7 Secret TWILIGHT ZONE Movies - Which Ones Are Worth Seeing?

The newest installment of "Anthology of Anthology TV Shows" looks at seven honorary Twilight Zone movies, films that have a direct link to Rod Serling's classic TV series or that capture the spirit of his unique vision.
written and narrated by Kevin Maher
edited by Matt Glasson
produced by Kevin Maher and Nick Nadel for Atomic Abe productions.
Executive Producer: Tim Finn
Opening titles and thumbnail by Mike Schuster
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[@scottyboyrulez]

Actually Tales From The Crypt had 3 movies not 2

[@atomicabe]

Oh. Are you talking about RITUAL or the 1972 "Tales from the Crypt"?

[@scottyboyrulez]

@@atomicabe ritual I forgot about the 70s one lol

[@atomicabe]

Gotcha, @@scottyboyrulez -- I guess you're right, but I was under the impression the Cryptkeeper was added after the fact, so I didn't count it. But one could definitely make a case for it.

[@VocalAntagonist]

@@atomicabe And obviously the 70s movies wouldn't count since they weren't based on the not-yet-created anthology TV show, but the source EC comics.

[@TheArtistV1]

@@atomicabeit was meant to be the third movie, but they made it a stand alone but upon bad business they rereleased on dvd as “Tales from the Crypt Presents…” and like mentioned added Keeper to tie it together

[@moonprincesst.s.h.4ever115]

Can we get a video about movies ripping off some of The Twilight Zone episodes? Seems like it could be lots of fun. Also, OMG, Mr. Finney was young once! 😱

[@monicacarrilllo]

16:19 You were dropping bars, that Psycho justification was air tight. I'm definitely gonna use that irl.

[@atomicabe]

thank you!

[@bkjbearcat78]

The Tower of Terror is still active at Disney World Hollywood Studios theme park. And still has the TZ theme. Its one of my favorite rides there.

[@kronos5385]

Honorable Mention: Phantom of the Paradise by Brian DePalma. A Faustian tale that has a Rod Serling voice-over narration. TZ did several episodes about selling your soul to the devil.

[@atomicabe]

Yes! I love this. The movie starts off and totally sets up a Twilight Zone esque story, but about 15 minutes later a viewer might've forgotten about the introductory narration because they're caught up in the weird world of Swan and Winslow. I have never read anything about Serling doing the job (his daughter's book makes reference to him doing a lot of voice over work in the 70s, so we don't get any details about ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNKNOWN or what he thought of PHANTOM, or if he even saw it. I'd love to know.)

[@kronos5385]

@@atomicabe My guess is that he never apologized about doing Phantom because there was nothing to apologize for. It's a very good movie. Rod was always honest about jobs that he took just to feed his family. He foolishly sold his interest in the Twilight Zone for far less than what it ended up being worth. He hosted Night Gallery and had almost no control over the series because he needed the money. He hawked a lot of products in commercials, famously doing a lot of cigarette ads (sigh!).

[@atomicabe]

@@kronos5385 I didn't think he had any reason to apologize. I just wonder if he saw the movie.

[@pikapal91]

I got the privilege of seeing an advanced test screening of The Box, and on the little card I had to fill out at the end, all I wrote was “sucks ass.”

[@DefunctGames]

Southland Tales is legit one of my go-to movies. I know it's not good, maybe even a swing and a miss. But that swing and that miss is so big, that I can't help but love it. It's baffling in a way that I can't get enough of, and it actually makes me feel happier when I watch it. That said, I totally understand how somebody could watch Southland Tales and hate it. I get it.

[@atomicabe]

Yeah, there are plenty of movies that aren't "good" but I still enjoy them. Southland Tales is like the batter took a big swing and actually let go of the bat. It's truly fascinating. I also get the impression Kelly is not done telling that story. I feel like he wants to remake it as a limited series for HBO or Hulu.

[@taradarwin7896]

"For All Time" is a 2000 TV Movie based on the Twilight Zone episode "A Stop at Willoughby"...

[@Grim2]

Clockstoppers - ACTUALLY, Twilight Zone didn't come up with the concept of a stopwatch stopping time. Wasn't even the first show to put it on air! Tales of Tomorrow's "All the Time in the World" did it first and that one's an adaptation of a short story by Arthur C. Clarke of the same name.

[@FransLebin]

The Tower of Terror still exists in Florida. The Marvel re-theme was only in the California park

[@roguerake]

Your vids bring me so much joy--thank you!

[@atomicabe]

That's so nice to hear, thanks for your kind words.

