance from. Just because the main character gets thrown around Nazi Germany and the Vietnam War doesn't mean the moral of learning empathy the hard way means much of anything. One could argue the aforementioned tragedy had to do with how weak this segment is, but it doesn't change how slow and meandering it is. Steven Spielberg's segment, a remake of the episode Kick the Can, isn't any better, as the premise of an old man who spreads youthful hope to the elderly comes off as too saccharine for its own good and confusing from a fantasy standpoint. Considering Spielberg had lost all momentum for his segment on account of the aforementioned production disaster, it's easy to see how his segment might be seen as one the filmmaker's weakest works to date.
However, as the general public will agree on, the last two segments by Joe Dante and George Miller are what make the feature truly worth watching. Where Miller's segment is an exaggerated remake of the classic episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet starring a hysterical John Lithgow, Dante's segment is a frighteningly creative remake of It's a Good Life. By putting a strong emphasis on the production design and the endless amount of possibilities a strangely powerful boy can conjure up, especially by means of punishing people, It's a Good Life is a horrifying tribute to cartoon nonsense and a surprisingly sympathetic take on how these strange powers can affect a child. The performances from Kathleen Quinlan, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Cartwright and Jeremy Licht make the sequence all the more powerful, especially more believable than the arguably more cartoony Miller segment where it can get a bit too bombastic for one's taste. They are also the most fitting for Jerry Goldsmith's suspenseful scoring and for outlandish creature designs out of this world as well.
So while the Twilight Zone Movie is as uneven as any anthology feature out there, the strengths from the last two segments make up for the mediocre beginning segments thanks to the hard work and dedication on board. As stated before, your interest in the movie will be determined by how infamous it has become over the years, but there is a chance you will walk away with at least one sequence you'll find enticing enough on its own. There has been more and arguably better Twilight Zone content since this feature's release, but it is important to acknowledge what kickstarted it in the first place.
Now before I talk about the segments overall, a serious white elephant in the room must be addressed. During the making of John Landis' segment entitled Time Out, lead actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were tragically killed in a helicopter crash on account of negligence revolving around a stunt sequence. On top of an endless amount of legal action and serious safety standards being imposed in the filmmaking industry afterwards, the film as a whole has been regarded as infamous as a result of the tragedy. With this in mind, anyone's individual viewing experience may differ based on the real life horror stories during the making of this otherwise ambitious project, so it's best to recognize the segments on their own merit. Just like any case of separating the art from the artist, there is no shame in acknowledging the real life tragedies and still respecting the hard work on display. Out of respect for those whose lives were lost, one still needs to look at a film as a work of art and not something worth dying for, thus allowing us to judge the work for what it's worth in the long run.
Going into the segments themselves, the aforementioned Time Out segment doesn't really hold much water on its own. Despite a strong performance from Morrow, the sequence focusing on an unhinged racist getting thrown around different points in time feels too straightforward to gain any sort of substance from. Just because the main character gets thrown around Nazi Germany and the Vietnam War doesn't mean the moral of learning empathy the hard way means much of anything. One could argue the aforementioned tragedy had to do with how weak this segment is, but it doesn't change how slow and meandering it is. Steven Spielberg's segment, a remake of the episode Kick the Can, isn't any better, as the premise of an old man who spreads youthful hope to the elderly comes off as too saccharine for its own good and confusing from a fantasy standpoint. Considering Spielberg had lost all momentum for his segment on account of the aforementioned production disaster, it's easy to see how his segment might be seen as one the filmmaker's weakest works to date.
However, as the general public will agree on, the last two segments by Joe Dante and George Miller are what make the feature truly worth watching. Where Miller's segment is an exaggerated remake of the classic episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet starring a hysterical John Lithgow, Dante's segment is a frighteningly creative remake of It's a Good Life. By putting a strong emphasis on the production design and the endless amount of possibilities a strangely powerful boy can conjure up, especially by means of punishing people, It's a Good Life is a horrifying tribute to cartoon nonsense and a surprisingly sympathetic take on how these strange powers can affect a child. The performances from Kathleen Quinlan, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Cartwright and Jeremy Licht make the sequence all the more powerful, especially more believable than the arguably more cartoony Miller segment where it can get a bit too bombastic for one's taste. They are also the most fitting for Jerry Goldsmith's suspenseful scoring and for outlandish creature designs out of this world as well.
So while the Twilight Zone Movie is as uneven as any anthology feature out there, the strengths from the last two segments make up for the mediocre beginning segments thanks to the hard work and dedication on board. As stated before, your interest in the movie will be determined by how infamous it has become over the years, but there is a chance you will walk away with at least one sequence you'll find enticing enough on its own. There has been more and arguably better Twilight Zone content since this feature's release, but it is important to acknowledge what kickstarted it in the first place.