Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Twilight Zone: The Movie (PG)

"You want to see something that is sometimes scary?"

An anthology of suspense stories presented by some of the 80s best directors as an homage to the late great Rod Serling's television show is dragged down by an on set tragedy and subsequent bad press matched with several mediocre efforts that rewrote and shortened beloved TV versions of Twilight Zone episodes.

1st up is John Landis' (A Werewolf In London) piece that was untimely end of veteran actor Vic Morrow and child costars in a deadly onset helicopter accident and subsequently Landis' career as a director due to negligence.  The segment isn't much anyway, especially with the pall of three deaths on its shoulders.  An outdated man out of time story, a racist and anti-Semite somehow finds himself in Nazi occupied 1943 with the gestapo on his heels.  Sad for all involved.

2nd is Steven Spielberg's (1942) retelling of a Zone episode that already didn't hold up very well by the 80s, Old people mysteriously grow young by kicking the can.  Tedious and sappy nostalgia.

3rd up is the cartoonishly freakout retelling of a child with amazing powers done by Joe Dante (Gremlins).  The child can make anything happen with a thought, and a child being raised on Looney Tunes and PBJ sammiches leads to a lethal combination.  When a new visitor is brought into his influence, will her maternal instincts free the world of this menace or lock us all in his house of childish horrors.  Genuinely creepy.

Lastly, remaking one of the TZs most famous episodes, George Miller (Mad Max) directs the story of a man with a fear of flying strapping in for the flight of his life as something out on the wing is sabotaging the plane and NO ONE WILL LISTEN TO HIM.  John Lithgow has big shoes to fill as William "Jim T Kirk" Shatner played the role for television, but then John apparently has huge feet.  Stupendous tension that does the original justice, and only segment that truly lives up to the film's title and love of the Zone.  Great.

There is also a cameo in the Prologue and Epilogue with Dan Aykroyd as a driver obsessed with scares and Creedance music, but in the end is it worth all the effort?  The movie is a sad reminder to leave well enough alone, and if it comes close to justifying its existence its overall failure and tragedy prove its downfall.

Overall Review:  5.5 Just how Sweaty can Lithgow get out of 10 (MEDIOCRE)