[@mtank30]

This was fantastic. Thank you. Btw, SOUTHLAND TALES is still the only filmed I ever walked out of. Maybe someone here can provide a convincing argument for me as to why I should give it another day in court. Maybe.

[@atomicabe]

Thanks! The best analysis/explanation I read of SOUTHLAND TALES was an article on Salon that viewed the movie through the lens of The Book of Revelation. I don't know that it'll help you enjoy the movie, but it might help make sense of some scenes: www.salon.com/2007/12/19/southland_tales_analysis/

[@mtank30]

Thanks! @@atomicabe

[@atomicabe]

You got it, @@mtank30

[@SirSmoldham]

THANK YOU! You really nailed it on so many levels but left out a trivial addition. Adam Sandler's "Click" which I feel was inspired by the TZ episode "A Kind of a Stopwatch".

[@atomicabe]

Yes, totally.

[@razumijinatreides4691]

Seconds is one of my favourite movies. Great video!

[@roryotoole3279]

Dark Shadows, the '1960's soap opera, had two movie spin-offs House of Dark Shadows(1970) and Night of Dark Shadows(1971).

[@atomicabe]

Yes, we show the poster for NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS at 0:12 in the video.

[@buckb6976]

This is an amazing list and a flawless execution. Love this!

[@atomicabe]

Thank you, kindly!

[@moonprincesst.s.h.4ever115]

A producer of Miracle Mile must have worked on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air because that is the ending of the Halloween episode named, "Hex and the Single Guy" (season 4, episode 7) finishes the same way.

[@tamaraclaw]

Meet Joe Black is the 2nd remake of "Death Takes a Holiday" so I don't consider it a T.Z. "ripoff". "Seconds" is an awesome movie.

[@atomicabe]

Very good point.

[@jcg9998]

'I Bury The Living (1958)' was a movie that felt exactly like I was watching a Twilight Zone episode and could easily have been a pilot for that show. Watch it and I'm sure you will agree.

[@atomicabe]

Ooh, the trailer makes me want to see it. (And the typeface they use in the trailer looks very NIGHT GALLERY.) Thanks so much for these two recommendations,.

[@DarkmanPoe]

Good choice! Love that movie.

[@Reggie1408]

What about Orson Welles' "The Trial"?

[@atomicabe]

Oh wow. I had not thought of that, but it's such a good example. Thank you. Yes, Orson Welles' THE TRIAL hits the bullseye.

[@middleschoolgravy]

Short answer is no to The Box

[@atomicabe]

I thought I might appreciate it more on a second viewing. I think the second viewing allowed me to understand the film a little better, and maybe appreciate it a bit more. But I didn't really like it. Richard Matheson hated what they did with the ending of the tv episode. And the Kelly film uses that ending, so I suspect Matheson would've had problems with the movie, too.

[@CorbCorbin]

@@atomicabe I remembered the 1990 Button episode, when i first saw the trailer. The couple in that episode are so annoying.

[@AllMediaReviewsPodcast]

not a movie, but a miniseries that comes to mind is The Prisoner.

[@atomicabe]

Yes. There's a wonderful PBS program "The Pioneers of Television" and one episode is about the media ecosystem of 1960s science-fiction, how different TV shows impacted each other, the main focus is on: The Twilight Zone, Star Trek and Lost in Space. (There's a really fascinating section showing how Star Trek and Lost in Space were influence by Batman.) Anyway, I wish that same documentary included The Prisoner (and Danger Man.)

[@kodiekulp]

Miracle Mile is one of my favorites. Didn't know that !

[@QuasarSniffer]

Seconds is such a brilliant movie. In their best work, both Frankenheimer and Serling were forcing America to take a harsh look at the post-War prosperity we were enjoying, at examining what that "success" cost us in ways were couldn't measure in profit or power. And I also enjoy/am baffled by Southland Tales. No other movie like it, and made with such passion and imagination, but none of those pieces come together. The movie is bad, but the fact that it exists is beautiful.

[@atomicabe]

You said it eloquently. Thanks for "seconding" SECONDS. We cut this detail from the video, but the film features Murray Hamilton, who had played Death on an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE ("One for the Angels", s1ep02). I probably watched the trailer for SOUTHLAND TALES more than any other trailer I've seen. Just counting the days until I could see the whole movie -- and it would all make sense. (Still waiting for it to all make sense. But what a ride!)

