Anne Barton | Through the Shattered Lens

As Halloween comes to a close, so does both horror month here at the Shattered Lens and our series of televised horrors. What better way to finish out this feature than with one of the best known and most popular episodes of The Twilight Zone?

There’s a lot I could say about The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street but really, all that needs to be acknowledged is that it’s a classic and it features one of the best endings ever. As well, it also contains an important message about paranoia and conformity that remains as relevant today as when the episode was first broadcast.

The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street was written by Rod Serling and directed by Ron Winston. The episode was originally broadcast on March 4th, 1960.

This is one of my favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone! In Shadow Play, a man (Dennis Weaver) is curiously unconcerned about being on death row. According to him, it’s all just a recurring dream and everyone around him — the other prisoners, the District Attorney, the judge, the jury, and everyone else — is just a part of his dream. As the other characters start to realize that Weaver could be telling the truth, they’re forced to consider what will happen when he either wakes up or starts the dream over…

I love this one. It’s just a lot of fun and not quite as heavy-handed as some of The Twilight Zone‘s other attempts at social commentary.

This was originally broadcast on May 5th, 1961. It was directed by John Brahm and written by Charles Beaumont.