The New Exhibit - Twilight-Tober Zone

"The New Exhibit" is a definite recommendation with a hard to forget premise and multiple unsettling perspectives. Join Walter as he discusses this episode and continues deeper into The Twilight Zone.
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"The New Exhibit" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode a museum worker (played by Martin Balsam) takes a set of wax figures into his home, where they begin to show the homicidal tendencies of the famous murderers they depict.
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[@ChannelAwesome]

What did everyone think of The New Exhibit? Watch the new NC here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqiyk56qh8SJqKssi=EoLjLJp9tuc-TKEE Watch more Twilight-Tober Zone here - bit.ly/TwilightToberZone Follow us on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/channelawesome

[@kilroywashere513]

It was weird, yet not boring💁🏻‍♂.

[@melissacooper8724]

I liked the idea of having the ending where we the viewers would interpret whether the wax figures really did come to life and did the murders. Or was it Martin all along, and the figures doing it was part of his delusion.

[@rodneyholmes5260]

One of my favorite episodes

[@trinaq]

I liked how they kept it ambiguous as to whether the waxworks were the actual killers, or if Martin was the murderer all along, and merely hallucinated the waxworks doing it.

[@57highland]

I thought something similar, though I was about 7 or 8 the first time I saw this episode. When I thought back on it, I thought that Martin was doing the murders and blamed it on the "figures" and that they killed Martin in revenge for his wanting to blame it on them.

[@Omar-wq9dz]

There’s plenty of stories about figures coming to life and maintaining the personalities of those figures, but I like the episode’s twist of it being a bunch of murderers. It’s like a darker version of Night At The Museum

[@rogue7723]

That’s what I was thinking, this episode is “What if _Night At The Museum_ was a horror movie?”

[@JAS0N_M00RE]

I was thinking of the original House Of Wax but Night at the Museum fits more

[@jordanhunter3375]

Reminds me of that Gravity Falls episode with Stan's wax twin

[@TriforceWisdom64]

​@jordanhunter3375 "Your wax sculptures came to life and we fought them to the death!" "I decapitated Larry King."

[@goodnewsgeek42]

@@jordanhunter3375 My first thought LMFAO

[@LucianoThePig]

Thus far this is the best hour long episode at filling up that time. I never felt like it dragged or was padding. Also it's a shame they weren't doing all of Rod's monologues on the same grey background, it would've been amazing to see him in the exhibit as one of the models!

[@simsgirlgem]

Oh I remember this episode I love how it’s ambiguous on whether the figures came to life to kill everyone or if the main character went crazy and killed his victims

[@melissacooper8724]

Do you believe that the wax figures came to life and murdered Martin's loved ones? Or do you believe that Martin himself did it?

[@leolordful]

@melissacooper8724 Which is the truth? Who is to say? Art is subjective base on the lens through which it is viewed. Especially when that lens is in a museum located....... .... in the Twilight zone.

[@leolordful]

@melissacooper8724 Which is the truth? Who is to say? Art is subjective base on the lens through which it is viewed. Especially when that lens is in a museum located....... .... in the Twilight zone.

[@esteemedmortal5917]

Also seems like a warning of what happens when you become a ‘fan’ of infamous crimes. He got so chummy with the wax figures, he forgot what awful human beings they represented

[@trinaq]

I love that Martin Balsam starred, just three years prior to his Oscar win for A Thousand Clowns. He also appeared as Juror #1 in Twelve Angry Men.

[@gianinabadami5341]

When I saw the Martin character, I thought the actor was one that was in a Law and Order SVU episode titled Bombshell, but I found that Martin Balsam died in 1994 and it was Tom Irwin who was in the Law and Order SVU episode. I admittedly know it was strange seeing the two male actors looked the same without being related to each other. I also saw the resemblance between Margaret Field and Sally Field

[@shenloken2]

I love how the main character is someone who was sympathetic at first. It was his manic obsession with preserving the wax figures that turns him more into a villain when they kill his wife and brother-in-law and he hides their bodies. It’s only after they killed Furgeson that he finally feels “they crossed the line!” But Martin was doomed the moment the wax Jack the Ripper killed his wife. Even if he reported it he probably would’ve claimed the wax dummy killed her. Obviously they wouldn’t have believed him so he would’ve ended up in prison or an asylum. Martin is very much a tragic villain in my eyes. This helped make this among the better hour long episodes of season 4!