[@adorablychaotic]

Awesome vid Abe! Your TV spinoff vids are my favourite! Sending love from Canada! 🍁💕🙌

[@atomicabe]

Thank you so much. I can't wait to get back to Canada and enjoy a WUNDERBAR. We don't have them in the States.

[@adorablychaotic]

Haha I literally just had one earlier this evening! They're the best! @@atomicabe 🤤❤

[@atomicabe]

@@adorablychaotic I'm envious. The U.S. has Caramello, which wishes it could be Wunderbar.

[@julieporter7805]

Not Twilight Zone, but Miracle Man has a lot of similarities to an Outer Limits episode Inconstant Moon with a guy learning that the world is about to end just as he's getting to know the woman of his dreams (though in this case, it's because the sun is going supernova). Fun Fact: The man who did the voice over for Rod Serling's lines in Tower of Terror, also played Serling again in the 2019 Twilight Zone episode, "Blurryman."

[@rcmick1203]

Good video. I'm kind of surprised no one brought up the 80s TZ Epi. Special Service and Truman Show.

[@kamdan2011]

I impressed my grade school librarian when I told her that Chris Van Allsburg’s books were very much like Twilight Zone episodes.

[@atomicabe]

that's terrific

[@hollisrutledge4324]

Here are a few other movies that have that Twilight Zone feel. Two that pre-date The Twilight Zone are “Dead of Night” from 1945 and “Repeat Performance” from 1947. There’s also some other films that came out after The Twilight Zone aired. “Carnival of Souls” from 1962 and “Somewhere in Time” from 1980 which was based on the story “Bid Time Return” from long time TZ writer, Richard Matheson.

[@chuckhush916]

I saw Seconds for the first time 10 or 11 years ago. Wow what a trip and the ending, like a slap alongside the head. But that's what Frankenheimer does. Plus Jeff Corey.

[@char1737]

Miracle Mile the soundtrack is sublime tangerine dream in rare form

[@atomicabe]

Such a good soundtrack!

[@Sweetestsadist]

Apparently, Richard Matheson hated the 80's Twilight Zone interpretation of "Button, Button" because of how the ending was different. I'd take that version over "The Box" any day.

[@FrenkTheJoy]

Whaaat? I love that episode, I have to see what the original ending was. I always thought the ending was really good in that episode.

[@Sweetestsadist]

@@FrenkTheJoy Personally, I prefer the Twilight Zone ending. The original seems stretched too thin.

[@SmartCookie2022]

Great... loved it! Especially the line: "... the only button you'll regret pressing will be PLAY." That one had me in stitches.😄

[@atomicabe]

Thanks very much. That button joke is maybe a little too dismissive, but I couldn't resist.

[@betamaxblocker]

Seconds is so underrated! Easily one of Rock Hudson's best movies. I'll have to check out Miracle Mile especially because of The Tangerine Dream soundtrack. They did music for The Keep, a much-maligned but still fun 1980s horror film. Like the idea of reediting Planet of the Apes to be a TZ episode as well. Rod also does narration for 1974's Phantom of the Paradise, but I'm not sure how much I would say that films feels like a TZ episode. Great job!

[@blackamerican40]

Changing topics: Psycho could be a follow-up of Morning Of The Bride. A guy thinks his mom is still alive while a horrified Barbara Del Geddes looks on when the guy pretends to put a coat on a make believe version of his mother. She'd been dead 7 years. 😮

[@dreamsinthree]

That episode The Box was chilling. Mare Winningham was great in it.

[@atomicabe]

We didn't call it out but there are TWO Mare Winningham roles -- THE BOX and MIRACLE MILE. (We also didn't include an odd detail: both MIRACLE MILE and TOWER OF TERROR include characters freeing lobsters from a seafood restaurant and re-releasing them into the ocean.)

[@dreamsinthree]

@@atomicabeInteresting!

[@ericgaskins571]

I loved the old twilight zone episodes and a few from the 1980s. Check out "dealers choice" episode from the 80s a young morgan freeman is in it. Great episode. Plus the greatful dead did the theme song in the 80s version

[@atomicabe]

Yes, DEALER'S CHOICES is one of my favorite episodes. Directed by Wes Craven. Such a good cast. And done without a big budget.

[@pathatfield2543]

I can’t remember what year it was on,but there was a TV movie comprised of two unused scripts from the original Twilight Zone.The first one you briefly mentioned in one of your other videos,and it stars Amy Irving as a woman who goes to a movie theater and sees….I can’t remember if it’s her own life as it happens or a possible future,but it is one of those.The second story has Jack Palance as a civil war doctor who creates/discovers the key to living forever.If I recall right,it also starred Patrick Bergen.

