Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 3.10 “The Midnight Sun”

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this episode of The Twilight Zone, the Earth has somehow gotten off of orbit is now being drawn closer and closer to the sun. With humanity on the verge of extinction, two women (Lois Nettleton and Betty Garde) struggle to survive as the heat keeps rising.

Full of haunting images of a deserted and sun-baked city, The Midnight Sun is one of the few episodes of The Twilight Zone that has ever given me nightmares. For some reason, the melting painting always gets to me.

This episode was written by Rod Serling and directed by Anton Leader. It was originally broadcast on November 17th, 1961.

Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 4.4 “He’s Alive”

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of the Twilight Zone was originally broadcast on January 24th, 1963 and it’s one of the rare hour-long episodes of the original Twilight Zone. In He’s Alive, a very young Dennis Hopper plays Peter Vollmer, an aspiring Neo-Nazi who isn’t having much luck bringing fascism to America until he meets a mysterious benefactor who teaches him the tricks of the trade.

It’s a pretty good (if heavy-handed) episode, distinguished by both Dennis Hopper’s lead performance and a message that is probably even more relevant today than when the show was first broadcast.

This episode was written by Rod Serling and directed by Stuart Rosenberg.

Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 3.6 “The Mirror”

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of The Twilight Zone is a political allegory about a communist dictator in Central America who gets a magic mirror that, he believes, will reveal who is plotting against me. It’s undeniably heavy-handed but, at the same time, it’s a lot of fun to watch Peter Falk play Fidel Castro.

This episode was written by Rod Serling and directed by Don Medford. It was originally broadcast on October 20th, 1961.

Horror on TV: Are You Afraid of the Dark? 1.8 “The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors”

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I first decided to devote some of October to featuring horror related TV shows, I knew that I’d have to include at least one episode of the classic Nickelodeon TV series Are You Afraid of the Dark? Back in the 90s, Are You Afraid of The Dark? was the best because it was a show about scary things but it was on Nickelodeon so you could watch it without having to worry about your mom coming in the room and making you change the channel.

This episode of Afraid of the Dark continues this sort of mini-vampire theme that we’ve got going. The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors was originally broadcast on October 3rd, 1992.

Horror on TV: Night Galley 2.6 “A Question of Fear/The Devil is Not Mocked”

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Much like Thriller, Night Gallery is an old horror anthology series that I’ve recently discovered thanks to reruns on Me-TV. Airing in the early 70s and hosted by Twilight Zone‘s Rod Serling, Night Gallery usually featured two or three stories per episode and even provided a few early credits for director Steven Spielberg.

Of course, Spielberg didn’t direct the episode below but that’s okay. It’s still pretty good. It tells two stories. In A Question of Fear, Leslie Nielsen plays a mercenary who takes a bet to spend the night in a haunted house. In The Devil Is Not Mocked, Dracula talks about how he fought the Nazis during World War II. Interestingly enough, Dracula is played by Francis Lederer who, 13 years later, played the same role in The Return of Dracula.

The episode of Night Gallery was originally broadcast on October 27th, 1971.

Horror on TV: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Episode 4.7

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s time for another episode of Beyond Belief! This episode was originally broadcast on July 22nd, 2002 and host Jonathan Frakes appears to be even more amused with it all than usual!

Can you figure out what’s fact and what’s fiction?

Horror on TV: Sabrina The Teenage Witch 1.5 “A Halloween Story”

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I used to love watching Sabrina The Teenage Witch when I was younger! This was mostly because I wanted to grow up to be a teenage witch.

Sabrina’s very first Halloween episode was first broadcast on October 25th, 1996. In A Halloween Story, Sabrina must use magic (surprise! surprise!) in order to be able to attend two Halloween parties at the same time. As so often happens with Sabrina, the laughs are surprisingly clever and the ending is nicely heart-warming.

Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 2.28 “Will The Real Martin Please Stand Up?”

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of The Twilight Zone examines what happens when a freak snow storm breaks out, a bus makes a stop at a late night diner, and reports come in of a UFO landing somewhere in the area. The fun starts once the bus driver realizes that he has an extra passenger. Who is the alien? Or, any other words: Will the real Martian please stand up? This episode is a classic example of how a group of strangers trapped in one location can be used to generate a lot of suspense. It has a great ending as well!

This episode was originally broadcast on May 26th, 1961. It was written by Rod Serling and directed by Montgomery Pittman.

Horror on TV: Twilight Zone 1.8 “Time Enough At Last”

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this early episode of The Twilight Zone, poor and meek Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith) is literally the last man on Earth and that suits him just fine. He finally has time to read everything that he’s always wanted to read. This episode is best remembered for Burgess Meredith’s eccentric lead performance and the somewhat mean-spirited twist ending.

Horror on TV: The Twilight Zone 3.8 “It’s A Good Life”

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Don’t think bad thoughts or Anthony Freemont will turn you into a giant jack in the box!

That’s lesson to be learned from tonight’s example of televised horror. In this classic episode of The Twilight Zone, the citizens of Peaksville always have to be happy or else they’ll be punished by the cruel monster that lives among them. The big twist, of course, is that the monster is just a little boy and sometimes, it’s difficult to predict what exactly is going to upset him.

It’s A Good Life was originally broadcast on November 3rd, 1961.