[@melissacooper8724]

I believe what caused him to snap and go deeper into madness was the moment Mr. Ferguson informed him that the museum was going out of business. Martin had worked there for thirty years. And when he lost his job, it was like he lost his purpose in life. It would've been difficult for him to find another job because what person would hire him based on his credentials? He got obsessed with the wax figures because they were like friends to him. He obviously didn't have any real friends other than Mr. Ferguson.

[@averageant7173]

This is one of my fav episodes. Probably the best horror episode of the Twilight zone

[@shainewhite2781]

One of ny favorite episodes of the series, a perfect psychological horror thriller.

[@claytonrios1]

Surprisingly a wax figure of Jack the Ripper isn't his craziest depiction that I've seen!

[@vottak5964]

Today a figure of Jack the Ripper is a dosen or so inches

[@anubusx]

​@@vottak5964 I was Jack The Ripper.

[@brianfuller757]

This was a great episode. Charles Beaumont passed in 1967 at the age of 38.

[@geoffreyfyfe2248]

On paper at least. His eldest son, Christopher, said at the end he looked and acted like a 95-year-old man, so bad was his degenerative illness.

[@wstine79]

They should know that nothing good ever happens from melting wax figures.

[@lilrex2015]

God I love this series. Everyday I have something to look forward to. Makes me sad October is almost over.

[@bensaret]

I personally preferred the twist that he was the killer all along, I love that it has a darker tone when the protagonist turns out to be the antagonist the whole time and was never even aware of it 😨.

[@melissacooper8724]

Me too! I bet he probably blacked out when he committed those murders and when he saw his victims dead, in his mind, he believed the wax figures did it!

[@57highland]

​@@melissacooper8724I first saw this episode when I was 7 or 8, and when I thought back on it years later, I thought that I remembered Martin being the murderer (especially since he covered up the first two killings) but blaming it on the "figures." And that they killed him in revenge.

[@brendakrieger7000]

I remember this episode!

[@weareallbronies9031]

This episode screams "tell me you're a fan of house of wax without telling me you're a fan of house of wax."

[@Jai137]

You sure it’s not the other way around

[@Jordan3DS]

​@@Jai137The original film was from 1933 and the remake was in 1953, so probably not

[@computertoucher]

Yup

[@AntonioDragon88]

Can’t fall asleep after watching this episode

[@stopreadingmyusernamebroth9090]

When I first saw this it scared the crap out of me. The close up shots of the wax figures is such PURE NIGHTMARE FUEL.

[@nvm9040]

maybe one of the best ones that used the hour format well and i rewatched it and whoa the twist gets me every time

[@richardhutnik]

A Twilight-Tober Zone episode highly suitable for Holloween.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

This month has been awesome thanks to You guys! 🖤🖤🖤🧡🧡🧡

[@400KrispyKremes]

I like this one. It clearly inspired those Waxwork films too.

[@JOSH-lw2jv]

8:12-8:13 Hey, that "statue" blinked!

[@debbieanne7962]

Love Martin Balsams performances. Also starred in another favourite of mine The 16mm Shrine. And the classic movie 12 Angry Men

[@romanramirez7847]

This was always one of my favorite episodes as a kid! The wax figures always have terrified me. Great performances from everyone involved especially Balsam.

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

I love this The Twilight Zone episode!

[@ThenewTchannel]

There's another anthology story concerning wax figures of murderers in the British horror anthology film The House That Dripped Blood, however that segment goes in a very different direction than this story and stars the very famous Peter Cushing

[@wstine79]

It's A Night at the Museum but with murderers.

[@JackKirbyFan]

I loved it - especially after 'I dream of Genie' which was agony to watch. One of the hour long's best. It showed you don't need a big budget or CGI effects to entertain.

[@popper03244]

Sad that we only have a few more days of twilight-tober

[@thEannoyingE]

One of my favorites, the ambiguous ending really works. The fact they’re all notorious killers makes it better.

[@SpongeyTheEditor]

This is a creepy one., mostly for the main character. He’s clearly a bit too into these figures of murderers and doesn’t seem to care too much when they seem to start killing people. It still feels more dry than it could have been due to the padding but it’s still decent. The twist is pretty good here, very effective and his fate is interesting.

[@melissacooper8724]

Even though he stated to Emma that he was planning to keep the figures until he got a buyer, I don't think he had any intention of letting them go. To me, his intentions to destroy the figures himself is more like, "If I can't have them, no one can!" And his horror of Mr. Ferguson being murdered by either him or Laundru, however, the interpretation.