[@atomicabe]

Yes, I've seen this. It's called TWILIGHT ZONE: Rod Serling's Lost Classics. Script was by Serling and a second script by Richard Matheson (from a story by Serling.)

[@Rickkennett143]

Groundhog Day

[@atomicabe]

Good one!

[@btr3k]

Okay, I didn't know about most of these, and I thought I knew some things. Thank you for the informative video! Also, I love the original, but I also love the 80's Twilight Zone, maybe because it aired in the sweet spot of me being 9-10 years old, but I do still enjoy watching it and definitely remember the creepy "Button, Button". I can't imagine it stretched out into a full length movie, though!

[@atomicabe]

80s Twilight Zone is great. Some really strong episodes. Worth revisiting. (I was the same age as you were when it came out.) When you go back now you'll discover actors who you didn't know back then. Like a great episode with Helen Mirror and an pair of murderous shoes.

[@btr3k]

@@atomicabe I've seen a number of the episodes but I do think it would be worth a more recent re-watch! I do remember that "Dead Run" has John DeLancie and a small appearance at the end from Brent Spiner, they don't appear in the same scene but would both go on to have roles on STTNG, of course. But, as a kid I remember being scared for days after seeing "The Elevator" :D

[@sird2333]

The ending of Ladybug, Ladybug reminded me of the New Twilight Zone episode A Little Prace and Quiet

[@NostalgiNorden]

I guess you could have mentioned The Terminator as well since Harlan Ellison managed to claim that it was a rip off of his episode "Soldier" from Twilight zone-contemporary show The Outer Limits.

[@tamaraclaw]

Speaking of Ellison...2 of his stories were made into episodes of the 1980s T.Z., "Shatterday" and "Paladin of the Lost Hour". Ellison had his name taken off as a "Creative Consultant" of the '80s T.Z. however.

[@atomicabe]

There's a great episode of the podcast TV Guidance Counselor where he interviews Rockne S. O'Bannon, lots of good stories about the 80s reboot. Also, there's one episode of the series written by Stephen King and Ellison provides a voice on the phone. And -- AND -- I almost forgot, Ellison had auditioned to be the narrator of the 80s Twilight Zone.

[@flobrez2470]

I think I heard that Rod Serling wrote a sequel to Planet of the Apes, but they decided not to use his version. I wonder what it would’ve been like?

[@wimvanderstraeten6521]

The supernatural western Purgatory (1999) and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) could also be added to this list.

[@jcg9998]

'Miracle Mile' is a very strange movie but just a little too whacky to be a Twilight Zone movie. Same deal with Seconds. 'The Bubble (1966)', a color 3-D movie, definitely has a Twilight Zone feel to it.

[@atomicabe]

I don't know "The Bubble" -- but I just watched the very unusual trailer. Will have to see it. Also, Arch Obler's "The Twonky" is somewhat Twilight Zone-esque, years before the series ever aired.

[@jcg9998]

@@atomicabe Agreed on "The Twonky". I didn't think of that because of the light hearted nature of the movie but then again, many Twilight Zone episodes were light-hearted.

[@thomholbrook7286]

No mention of Special Service, the New TZ episode where a man discovers his whole life is secretly being filmed and broadcast as a TV show aka The Truman Show, the only difference being he is living in the real world and the entire world knows and is keeping it from him.

[@Doctor_Omega]

Odd little factoid - Chris Matheson, son of the famous sci-fi author is the co-creator of Bill and Ted (with Ed Solomon - MIB and others) and co-wrote all three films with Solomon.

[@atomicabe]

Yes, I heard a podcast interview where Chris Matheson spoke about his father, it was a very different perspective on the man and his work. And he's a great writer, too.

[@hanniffydinn6019]

Just watched miracle mile for the first time! Wow, can’t believe I missed so many great 80s movies! Such a great dark “funny” movie, they don’t make these kind of movies anymore!!! 😎😎😎😎👍👍👍👍

[@FrenkTheJoy]

I remember when the ads for The Box came out I was just like "oh they took that really good Twilight Zone episode and made it into a two hour long thriller for some reason?" Didn't know about these other movies.

