Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Doug McGrath, Charles Hallahan Directed By: Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg, George Miller (II) Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 09, 2007 Running Time: 101 minutes Theatrical Release Date: June 24, 1983
Description: Four short horrorific tales are anthologized in this film as a tributeto rod serling and his popular tv series.
Amazon.com: A highly anticipated release for fantasy fans in the summer of 1983, Twilight Zone: The Movie presents three adaptations of classic episodes (and one original story) from Rod Serling's anthology series by a quartet of the biggest directors in Hollywood. With Stephen Spielberg (also the film's co-producer), John Landis, George Miller (The Road Warrior, Happy Feet), and Joe Dante behind the camera for this portmanteau feature, one might expect Serling's episodes to positively gleam with star power, but the truth is that Twilight Zone: The Movie is a hit-and-miss affair. Landis opens with an amusing nod to the original series' pop-culture appeal with Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks riffing on their favorite episodes before a hair-raising shock finale; unfortunately, his second offering is a bland morality plan about racial tolerance that will forever be overshadowed by the accident that claimed the lives of star Vic Morrow and two child actors during shooting. Spielberg's take on George Clayton Johnson's "Kick the Can" looks lovely and is well performed by its cast (especially Scatman Crothers), but it struggles to bear up under the weight of treacley sentiment so common to the director's films at the time. Dante's version of Jerome Bixby's "It's A Good Life" (about a boy with monstrous powers) is rife with his trademark energy and black humor (and his cast of regular players, including Kevin McCarthy and William Schallert, strike the right balance of terror and comedy). But it's Miller's revamp of Richard Matheson's legendary "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" that delivers the biggest payoff, thanks to John Lithgow's super-charged turn as a nervous airline passenger who's convinced he's seen a monster tampering with the plane's wing. Burgess Meredith (himself a veteran of the original TZ) provides narration; the widescreen DVD features no extras save for the original trailer and a remastered digital transfer. --Paul Gaita
Good Release of a Fun FIlm Even though this is the film where the traggic accident with the late Vic Morrow occured - it still had the big screen flavor of the classic series.
Divided into four stories with a book-end open and close, Joe Danta, John Landis, George Miller and Steven Spielberg each direct their stories of magic, fun and the world only known best as Rod Serling's THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
My favorite story is called "Kick The Can" and stars the late Scatman Crothers as a man with a mission - a mission that makes all those who haved lived a full live realize how special their life really is. This one has a heart and sole and is touched with that Spielbergian Magic that only he can do.
Joe Danta directed "It's A good Life" which is a direct remake of the orginal series episode where a young boy controls his 'world' around him until he realizes through a stranger who mistakenly is visiting - that life is better when life happens on its own and is not whimmed up at the blink of an eye!
George Miller gets to direct another famous episode made popular by WIllaim Shatner origionally - now starring John Lithgow as the "Terror At 20,000 Feet" unravells it scarry tale aboard an airplane that may or may not have an extra passenger - but only Lithgow knows!
John Landis directed the late VIc Morrow final performance in a bizzar story of the Nazi's world and entering a surreal enviornment where everyone is treated exactly like you treat others. Evil, harsh and recist!Subtle but directly pointing at the dark side that is in each of us!
The book-ends are with Dan Akroyd and Albert Brooks - you have to see it to get the enourmous amount black comedy of the sequence. It will make you laugh - but you may jump a little! Boo!
Great production value - and although the DVD doesn't have any extra's - its still a good film at a good price. I liked watching it.....a lot! 3-27-09
2 stars out of 4 The Bottom Line:
A misbegotten film that has nothing to offer fans of the show, neophytes, or anyone else, The Twilight Zone movie is poorly made and only worth watching for TZ fans who have to see it so they can say they hate it for themselves.
Mixed Bag Of Parables, Twist Endings, Dark Comedy and Horror! The film, true to many Twilight Zone episodes, starts with a seemingly common place setting. This prologue stars the always wonderful Dan Ackroyd and Albert Brooks and is accompanied by a soundtrack of "Midnight Special" as covered by CCR. Suffice it to say it concludes with the Twilight Zone's trademark twist ending. This clever beginning is followed by four segments with different casts and directors. They're all narrated by Burgess Meredith, who starred in some of the original television episodes.
The first segment is the only one that was originally written for the movie rather than being a reworking of one of the episodes from the 1960's series. Vic Morrow, who famously died in an on the set accident while filming this portion stars as a bigoted man who learns what life would be like if he was viewed differently by others. But does he learn his lesson too late? Probably because the real life tragedy that accompanied this part of the film necessitated it, this segment seems both too short and somewhat cobbled together.
KICK THE CAN has a wonderful performance from Scatman Crothers, but other than that it didn't do much for me. It feels too sentimental. You can tell it was made by Spielberg in one of his more sappy, family friendly phases.
ITS A GOOD LIFE is a surreal and darkly comic take on the original. In the beginning, those not familiar with the source material will believe Anthony is innocent, but is he...? This segment is marred by a happy ending which is quite different than the disturbing one in Rod Serling's TV series.
The final segment, NIGHTMARE AT 20,00 FEET is decent. You do see too much of the monster but what you see is frightening. John Lithgow is convincing as the paranoid main character.
So like many anthology movies this is a mixed bag. All in all the movie just doesn't quite come up to the perfection of the original show.
A must have This movie is a must have for the Twilight Zone fan. It includes four stories with two or more of them being remakes of original twilight zone episodes.
Very Disappointing. It is not a movie, but a remake of 4 episodes. What were "classics" in their original form, are now under performing and obsolete. Not to fault the cast, they did a good job. It just did not work at all.
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