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You’re transferring right into a land of each shadow and substance, of issues and concepts; you’ve simply crossed over right into a ‘Twilight Zone’ listicle.
October is outlined in Webster’s Dictionary as “31 days of horror.” Don’t trouble wanting it up; it’s true. Most individuals take that to imply highlighting one horror film a day, however right here at FSR, we’ve taken that up a spooky notch or 9 by celebrating every day with a prime ten listing. This text in regards to the scariest Twilight Zone episodes is a part of our ongoing sequence 31 Days of Horror Lists.
This isn’t a information flash. The Twilight Zone is the only biggest American tv sequence EVER. No different present has had as long-lasting or as far-reaching an affect as Rod Serling‘s masterful anthology sequence. Utilizing science-fiction, horror, and fantasy, The Twilight Zone explored topical narratives and themes, with many written by the twentieth-century’s most good writers. We’re speaking about legends like Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, George Clayton Johnson, Earl Hamner, Jr., and a dozen extra geniuses.
Whereas the sequence was completely a product of its time, the episodes it left behind stay terrifyingly related. You possibly can pop on a present at any hour, and it’ll seize your consideration like another status format product. The Twilight Zone is a present that burrows into its viewer, and years after consuming an episode, it can spring to the forefront of your creativeness when a selected world occasion ignites an echo. You wouldn’t consider what number of instances I thought of “The Monsters are Due on Maple Road” throughout the Trump administration. Or, you’ll be able to in all probability consider that, no drawback.
Choosing the ten most horrific Twilight Zone episodes may need been probably the most difficult listing to perform in our month-long 31 Days of Horror Lists occasion. Fortunately, our Boo Crew – Rob Hunter, Anna Swanson, Chris Coffel, Jacob Trussell, Valerie Ettenhofer, Meg Shields, and yours really – had been greater than as much as the duty.
So, take it away, Rod:
You unlock this door with the important thing of creativeness. Past it’s one other dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of thoughts. You’re transferring right into a land of each shadow and substance, of issues and concepts; you’ve simply crossed over into the Twilight Zone…
10. The Hitch-Hiker (Season one, episode sixteen)
From the bounce, The Twilight Zone was a golden tv sequence. Season one is full of classics like ‘The Hitch-Hiker,” and Rod Serling achieved this feat by adapting bangers from different mediums. This gem extends from the Lucille Fletcher play of the identical title. It follows younger Nan Adams (Inger Stevens) as she travels from one coast to the opposite. Early on, she will get in a wreck that ought to have killed her, however a pleasant mechanic patches up her automobile and places her on her manner. She notices a somber-looking hitch-hiker wherever she goes, however he’s all the time magically forward of her. Nan quickly believes this satan desires to thumb a journey together with her, and it causes her to enter a terrified state. Because the episode slowly winds down, her concern turns into our concern till The Twilight Zone expertly pulls the carpet from beneath the character and the viewer. (Brad Gullickson)
9. Residing Doll (Season 5, episode six)
Talky Tina is a Twilight Zone icon, just like the Gremlin on the Wing or Burgess Meredith’s shattered spectacles. She tells it like it’s. When Telly Savalas‘s impotent stepdad takes out his frustration on his legally certain daughter, Talky Tina spouts antagonistic barbs on the dolt. With every shallow insult, Savalas grows dimmer with rage. Finally, he convinces himself that the doll desires him lifeless, so he takes Tina to the blowtorch. No impact. “Residing Doll” is an episode that delights in tormenting the jerkwad at its middle. The viewer is aware of a hellish finish is coming for Savalas, and so they take pleasure in this inevitable destruction with relish. Virtually as a lot as Talky Tina does. (Brad Gullickson)
8. Mirror Picture (Season one, episode twenty-one)
At its core, “Mirror Picture” is a doppelganger story, even when Rod Serling leaves room for interpretation on what is occurring to the episode’s lead character, Millicent Barnes (Vera Miles). As Millicent waits for a bus at a neighborhood depot, she experiences a sequence of unusual occurrences. First, the ticket taker says she’s requested when the bus is coming a number of instances, regardless that Millicent is aware of she has not. Then her baggage start to vanish, and the opposite passengers swear they noticed her in areas she was by no means in. However the novel method that Serling takes with the episode is by intimating that this isn’t only a case of centuries-old folklore however relatively one other dimension slowly merging with our personal, main Millicent into an existential nightmare. “Mirror Picture” would go on to instantly encourage Jordan Peele’s Us, however the episode’s uniqueness is as an early occasion of the multiverse principle in popular culture, a long time earlier than that principle would turn into a Hollywood money-making machine. (Jacob Trussell)
7. Evening Name (Season 5, episode nineteen)
“Evening Name” is a spooky one, nevertheless it’s an excellent sadder one. Outdated Elva Keene (Gladys Cooper) is awoken in the dark, her phone ringing off the hook. When she solutions, nobody replies. She tries to go to mattress. The subsequent evening, the cellphone rings once more. Elva picks as much as a person moaning. She hangs up. One other evening, the cellphone rings. This time, somebody has a little bit one thing to say. We be taught a little bit extra about Elva Keene with every name and what introduced this explicit haunting to her bedstand. There’s loads to shiver over, however The Twilight Zone is extra focused on leaving its viewers pondering their very own regrets. The present asks us to make peace with our failures earlier than they outline us. Good luck, buddies. (Brad Gullickson)
6. Nightmare at 20,000 Ft (Season 5, episode three)
A number of years earlier than changing into a family title as Captain Kirk, William Shatner was making an attempt to persuade his fellow passengers {that a} gremlin was on the wing of their airplane. In “Nightmare at 20,000 Ft,” Shatner stars as Robert Wilson, a person trying to fly for the primary time since having a nervous breakdown on a plan a number of months prior. His try is ruined when he spots the mischievous gremlin. Regardless of his pleas, nobody, together with his spouse, believes him, forcing Robert to take motion himself. “Nightmare at 20,000 Ft” is arguably the most well-liked episode of the landmark sequence, making its manner into the characteristic movie and showing within the 2019 sequence reboot. And it’s simple to see why. Shatner, with path from Richard Donner, provides a stellar efficiency that’s simply some of the memorable of his illustrious profession. (Chris Coffel)
This listing of the ten scariest Twilight Zone episodes concludes on the subsequent web page…
Associated Matters: 31 Days of Horror Lists
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