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The Twilight Zone makes the jump from the TV screen to the silver screen in this anthology collection featuring segments directed by John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Steven Spielberg (E.T.), Joe Dante (Gremlins), and George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road). Each segment is more entertaining than the last, with three of them based on original TV episodes written by legendary sci-fi scribe Richard Matheson (The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Last Man on Earth) and a terrific score by Jerry Goldsmith to help tie things together.
Vic Morrow stars in Landis’ segment, “Time Out”, about an angry racist who is forced to experience life as a Jew fleeing the Nazis, an African-American captured by the Ku Klux Klan, and a Vietnamese man gunned down by American army men. Landis’ segment is marred by being somewhat incomplete due to the tragic on-set accident that killed Morrow and two Vietnamese children. Even if that climactic scene had been completed, I think “Time Out” would still have been the weakest chapter in the film. While it’s not a total disappointment, it’s just a little too heavy-handed to compete with the lighter, more fun segments to come.
Spielberg offers up the only segment that’s not rooted in horror. “Kick the Can” features Scatman Crothers as a senior citizen who brings a magic tin can from nursing home to nursing home, offering elderly guests the opportunity to re-experience their childhoods. This chapter is unabashedly sentimental, but a sweet, welcome contrast to the seriousness of Landis’ piece. It’s also fun to see the child actors imitate their more mature acting counterparts.
If the first two segments are somewhat uneven, Twilight Zone: The Movie hits solid ground with the third. Joe Dante’s “It’s a Good Life” is a stylish blend of horror and comedy about a young boy (Jeremy Licht) with the power to create his own reality. Kathleen Quinlan stars as a woman who accidentally hits the boy’s bicycle while pulling out of a parking spot. She takes the boy home where she’s encouraged to stay for dinner. The boy’s family act very strangely, overly attentive and even fearful of him. Quinlan soon learns that the boy tortures and kills family members when they fail to amuse or satisfy his whims, but she finds a psychological way to escape the situation — and maybe even help the boy. The segment features terrific special effects that reflect the boy’s fascination with mad-cap cartoons. Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Dante regular Dick Miller, and Nancy Cartwright (Bart on The Simpsons) are among the notable supporting cast.
The anthology concludes with its strongest, most thrilling piece. George Miller’s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” stars John Lithgow as a nervous airline passenger who can’t convince anyone of what he sees with his own eyes out the window — a creature on the wing trying to destroy the plane’s engines. Lithgow carries the piece extraordinarily well, getting more frantic and terrified as the story progresses. Miller’s direction is taut — straight thriller with a few shades of dark comedy — and the creature is perhaps the best effect in the film.
Anthology films are rarely great because they depend on each segment being equally strong. Twilight Zone: The Movie has a better overall ratio than most. It’s worth recommending for the last two segments alone, but I enjoy the whole movie to one degree or another. Landis also directed the fun opening and closing scenes starring Dan Aykdroyd and James L. Brooks, and Burgess Meredith picks up the narrating duties from the original show’s creator, the late Rod Serling.
With Charles Hallahan (The Thing, Dante’s Peak), Steven Williams (The X-Files), John Larroquette (Night Court), Selma Diamond (also Night Court), and Priscilla Pointer (Carrie).