Four horror/science-fiction segments directed by four of Hollywood’s famous directors based on TV’s most popular anthology series, bookened by a funny and scary prologue and epilogue. In the first story (a vague remake of the Twilight Zone episode “A Quality of Mercy”), a loud-mouthed bigoted businessman with an intense hatred for Jews, blacks, and Asians, gets the tables turned on him when he walks out a bar and is inexplicably transported back in time to being pursued by Nazis in 1940′s France, then as an African-American at a KKK rally in the 1950s Deep South, and as a Vietnamese in 1960s Vietnam. In the second story (a remake of ‘Kick the Can’), an old man arrives at a retirement home and makes the wishes of the residents come true when he magically transforms them into youthful incarnations of their days gone by. In the third story (a remake of ‘It’s a Good Life’), a young woman on the road gives a ride to a mysterious 10-year-old boy to his house and ends up trapped with other people in an alternate reality created by the boy’s imagination. The fourth story (a remake of ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet) features a passenger on an airline whom sees, but cannot convince anyone, a mysterious creature on the outside wing of the airplane trying to sabotage the aircraft.

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
  • Rating: (14,973 votes)
  • Tagline:You're travelling through another dimension. A dimension, not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone! »
  • Runtime:101 minutes
  • Directors: Joe Dante, John Landis, George Miller, Steven Spielberg
  • Country:USA
  • Actors:
    Passenger / Ambulance Driver (Prologue / Segment #4)
    Dan Aykroyd
    Car Driver (Prologue)
    Albert Brooks
    Bill Connor (Segment #1)
    Vic Morrow
    Larry (Segment #1)
    Doug McGrath
    Ray (Segment #1)
    Charles Hallahan
    German Officer (Segment #1) (as Remus Peets)
    Rainer Peets
    German Officer (Segment #1)
    Kai Wulff
    Waitress No. 1 (Segment #1)
    Sue Dugan
    Waitress No. 2 (Segment #1)
    Debby Porter
    Bar Patron (Segment #1)
    Steven Williams
  • Genres:Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
  • Producers:
    Jon Davison
    associate producer  
    Jon Davison
    producer (segment 3)  
    Michael Finnell
    associate producer  
    Michael Finnell
    producer (segment 3)  
    George Folsey Jr.
    associate producer: prologue and segment 1  
    Kathleen Kennedy
    associate producer  
    Kathleen Kennedy
    producer (segment 2)  
    John Landis
    producer  
    Frank Marshall
    executive producer  
    Steven Spielberg
    producer  
  • Plots: Four directors collaborated to remake four episodes of the popular television series 'The Twilight Zone' for this movie. The episodes are updated slightly and in color (the television show was in black-and-white), but very true to the originals, where eerie and disturbing situations gradually spin out of control. Written by Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
Twilight Zone: The Movie
  • User's comment:Very good by Wayne Malin (wwaayynnee51@hotmail.com)

    An affectionate homage to the old TV series. Three old episodes were updated and a new one was written. It's also narrated by Burgess Meredith who starred in quite a few of the original TV series episodes.

    It starts off with a quick little prologue with Albert Brooks and Dan Aykroyd. It's quick, funny and provides a nice little jolt.

    The first segment was newly written for the movie. It involves a bitter and racist man (Vic Morrow) getting a taste of his own medicine. This episode is clouded by the three deaths it caused--Morrow was decapitated by a helicopter blade and two Vitenamese children were crushed. John Landis (who directed this) was found not guilty in the deaths. As it stands this isn't very good. It's simplistic and heavy-handed--like a bad Zone episode.

    The second one is directed by Steven Spielberg. It involves an old man (Scatman Crothers) gently bringing to life the old people at a retirement home. I'll be the first to admit that this is way too syrupy--but I have a fondness for it. The acting is good, it has a great music score and, I admit, it leaves me a little misty-eyed.

    The third is directed by Joe Dante. It's a remake about a little boy who can make all of his wishes come true. It's well-directed with some truly incredible special effects and a good performance by Kathleen Quinlan. But it's seriously damaged by a silly happy ending (the original didn't have that). Billy Mumy (the star of the original) has a bit part and Dante regular Dick Miller shows up as Walter Paisley.

    The fourth is the best. It's directed by George Miller and is a remake of the William Shatner episode where he spots a gremlin tearing apart the plane he's flying on. The gremlin in the original looked pretty ridiculous--like a teddy bear. Here John Lithgow plays the passenger and the gremlin is more than a little scary-looking. This segment moves and has a few great jolts. Also Carol Serling (Rod Serling's wife I believe) has a bit part.

    All in all an enjoyable film. I liked it when I saw it in a theatre in 1983 and it still holds up today. I give it an 8.


  • Quotes: Anthony: Th-th-th-that's all, Ethel! Car Passenger: Hey... you wanna see something really scary? Ambulance Driver: So, you had a pretty big scare up there, huh?
  • Also known as: Al filo de la realidad (Argentina), Al filo de la realidad (Mexico), La quatrième dimension (Canada - French title), La quatrième dimension (France), Ai confini della realtà (Italy), Dimensión desconocida (Venezuela), En los límites de la realidad (Spain), Epomenos stathmos: I zoni tou lykofotos (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), Hämärän pelottavat varjot (Finland), Homályzóna (Hungary - imdb display title), La quatrième dimension - le film (France), No Limiar da Realidade (Portugal - imdb display title), No Limite da Realidade (Brazil), På gränsen till det okända (Finland - Swedish title), På grænsen til det ukendte (Denmark), Strefa mroku (Poland - imdb display title), Twilight zone - På gränsen till det okända (Sweden), Unheimliche Schattenlichter (West Germany), Zona sumraka (Serbia),

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