[@geoffreyfyfe2248]

​@@melissacooper8724 He definitely is obsessively attached to those figures. Note his reaction when his boss tells him there's a buyer for them. He should be happy, but he can't stand losing his "friends."

[@melissacooper8724]

@@geoffreyfyfe2248 I saw a look of disappointment on Martin's face. It's as if he was told his best friends were moving away and he would never see them again. At least Mr. Ferguson was sympathetic towards Martin.

[@geoffreyfyfe2248]

Balsam alone makes this worth seeing. It's funny to see him play an obsessive yet likable psychopath just three years after he met an onscreen fate at the hands of the most famous one of all, Norman Bates.

[@RialVestro]

There have been a lot of stories just like this one. Even Gravity Falls did an episode with this plot except there the wax figures actually were melted in the end.

[@bluegatito8684]

Oh, so is like that episode of Gravity Falls.

[@SlackerChief]

This story reminds me of The Horror in the Museum short story

[@titanguy7316]

Love the reference to "The Shadow" at the end there, Walter.

[@gianinabadami5341]

Caught by surprise that there was a 1994 movie of it when my significant other and I watched the entirety of the original 1930s serial this summer

[@noir-214]

There actually was a crossover between The Shadow and The Twilight Zones in comic form

[@user-cm3ij6xc8n]

This is a great story. Also nice touch with the Shadow clip at the end

[@noahluster7917]

LOVED LOVED LOVED the Shadow reference!!! Freakin’ love that movie!

[@KyleRobots]

"The SHADOW knows!" THANK YOU, that was a perfect drop.

[@gamekidsreviews]

I remember watching this episode at 8 years old in 2007. I’m not sure but I think it may have been the first ever TZ episode I ever watched. I was watching it with my mom and older brother and when the twist ending happened I was so scared because that ending freaked me out as a kid. I’m 24 now and ❤ the classic TZ series and it’s one of my favorite shows of all time. Still the ending is super creepy to me as an adult even knowing it’s not real 😳. -Micah

[@melissabowers6268]

Totally agree. See my comment for my story regarding this episode.

[@Trek2539]

One of my favorites. I like the 40 minute setup of season 4

[@random22026]

'The Mill of the Stone Women'...Maryel, you out there? 👋🏻💖

[@TheOwlCreek]

This is my favorite TZ episode from season 4

[@aidanhever3369]

The horror version of Night at the Museum.

[@connorthompson8376]

I would love to see a themed month of reviews for the 80s twilight zone series.

[@Nasser851000]

Didn't know there was a Twilight Zone museum XD

[@melissabowers6268]

This will always hold a special place in my heart as the first Twilight zone I ever watched as a 5 year old. It started my Zone addiction back in 1987! Love that you can really here Martin Balsam's New York accent pick up on this one. This just doesn't wash well with him being the killer in the end, we even see Mr. Ferguson being garroted by Landreu. Maybe we are supposed to see things thru Martin's eyes. Love that all these people were real actors made up to be made up to look like wax. Including Mr. Balsam at the end. Ms. Mahoney (Sally Field's mother) also did a great job as Mrs. Senescu. One of Jerry Sohl's first Zones. He would do a lot of ghost work for Charles Beaumont who was slowing dying of what many considered bromide poisioning. Also, I wonder if this is where John Wayne Gacy got the idea to turn his house into a graveyard.

[@eviltom17]

Nice Shadow cameo! ;)

[@angelcat2865]

Been waiting for you to cover this episode. ❤ 😊

[@Zthewise]

Burying the bodies give A Tell-tale Heart vibe

[@Xedramon]

At 8:12 you can actually see the wax figure blink. So awesome and creepy, what a dope episode.

[@milestrombley1466]

A horror version of Night at the Museum.

[@alanbash2921]

I Actually Remember Seeing The Very First Twilight Zone Episode On TV Back In 1959 !!!!…………… and I never Missed any of the 156 Episodes through the 5 years ......P.S. 📣📣📣📣 Your Web Site is the Best by Far.......I also was a friend of The Great Actor Jack Warden ( in The episode “ The Lonely “ )... I often spoke with him about Rod Serling and his experience with The Twilight Zone . He told me that Serling was a perfectionist and a truly honest Professional. He told me the same about Jean Marsh ( Portrayed The Robot )...and how incredibly fine an actress she was.

