Based on Rod Serling’s iconic TV series, Twilight Zone: The Movie is an anthology of four stories, a new one written and directed by John Landis, and three remakes of classic episodes directed by Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller. Unfortunately, it’s an uneven affair that is tainted by its tragic production.
Buy Twilight Zone: The MovieSegment One introduces Bill (Vic Morrow), an unashamed bigot who loudly voices his prejudiced views. But when he leaves the bar, he finds himself in WWII Germany where he is seen as Jewish by Nazis. Before they can capture him, he appears at a lynching where KKK members see him as an African American. Before they can capture him, he appears in a Vietnam jungle where U.S. servicemen see him as a Viet Cong soldier. There’s no moral reflection for the character to take moving forward, so the ending seems abrupt, which it is due to the horrific on-set accident that took the life of Morrow and two small children.
Mr Bloom (Scatman Crothers) is a new resident of the Sunnydale Rest Home. He encourages the residents to reminisce about their childhood, which cranky Mr. Conroy (Bill Quinn) thinks is foolish as he prefers being old. Late in the evening, a few of the residents head into the yard. Bloom starts a game of “Kick the Can” and the residents revert to their younger selves. But given the chance, will they want to start their lives over? The decisions are interesting as are the lessons learned.
“It’s a Good Life” finds Helen (Kathleen Quinlan) wrecking the bike of young Anthony (Jeremy Licht). She takes him home and finds everyone there behaves strangely in how they cater to his desires. Anthony reveals his magical powers, such as having a young girl appear in cartoons on TV and making horrific cartoon characters appear in the house. Helen offers to help guide him as he learns to control his powers, but it seems like only a temporary fix as he’ll probably get more impulsive as a teenager.
A plane experiences a “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” John Valentine (John Lithgow) is a very nervous traveler. As the plane passes through a storm, he’s the only one to see a creature on the wing damaging the aircraft. Everyone thinks he’s crazy, but he tries to save them, at the risk of his own life. “Nightmare” is the best of the four stories and is the only one where adapting it for a movie elevates the material with the addition of action. No surprise it’s the only story referenced on the Blu-ray cover.
The video has been given a 1080p/VC-1 encode transfer and is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The array of colors appear in slightly dulled hues. Blacks are inky. The image looks clean and shows film grain, which increases to near distraction during the “Nightmare” as the plane descends through the clouds. The audio is available in LPCM 5.1. Dialogue is clear. Composer Jerry Goldsmith’s score fills the surrounds as machine gun fire from Segment One and the cacophony of cartoon noise during “Good Life” and action during “Nightmare.”
While I highly recommend Miller’s “Nightmare,”the other three segments of Twilight Zone: The Movie are just okay as is the Blu-ray’s high-definition presentation. Neither will wow the audience and they may find admirers but fans of the TV series are likely to be disappointed.
