Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 1.3 “Mr. Denton on Doomsday”

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of The Twilight Zone, Al Denton (Dan Duryea) used to be a notorious old west gunfighter. Now, haunted as the result of killing a teenage boy, Mr. Denton is just the town drunk. However, a salesman subtly named Henry J. Fate (Malcolm Atterbury) comes into town and gives Denton the chance to once again be great. Of course, it all comes with a price and a lesson.

Originally aired on October 16th, 1959, Mr. Denton on Doomsday is one of the earlier episodes of The Twilight Zone. Today, it’s perhaps most interesting for its message of anti-violence. Myself,I just like it because I went to college in Denton, Texas.

Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 3.24 “To Serve Man”

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I shared this episode of The Twilight Zone two years ago for Halloween but the YouTube video has since been taken down. So, here it is again!

There’s a lot I could say about To Serve Man but really, all that needs to be acknowledged is that it’s a classic and features one of the best endings ever.

To Serve Man was written by Rod Serling and directed by Richard L. Bare. It originally aired on March 2nd, 1962.

Bon appetit!

Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 2.18 “The Odyssey of Flight 33”

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Remember how this morning’s movie — Robot Monster — featured dinosaurs?

Well so does tonight’s episode of The Twilight Zone! In The Odyssey of Flight 33, a commercial airline flight somehow flies straight into the past, where they see …. dinosaurs! Now, I’ll be honest here. These are not dinosaurs like the dinosaurs in Jurassic World. But I imagine for 1961, those dinosaurs were pretty impressive!

And this episode holds up as well. I especially love the ambiguous ending.

The Odyssey of Flight 33 originally aired on February 24th, 1961.

Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 2.5 “The Howling Man”

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This is one of my favorite episode of The Twilight Zone. I originally shared it two years ago but it has subsequently been taken off of YouTube. At first, that upset me but then I realized that it gave me the perfect excuse to share it again!

In The Howling Man, American wanderer Dave Ellington (H.M. Wynant) comes across a castle. There’s a man (Robin Hughes) being held prisoner in the castle. Brother Jerome (the great John Carradine) explains that the man is the devil. The man says that Brother Jerome is crazy. Dave Ellington has to decide who to believe.

This well-acted, dream-like episode was written by Charles Beaumont and directed by Douglas Heyes. It originally aired on November 4th, 1960.

Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 3.76 “Still Valley”

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this episode of The Twilight Zone, a Confederate soldier (Gary Merrill) meets an old man (Vaughn Taylor) who claims that, through magic, he can help the Confederacy win the Civil War. However, as often happens when it comes to weird old men and magic, there’s a price that must be paid.

I like this episode, largely because I’m obsessed with three things: history, the Civil War, and magic. And this one has all three!

It originally aired on November 24th, 1961.

Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 1.28 “A Nice Place To Visit”

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this episode of The Twilight Zone, a thief is shot by the police and finds himself in the afterlife. After a life of struggle and crime, the thief finally finds himself with the opportunity to have everything that he’s ever wanted. Even if you’ve never seen this episode before, you’ll probably be able to guess the twist after a minute or two. But it’s still a pretty good episode, featuring good performances from Larry Blyden and Sebastian Cabot and an typically fun script from Charles Beaumont.

A Nice Place To Visit originally aired on April 15th, 1960.

Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 1.17 “The Fever”

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

For tonight’s horror on TV, we have an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled The Fever. In this one, Franklin (Everett Sloane) and his wife Flora (Vivi Janiss) visit Las Vegas. Franklin detests gambling but, once he finds himself in Vegas, he finds himself being pursued by a slot machine that, literally, calls his name.

This episode was written by Rod Serling and directed by Robert Florey. (Reportedly, Serling wrote it after losing a good deal of money in Vegas.) It originally aired on January 29th, 1960.

I like this episode. Everett Sloane, who played the beloved Mr. Bernstein in Citizen Kane, gives a great performance and the taunting slot machine starts out as slightly ludicrous but then becomes genuinely menacing as the episode reaches its conclusion.

Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 5.14 “You Drive”

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this episode of The Twilight Zone, Ollie Pope (Edward Andrews) kills a boy in a hit-and-run accident. Ollie tries to cover up the crime and frame an innocent man. His car, however, has a different idea.

This episode originally aired on January 3rd, 1964.

Horror On TV: Twilight Zone 3.33 — “The Dummy”

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this episode of The Twilight Zone (which was originally aired on May 4th, 1962), a neurotic ventriloquist named Jerry (Cliff Robertson) has a bizarre relationship with his dummy. Not only does Jerry seem to hate his inanimate partner but the dummy doesn’t seem to be too fond of Jerry either.

You’ll probably already figured out The Dummy‘s twist but it’s still extremely well-done, featuring a great performance from Cliff Robertson and expressionistic direction from Abner Biberman.

Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 3.17 “One More Pallbearer”

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this episode of The Twilight Zone, bitter millionaire Paul (Joseph Wiseman, who also played the title character in Dr. No around the same time that this episode as shot) offers three people safety from a nuclear war on one condition. They must apologize to him for insults that are both real and imagined.

This episode originally aired on January 12th, 1962.