[@jeffmcarthur5617]

What was effective to me about this episode was the way they played with people's expectations of television at the time. The first two deaths are done in such a cheap, and even cheesy way, that while you watch it you think that it's just a standard product of its time. They even have setups for them that seem to explain how they happen. Then the last killing comes along, and it's so shocking that you see what happens so plainly. Up to that point it looks like they're using POV shots because they don't have the budget, or the censors' permission, to show anything graphic. That makes the sudden, graphic murder at the end all the more compelling; and you suddenly realize the other two scenes weren't products of their time, but intentional fake-outs.

[@astrocitizen]

Love the little jokey inserts you do on these, like with Adam Baldwin at the end here. Now if only there was a TZ episode where someone philosophized about criminals being cowardly or the responsibility that came with power.

[@julieporter7805]

This was a memorably creepy episode. As much as I love visiting wax museums, I have to agree with Born to Howl by Mel Gilden: "Even when the figures are good people-John Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, and Eleanor Roosevelt-the effect is pretty creepy...One might not be looking forward to the Chamber of Horrors where the characters were not so nice."

[@sarysa]

The canon explanation makes this one of the rare "could happen IRL" episodes, which is nice for horror anthologies. Gives iit a kind of gravitas over the more fantasy oriented stories.

[@ravensazttv]

You can see the man in the hat blink towards the end of the episode. I never noticed that until now. I am more creeped out than before. Thank you. 8:11

[@kelleyceccato7025]

"Twilight Zone" wives are an interesting case, though only rarely are they interesting characters. Somehow the ones we remember the most are the evil harridans, the monstrous book-defacing Mrs. Bemis in "Time Enough at Last" (I can't fathom what would have moved Henry ever to make such a woman his wife) and the viciously shallow Mrs. Williams in "Last Stop at Willoughby." The sweet ones offer their husbands support and comfort but don't often have very memorable personalities, with one outstanding exception: Patricia Breslin in "Nick of Time," the one wife character I remember from the series who might be described as actively heroic. And then we have the wives who do their best to be sweet and supportive, but suffer anyway. David Wayne's wife in "Escape Clause"? My God, that poor woman; what more could she do, being married to such a man? Then we have poor Doris Richards in "The Jungle," who pays for her husband's sins with her life. Here we have Emma, trying to save the man she married the only way she knows how -- and ending up dead. What makes it sadder is that the stories don't quite manage to frame these women's fates as the tragedies they are. Focus is taken away from the women before we have a chance to feel a sense of loss, and pulled back to the men who have killed them (as in this episode and "Escape Clause") or caused them to be killed ("The Jungle"). Still, I honor their memory. Justice for Ethel Bedeker!

[@amyfisher6380]

Marc Scott Zicree suggested that the way most female characters were portrayed on the show reflected the sexism of the times, and then pointed to Anne Francis in The After Hours as a terrific exception.

[@kelleyceccato7025]

@@amyfisher6380 Francis brought a lot of charm to her role. She had a rare opportunity as a protagonist rather than a wife or love interest.

[@LuminousPrime]

You and I were thinking the same thing with that clip at the end of "The Shadow"

[@meganshaw1949]

This sounds like an inspiration for Night At The Museum.

[@BeyondInfinity_XD]

I love how you added The Shadow in the end.

[@WyomingGuy876]

As a kid, that episode creeped me out

[@johnmckay1961]

This is one of my favourite TZ episodes, so I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

[@KnightVelkan]

YES ! this is a Great Twilight Zone Episode!

[@werewolf232629]

Only the shadow knows, had to see that coming.

[@lilpoet27]

Love this episode! Happy spooky season y’all 🎃

[@gingko19]

8:12 blinking ! I love this episode.

[@NorrisVaughn]

I always enjoyed this episode

[@GameplayandTalk]

I watched this episode last night and enjoyed it for the most part. I do wish the ending was done a bit different (like getting rid of the voices from the wax figures), but overall it wasn't bad.

[@jabbarmuhammad8804]

This episode is one of my favorites of 4th season twilight zone

[@Ecl1pse09]

This episode is basically a sequel/spinoff of the “After Hour” episode. Both are great episodes with a great twist ending

[@22espec]

I love these reviews, and after checking i see that this month would end in a high note

[@Kinglaugh451]

I think that the little tiny movements in the “wax” figures just adds to the creepiness factor of the episode. There is enough “life” in well made figurines and dolls that you might catch some “movement” out of the corner of your eye. It makes the mind question what is real and what’s not.

[@louisduarte8763]

I thought the twist was going to be he was a wax dummy all along, but I think this show did that already.

[@scientistservant]

Reminds me of the Mask of Medusa radio drama starring Peter Lorre

[@RichardDamienAddison]

Well played at the end with The Shadow reference.

