Starring - Rod Serling, Robert McCord (The Wild Wild West, Daniel Boone), and Jay Overholts (Gunsmoke, Incident in the Alley)
Release Date - 1959 to 1962
Genre - Adventure/Horror/Fantasy
Tagline - "Travel to another dimension of sigh and sound in a way you've never seen or heard before!"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
I had an unusual childhood which I have talked about over the years in my reviews. If you were able to piece together some of the incidents that I quickly touched on in each review you may have learned that my mother was mentally ill. She had a laundry list of ailments which resulted in her being institutionalized several times when I was young. Her last "episode" resulted in her leaving when I was 8 and she never returned. My father took over responsibilities as mother while being the best father he could be but things had to change. He ran a garage and quickly moved into buying and selling cars. He would often leave early in the morning to leave the state to visit auto auctions where he would return roughly around midnight. I would wait up on him and we would watch some television until I passed out. Some of our favorite shows were The Addams Family, The Munsters, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Twilight Zone, and Knight Rider. The Twilight Zone scared the living shit out of me and it would be years before I revisited it. The entire series was recently released on bluray and when I heard I reached out for a review copy which they were kind enough to send my way. Thanks guys.
The Twilight Zone, as most of you already know, is an anthology series that follows the narrator (Rod Serling) as he introduces each episode. The episodes are never connected but usually follow someone cast out of their normal surroundings and place somewhere where their different fears take over.
What I really enjoyed about The Twilight Zone was how it gave the audience chills. It didn't use jump scares, gore, and disgusting moments to get to the viewer. Instead, it put real people in hypothetical situations and fantasies before pulling the chair out from under them. They don't make em like they used to... The acting in the series is very dated. We see typical characters that you would find in a normal sitcom. No one really goes above and beyond for their role but their characters will live on. This is not because they were amazing actors but because the writing was phenomenal. The stories in the series are very well written and plays a lot of the goals and fantasies of everyday people. What makes them so effective was that it then took these ideas and added the worst possible scenario that could happen to them. This is truly nightmare inducing considering how some of these played out on those fears. With that being said, the formula used for most of these episodes does get old as the series progresses. A fresh set of eyes and a little more imagination would have helped keep this show on the air a lot longer. Finally, the show was not centered on blood and gore. Instead, it was centered around stories and the viewers actual fears. This worked on so many levels but, as I said earlier, it does get old very quick. The effects we do get in the show are great but are just like the acting, very dated. We get some cheap gags and decent visuals but these don't really hold up that well after all this time. Overall, The Twilight Zone is a show that can really make the viewer squirm and actually think. It's not mindless entertainment like most of the movies and shows that are being pumped out today. The show does show its age but is, without a doubt, a timeless classic. Check it out.
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