Twilight Zone: The Movie

Twilight Zone: The Movie was a 1983 movie produced by Steven Spielberg as a theatrical version of The Twilight Zone, a 1950s and 60s TV series created by Rod Serling. It starred Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, John Lithgow, and others.

The film remade three classic episodes of the original series and included one original story. John Landis directed the prologue and the first segment, Spielberg directed the second, Joe Dante the third, and George Miller directed the final segment.

The film's musical score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

Unfortunately, the film is best known for the horrific helicopter accident that took the lives of actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, although in the subsequent trial no one was held legally responsible for the accident. As is the case of most headline-grabbing lethal calamities, new laws and workplace rules were enacted to avoid future deaths.

Tagline: You're travelling through another dimension. A dimension, not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Next stop, The Twilight Zone!

Synopsis

Prologue

The film starts with what could be considered one of its most memorable moments, with a driver (Albert Brooks) and his passenger (Dan Aykroyd) driving through the mountains very late at night, singing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival's Midnight Special on the radio and having a humorous discussion that turns suddenly terrifying after the passenger asks his driver, "Do you want to see something really scary?" The driver pulls over, and the passenger morphs into a demon and eats the driver.

First segment

The only "original" segment was the first, directed by Landis. A racist businessman (Vic Morrow) is inexplicably transported in time, being mistaken for a Jew in Nazi-occupied Germany, an African American at a Ku Klux Klan rally in the Deep South, and as Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. It is loosely based on the original Twilight Zone episode "A Quality of Mercy". The segment feels truncated, even without knowing the accident that occurred during its filming (see _The_Movie#Helicopter_Accident).

Second segment

Remake of Kick the Can, directed by Spielberg. An old man (Scatman Crothers) arrives in a retirement home and restores the residents' youth through magic. After a brief joyous romp as children, the rejuvenated residents decide to revert to their true, aged, nature.

Third segment

Remake of It's a Good Life, directed by Dante. A woman (Kathleen Quinlan) gives a ride to a boy (Jeremy Licht) and finds herself the newest member of his "family" (Kevin McCarthy, Patricia Barry, William Schallert and Nancy Cartwright) of people, who are really imprisoned by the boy's all too real imagination. It is interesting to note that the ending of the movie version was changed to a happier version than that of the TV version (in the movie, the boy is convinced to stop being mean, while in the show he continues to be bad and kills the person who rises up against him).

Fourth segment

Remake of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, directed by Miller. A passenger of an airline (John Lithgow) starts seeing a gremlin spoiling the airplane's engines and panics, but no one believes him. He then opens the airline window with the help of an officer's gun and tries to shoot the gremlin. In this verssion however the gremlin gets away

Epilogue

The end of the fourth segment connects with the character from the prologue. John Lithgow's character is in an ambulence on his way to an asylum when the ambulence driver turns around to reveal himself as Dan Aykroyd's character from the opening, he promptly asks " had a bit of a scare up ther, huh? well, Wanna see somthing really scary?" at which point the movie ends.

Helicopter accident

The making of the movie had consequences that overshadowed the film itself. During the filming of a segment directed by John Landis on July 23, 1982, actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le (aged 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (aged 6) died in an accident involving a helicopter being used on the set. Without warning, it spun out of control and crashed, decapitating Morrow and one of the children with its blades. The remaining child was crushed to death as the helicopter crashed. Everyone inside the helicopter was unharmed.

The accident led to legal action against the filmmakers that lasted nearly a decade, and changed the regulations involving children working on movie sets at night and during special effects-heavy scenes. As a result of the accident, one second assistant director had his name removed from the credits and replaced with the pseudonymous Alan Smithee. Another result was the end of the friendship between director Landis and producer Spielberg.

Release and Reaction

Twilight Zone: The Movie opened on June 24, 1983 to mixed reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film two stars (out of four) and praised some segments (Nightmare at 20,000 Feet), while dismissing others (The unnamed first segment). The Nightmare segment was widely praised, with John Lithgow's performance often singled out, but the other segments were less popular. Many critics accused Spielberg's Kick the Can of excessive sentimentality. The film was very much hurt by the controversy of the infamous helicopter accident, and the box office results showed lukewarm public interest.

According to boxofficemojo.com, It grossed $6,614,366 in its opening weekend at 1,275 theaters. It later expanded to 1,288 theaters and ended up grossing $29,450,919. Adjusted to today's ticket prices, it made approximately $60 million. It was not the enormous hit that studio executives were looking for, but it is still the number one grossing anthology film in cinema history and helped stir enough interest for CBS to give the go-ahead to the 1980's TV version of The Twilight Zone.

It has been released to VHS several times, most recently as part of WB's "Hits" line, but never to DVD, making it nearly impossible to see the film in its original widescreen aspect ratio. However, in a recent chat with the Home Theater Forum, a WB Home Video representitive said that they recognized the great demand for a DVD release of the film and that it was under "heavy consideration."

Although never a huge success the film still enjoys a cult following, and the line "Wanna see something really scary?" is something of a catchphrase today.

External links

Twilight Zone Cafe A Twilight Zone Message Board
All About the Twilight Zone tragedy by Denise Noe, Crime Library.

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