Review of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) by Ken S — 05 Sep 2011

Adapting something like The Twilight Zone into a movie is problematic even on paper. The show was episodic by nature, so trying to make a cohesive focused film based on a show that had a different story with different characters every week is a hard one to figure out.

Putting it in color further distances this film from the original Twilight Zone. Then you have the fact that the major element that really made the Twilight Zone work, Rod Serling, was already gone. Add into the mix a rough production (you know like actors and children being horribly killed in helicopter accidents?) then it is gonna be hard for this film to have a chance.

The only original story in this anthology film is the first one, and it feels only like an average episode. I did like the final segment, purely because Lithgow really sells it. The smaller book-ending business with Aykroyd is ok too.

So this movie didn't really work.