Twilight Zone: The Movie is one of the most fascinating experiences I've ever witnessed. As an actual film--very poor (not even quite the 5-stars I'll ultimately give it overall). But as a well-meaning homage to Rod Serling's classic TV series--clearly a labor of love gone horribly wrong.
For a very basic overview, TZ the Movie is chopped into four segments:
-An original segment on social tolerance (directed by John Landis) -A remake of "Kick the Can" starring Scatman Crothers (directed by Steven Spielberg) -A quasi-reimagining of "It's A Good Life" (directed by Joe Dante) -A pretty straight-up remake of "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (directed by George Miller)
To be clear, none of these segments really "work" from a storytelling or character perspective. The Spielberg one is probably the best, but even that is a pretty shallow re-imagining of Serling's iconic original. Not only do the plots/characters fall flat, but the special effects--while no doubt cutting edge for their time--feel out of place and childish (cartoony, sometimes in a literal sense). So, it is hard to find much cinematic praise for TZ the Movie.
Yet, at the same time, this is clearly an homage to Serling's original Twilight Zone that comes from a well-meaning place. An opening stinger features two guys just talking about the impact the show had on them, and throughout the vignettes we get nods all over the place to the original in character names and locations. Even in casting, the likes of Billy Mumy, Murray Matheson (the clown from "5 Characters in Search of an Exit"), Carol Serling, and other familiar (if now aged) TZ faces appear. Burgess Meredith provides the interstitial narration!
I think what is happening with TZ the Movie--and this is fascinating to me as a longtime "Zoner"--is that a bunch of screenwriters are basically working through their feelings on how/why The Twilight Zone captured their imaginations back in the 1950s/60s. In 1983, without Sci-Fi Channel marathons or critical analysis of Serling, this took the form of "copycat-ism", which of course rarely works (and doesn't here, to be sure). But strictly from a legacy point of view, this film is probably somewhat important in keeping TZ on peoples' radars (if not the way the filmmakers intended) going forward.
Overall, I'll give this production a right-down-the-middle 5 star rating. It doesn't deserve quite that much in terms of dramatic content, but the embedded "easter eggs" for devoted TZ fanatics and just the general "tribute feel" of the piece will be enough to engage the brain to meditate upon Serling's masterpiece legacy.
For a very basic overview, TZ the Movie is chopped into four segments:
-An original segment on social tolerance (directed by John Landis) -A remake of "Kick the Can" starring Scatman Crothers (directed by Steven Spielberg) -A quasi-reimagining of "It's A Good Life" (directed by Joe Dante) -A pretty straight-up remake of "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (directed by George Miller)
To be clear, none of these segments really "work" from a storytelling or character perspective. The Spielberg one is probably the best, but even that is a pretty shallow re-imagining of Serling's iconic original. Not only do the plots/characters fall flat, but the special effects--while no doubt cutting edge for their time--feel out of place and childish (cartoony, sometimes in a literal sense). So, it is hard to find much cinematic praise for TZ the Movie.
Yet, at the same time, this is clearly an homage to Serling's original Twilight Zone that comes from a well-meaning place. An opening stinger features two guys just talking about the impact the show had on them, and throughout the vignettes we get nods all over the place to the original in character names and locations. Even in casting, the likes of Billy Mumy, Murray Matheson (the clown from "5 Characters in Search of an Exit"), Carol Serling, and other familiar (if now aged) TZ faces appear. Burgess Meredith provides the interstitial narration!
I think what is happening with TZ the Movie--and this is fascinating to me as a longtime "Zoner"--is that a bunch of screenwriters are basically working through their feelings on how/why The Twilight Zone captured their imaginations back in the 1950s/60s. In 1983, without Sci-Fi Channel marathons or critical analysis of Serling, this took the form of "copycat-ism", which of course rarely works (and doesn't here, to be sure). But strictly from a legacy point of view, this film is probably somewhat important in keeping TZ on peoples' radars (if not the way the filmmakers intended) going forward.
Overall, I'll give this production a right-down-the-middle 5 star rating. It doesn't deserve quite that much in terms of dramatic content, but the embedded "easter eggs" for devoted TZ fanatics and just the general "tribute feel" of the piece will be enough to engage the brain to meditate upon Serling's masterpiece legacy.