Twilight Zone: The Movie

The 1980s movie, The Twilight Zone, was comprised of four original episodes from The Twilight Zone television show of the 50’s and 60’s. In the first episode, a racist man unwillingly travels through time, interacting with different hate groups like the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. Through his travels, he understands the error of his ways.

The second episode is a lovely story about a man who visits the elderly in nursing homes giving them a chance to achieve the only thing they want: to be young again. But the gift is a double-edged sword: once they became young, they realized that they continued to have responsibilities, such as going to school, and life was not just play. This is something that many of us can relate to because adults frequently think of their youth as a much simpler time.

The third episode is a story about a little boy who had the best life: his parents did whatever he wanted. But it turns out that the parents were afraid of him because they knew that he could do whatever he wanted to them as well.

The fourth and last story is one of my favorites. A man with a phobia of planes has to fly on a plane. That wouldn’t be so extraordinary except that this man can also see that there is a monster destroying the plane wing but no one else can.

Viewers may vary in their taste for each episode in this film. For example, the first episode is fairly hard to follow because it goes through many time periods. And the second one may not capture the attention of younger audiences because they have not yet experienced the desires of the elderly. The last two episodes, however, really entice the viewer because they are mysterious and exciting and keep viewers wondering.

Although the episodes in The Twilight Zone draw on some universal innermost fears, the first two episodes are less successful than the last two. But the last two are worth the wait because they go deep into the mind, making the viewer think things they may never have dared.