[@pikkusaukko]

I havent seen this

[@melissacooper8724]

I feel that Martin was the one who went crazy and murdered his loved ones. The fact that we see the wax figures doing it was from Martin's perspective. The reason I believe that Martin done it was from his bizarre behavior we see after losing his long-time job at the museum. From obsessing over the figures to the point that he talks to them and calls them "friends" to the murders happening whenever his "friends" were threatened by someone wanting them gone. I believe that he had no remorse for any of his victims except Mr. Ferguson because he was so close to his employer. Anyway, that's my point of view.

[@pickettpride6980]

I saw hatchet man blink like 5xs throughout the episode 😂

[@GODemon13]

Probably the best hour long Zone.

[@SnowdropHill]

Definitely one I enjoyed a lot! I personally believe Martin committed the murders because his behavior up until that point supports it. His obsession with those figures is unhealthy, and to a point where I could totally see him putting them over anything or anyone else in his life. He doesn't show much care for his friends and family, after all. Only when he finds his boss's body does he seem to care about the murders, but I think that may just be him realizing his own nature, and being in denial. That's my interpretation, anyway. It's a cool episode with some great, creepy imagery, and I'll be putting it high on my personal tier list. :)

[@SerpentNight]

8:34 Yes he does.

[@rickfrombohemia9550]

Jack the Ripper figure even looks a little bit like Shadow lol.

[@hitmanmonaghan6633]

Okay, that The Shadow reference was great. You actually beat me to it.

[@Merit2397]

I liked that too. 😏

[@etrisb]

I've participated in online discussions about "who did it" and I've always believed it was the figures. We see them surround him, so if they didn't do it, what were we seeing? Also, if they didn't kill him, how did he die?

[@g1xrider13]

The possibility that either the statues were possessed or he just mentally snapped and killed the people he saw as responsible for taking the statues away from him is an interesting wrinkle in the story. Perhaps he was so obsessed with death and murder that he was suppressing violent urges and when the source of his obsession was threatened he snapped and hallucinated what happened out of guilt. But that wouldn’t explain how he died.

[@melissacooper8724]

Perhaps he committed suicide after going around like a raving maniac about the murders.

[@Raximus3000]

If he was killed by what would have been multiple people then the police would not have blamed all the murders on him just like that, not to mention he killed 3 people hardly a reason to get a wax statue among the worst. He obviously killed more than 3.

[@jlev1028]

I've always found wax museums pretty creepy even before I knew of the trope. There's a Madame Toussaud's in my hometown, and every display is uncanny with how realistic the skin and hair look while having the most lifeless faces possible. So this episode worked in that regard, especially subverting the expected ending. The main character merely imagined the wax figures killing his companions. However, the twist still was pretty cheesy with the overdranatic acting, the laughable way the figures killed him, and the guy somehow being stuffed and mounted.

[@theflotingheadproduc]

Nice Shadow reference!

[@amyfisher6380]

This is one of my favorites of the show’s horror episodes. We see the wax figures come alive and commit murder, and we see the tour guide at the end present Martin as the killer. I like how it’s left to the viewers to decide: Did the wax figures really do it, or did Martin have a mental break and commit the murders himself, and only imagined that the wax figures did it?

[@TheCreepypro]

what a great idea for a spooky story!

[@jmoney4708]

Definitely one of the best episodes

[@tremorsfan]

The Chamber of Horrors is always the best part of any wax museum. For some reason Madame Tussaud's DC doesn't have one.

[@antonmassopust568]

Yes and you're also left with the idea did they really move or was it him that killed them all one really wonderful and really Macabre episode

[@sophiefrankis9476]

It was a smart move to use real actors instead of actual wax figures to bring in the uncanny valley.

[@kurtwagner350]

Probably my favorite from this season

[@williamcrowe2576]

Just like trapeze artist towards the end of Freaks, Martin was made part of the show.

[@melissacooper8724]

I remember the movie Freaks! I felt that Cleo, the trapeze artist got what she deserved! She treated them like trash and married Hans and then tried to kill him just for his money!

[@Merit2397]

What's great about "The New Exhibit is that it's a standout from the meh of season 4, just by being damn suspensefully creepy. How I interpreted this story was that the owner didn't go mad. Those wax murderers were alive, perhaps their spirits were in them due to being remembered for so long. In the end, I think they killed Martin, framed him, and placed his corpse on display in some hellish conner... of the Twilight Zone.