[@nathangamer]

How about "The Electric Grandmother", which was based on the same story as the Twilight Zone episode "I Sing the Body Electric"

[@atomicabe]

Now we're getting into some Twilight Zone gossip that I might include in a future video. Rod Serling had hoped to make Ray Bradbury a regular contributed to the original series, along with Richard Matheson and George Clayton Johnson. Bradbury was thrilled to have his script made into an episode of The Twilight Zone. He invited friends over to watch when it aired. But the producers changed some of the dialogue without getting Bradbury's permission. He was furious and shocked to only find out when the episode aired. He refused to collaborate with the show again. Years later Bradbury got his own show, and he was the only credited writer on the series' 65 episodes! (The show's co-creator is sometimes given a credit, but that was for developing the show.) I doubt Bradbury would want that movie to be linked to The Twilight Zone, but you make a very good point!

[@CERTAIND00M]

_"Officer Roland Taverner. My best friend. He is a pimp. And pimps don't commit s**cide."_ I unironically love Southland Tales because it is a living, breathing paradox: a piece of media which is, at equal points in space and time, a very bad film and also the greatest movie I have ever seen. But yeah, I'm down to hang whenever.

[@atomicabe]

We should hang out then. I cannot count how many times I watched the trailer for Southland Tales, I was so excited to see it. I even made a video for AMC about my excitement/fear of what the movie was going to be like: (this was before it came out) kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIucgnlqfKithtksi=IYRrkyM51Pn-LZlN

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

I highly recommend Seconds to anyone who hasn't seen it. It's deeply unsettling and creepy, like a bad dream.

[@Gellarfan666]

I'm hoping to someday get a Behind the Backdoor on the failed Adam-12 spin-off attempts, one which had a young Mark Harmon if memory serves.

[@atomicabe]

Yes, we've got to get to that one. Mark Harmon is no stranger to backdoor pilots (JAG/ NCIS)

[@cgyute67]

The twilight zone, the twilight zone movie that they wouldn’t believe me is the twilight zone movie it’s called vanilla skies and it starts off of the twilight zone episode, but it feels like a bunch of twilight zone episodes into one movie

[@trinaq]

The Box was an entertaining little thriller. I should have guessed that it has roots to the Twilight Zone!

[@superdavid002]

Other TW type movies, A.I., Bicentennial Man, Universal Remote, Playback, Time Cop, The One, The Camera, 57 Seconds

[@Nighthawk5015]

I watched the box because I loved the Button Button episode, that was a mistake.

[@C01dEyes]

I would love to see you that planet of the apes recut

[@atomicabe]

Dig it: www.filmscalpel.com/twilight-zone-planet-of-the-apes/

[@shannonrobitaille613]

What about creep show

[@atomicabe]

Kind of a reversal, since the CREEPSHOW movie came first. And, curiously, George Romero claimed that TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE could be considered CREEPSHOW 3 (as opposed to the name-only CREEPSHOW 3, that he had nothing to do with!)

[@1rhpsfan]

It was rebranded at Disneyland, but not at Walt Disney World.

[@ZyxthePest]

Wow, no love for Brain Dead? It's a very well known holdover Twilight Zone script. Great performance by Bill Pullman and even if the movie is only OK, it's got a fantastic sense of style and very dreamlike editing.

[@amcaesar]

We can never get too far from POTA, can we?

[@atomicabe]

Dr. Zauis might say the film is my destiny.

[@michaelcarbone6101]

You don’t get the button.contraryan?

[@atomicabe]

ha ha

[@TH0MASBR00KS]

you read the book you are legit

[@atomicabe]

Thanks. In some ways I think SOUTHLAND TALES is easy to manage as a graphic novel, because the same tone is maintained throughout -- the performances in the movie don't match each other. Maybe that was a choice.

[@Nx57ytre]

7:35 I thought Real Steel was based on Medabots

[@atomicabe]

Medabots could've very well influenced Real Steel.

[@brooklynbred1460]

A million dollars is alot now

[@atomicabe]

True! (With inflation it would be $7 million today.) The thing is the original story has the characters receive $200,000 if they push the button. And maybe that amount seemed too low for audience, so it was bumped up to an amount that seemed more tempting.

[@devinpaul9026]

They did away with a monument to Serling-- who truly never really died-- for a monument to corporate fake geek CRAP-- which now, only THIS short time later-- IS ACTIVELY DYING. Somebody owes 1950's TV Sci-Fi/Horror daddy a MASSIVE apology.

[@ilionreactor1079]

Rod Serling. NOT STERLING!

[@blatherskite3009]

Funnily enough, I discovered the film "Seconds" when I decided to find out where the samples came from in the classic 1992 track "Leave Your Body" by The Grid. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXPckoqArdKBeJo Those intriguing samples led me to a great little film, so thanks to The Grid for that.