Twilight Zone: The Movie Blu-ray Review
“Twilight Zone: The Movie” is a respectable anthology film.
Rod Serling’s 1959 sci-fi series “The Twilight Zone” remains the gold standard of anthology series. 1983’s “Twilight Zone: The Movie” never reaches the heights of Serling’s show, but this anthology film is a directorial all-star event that pays homage to Rod Serling’s groundbreaking TV show.
The film is comprised of 4 stories and a prologue. The prologue (which is arguably the highlight of the entire film) is a fun little original written and directed by John Landis. Albert Brooks and Dan Aykroyd star as two buddies on a road trip shooting the breeze until an unexpected surprise occurs. Truthfully, it would have been great to see more original material like this in the movie rather than episode remakes. The directors really could have run wild with their own material.
Next up is another John Landis written and directed segment “Time Out” which is a reworking of a couple episodes. The story concerns a racist war vet (Bill) who is transported to various points in time where he gets a taste of his own medicine. It’s an all too relevant story in this day and age, but suffers from some pacing issues. Sadly, this segment will forever be haunted by the horrifyingly tragic accident that occurred during production that led to the death of Vic Morrow and two child actors.
The second story is the Steven Spielberg helmed remake “Kick The Can” penned by Richard Matheson, Melissa Mathison, and George Clayton Johnson. The story finds an elderly man (Mr. Bloom) who comes to a retirement home and plays the youthful game of kick the can with the other residents. The residents, however, all become children again when they play the game. It’s a magical fountain of youth story, but it feels so out of place tonally with the rest of the movie.
Next up is director Joe Dante’s “It’s A Good Life” adapted by sci-fi author Richard Matheson. This is, of course, the classic story in which everyone is fearful of a child who has God-like powers (that he doesn’t use for good). Matheson expands the story and adds additional material while Dante makes it all very visual, cartoony, and freaky.
Last, but not least is the best of the 4 segments “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet “ (another remake). Once again, Richard Matheson adapts this story with George Miller directing. You all know the story of this episode- a man (John) who fears flying sees a gremlin on the wing of the plane, but nobody believes him. John Lithgow gives a very dedicated performance here while Miller really ramps up the tension. It’s the perfect closer to this sci-fi anthology film.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.85:1 1080p. How does it look? This is a top notch hi-def transfer, but we could really use a 4K at this point.
Audio Track: Dolby Digital 5.1 and English PCM. How does it sound? The lack of a 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is a real disappointment. The DD 5.1 and PCM lack depth but both are adequate.
The lone extra is a theatrical trailer.
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