Why I Love Twilight Zone: The Movie

It was the early 80's and everyone, it seemed, was aware that a motion picture based on Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone was in the works. Who wouldn't be excited? Steven Spielberg was behind it, and word had it that he had corralled a lot of talent into the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie.

Yet the movie was almost universally disliked. A lot of it had to do with the tragedy surrounding the production.

There was an accident involving a helicopter and one of the movie's stars, Vic Morrow, was killed. Worse still, two young Vietnamese children also died. It was a grisly story. Morrow was reportedly decapitated by the copter.

A tasteless joke was going around:

Q: How did they know Vic Morrow had dandruff?

A: They found his head and shoulders in the bushes.

Har har.

What kept the Twilight Zone movie disaster from being a horrifying accident were the details behind it. The children were not supposed to be working at that hour, for one thing. Safety precautions were rumored to have been ignored. The blame for it all fell in the lap of the man who directed the segment: John Landis.

I never quite got that. A director doesn't get involved in hiring or union details, nor is he or she in charge of pyrotechnics. But The Blame Game is always played in any business when something fouls up. Landis ended up with the brown end of the stick in his hand.

Mostly, though, people simply did not like Twilight Zone: The Movie Many thought it silly and inconsequential. Me, I always loved it, and here's why.

1: I love that Twilight Zone: the Movie didn't try to emulate the serious format of the show. There is no way anyone could duplicate the magic of the originals series, and attempting it is to invite failure and disappointment.

It's like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. No one can do a better job of the story than Tobe Hooper did. Not even himself, and he knew it. That's why (I think, anyway) he went the farcical route with his sequel.

Twilight Zone: The Movie is a goofy, fun, fond nod to the greatest fantasy-science fiction-horror TV show of all time.

2: I love the entire look of the production. The Spielberg movies from the 80's were innocent and charming. They tended to resemble a Norman Rockwell painting mixed with youthful imagination.

3: The cast is marvelous. I've never been a big fan of Dan Aykroyd or Albert Brooks, but both are cool in the movie. We also get to see favorites like Dick Miller, Kathleen Quinlan, Scatman Crothers, William Shallert, Nancy Cartwright, Kevin McCarthy, Bill Mumy, John Lithgow, and Cherie Curry.

4: The Animal House reference in John Landis's segment.

5: The narration from Burgess Meredith.

6: Twilight Zone: The Movie utilized the talents of Richard Matheson, Geroge Clayton Johnson, and Jerome Bixby. Robert Bloch got the novelization gig.

7: Wanna see something really scary?

I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

In many ways I feel that the 80's, with the Spielberg pictures, the original slasher movies, teen comedies, were as magic as the original Twilight Zone years. And Twilight Zone: The Movie captures the era as well as any other movie I can think of.

Sure, the Landis segment has a black cloud over it, but Morrow is eerily effective as the bigot. Spielberg's remake of Kick The Can was criticized for being overly schmaltzy, but I felt it hit all the right notes. My favorite is the cartoon-like feel of It's a Good Life, which was directed by Joe Dante. And while John Lithgow is no William Shatner, the Nightmare at 20,000 Feet manages to evoke both suspense and laughs.

You can turn your nose up at the movie, or at me for loving it as much as I do. I don't care a whit. Twilight Zone: The Movie remains a big favorite of mine, and I never grow tired of it.