A great idea was hatched to have four new fresh directors creating four different stories in the mold of or taken from the Rod Serling classic TV show THE TWILIGHT ZONE mould. Three of the four stories were actually based on episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Unfortunately, it is a mixed bag, going from boring and blah to great. Not to mention great actor Vic Morrow died while on the set with two children, so I always find it kind of difficult to watch the opening segment where Morrow is the star.
Last night was Halloween night, so I figured the wife and I could sit down after handing the candy out to the trick or treaters and enjoy an old classic. It was the first time she had ever seen it before.
There is a prologue written and directed by John Landis that sets up the whole film it has Albert Brooks and Dan Aykroyd driving in a car down the highway. It is great because it gets me singing along with these comedians to "The Midnight Special" by CCR. But, at the same time the segment does go on just a little too long (my wife agreed with me on this front and actually pointed it out before I could). But, that seems to go along well with this mixed bag. The first story is also written and directed by John Landis. Vic Morrow plays racist Bill Connor. In turn he is shown what it is like to be people of another race being in World War II chased by the Nazis, the KKK in the deep south and shot at by US troops during the Vietnam War. Also stars Charles Hallahan, Steven Williams and John Larroquette. While it is a very good segment it also is a little uneasy to me, because Morrow died along with two children when a helicopter crashed into to three of them. Extremely sad and horrific. I do think the film should have been shut down and cancelled. According to this site the other segments had not even been filmed yet. The second story is my least favourite. Written by George Clayton Johnson, Richard Matheson and Melissa Mathison. Directed by Steven Spielberg. I am expecting this to an excellent segment with the talents involed, but in the end while yes it is well filmed, well lit and well acted it ist just boring and predictable. Scatman Crothers plays Mr. Bloom who would like some of the elderly folk at an old age home to play kick the can and find their younger-selves. This segment also stars Priscilla Pointer. To me this is one of the weakest films that Spielberg has directed. The third story is written by Richard Matheson and directed by Joe Dante. This is where the film starts picking up speed and gets much better to me. My wife actually found this entry very creepy. I do love the lighting and colours in this segment. I really enjoyed this segment although the ending is kind of a minor let down. It is the story of a little boy named Anthony (Jeremy Licht) who is hit while riding his bike by a woman named Helen Foley (Kathleen Quinlan). She rides him home, but soon finds out some secrets about the little boy and some powers he has. This segment also stars Dante regulars Kevin McCarthy and Dick Miller. Also has some nice, cartoony effects by the great Rob Bottin. The final segment to me is the best as we have John Lithgow in an amazing performance as a nervous air passenger that is currently flying through a terrible storm. Thing is he soon believes that there is a gremlin outside the plane and it trying to take the plane down. This was written by Richard Matheson and directed by George Miller. Also stars Donna Dixon. Effects by Craig Reardon and Micheal McCracken. Burgess Meredith also acts as the narrator for the film (which he does a very good job at).
If you do watch it just remember that some elements are great and some are not. To me a very good thing is it does get better once you get through the first half.
Last night was Halloween night, so I figured the wife and I could sit down after handing the candy out to the trick or treaters and enjoy an old classic. It was the first time she had ever seen it before.
There is a prologue written and directed by John Landis that sets up the whole film it has Albert Brooks and Dan Aykroyd driving in a car down the highway. It is great because it gets me singing along with these comedians to "The Midnight Special" by CCR. But, at the same time the segment does go on just a little too long (my wife agreed with me on this front and actually pointed it out before I could). But, that seems to go along well with this mixed bag. The first story is also written and directed by John Landis. Vic Morrow plays racist Bill Connor. In turn he is shown what it is like to be people of another race being in World War II chased by the Nazis, the KKK in the deep south and shot at by US troops during the Vietnam War. Also stars Charles Hallahan, Steven Williams and John Larroquette. While it is a very good segment it also is a little uneasy to me, because Morrow died along with two children when a helicopter crashed into to three of them. Extremely sad and horrific. I do think the film should have been shut down and cancelled. According to this site the other segments had not even been filmed yet. The second story is my least favourite. Written by George Clayton Johnson, Richard Matheson and Melissa Mathison. Directed by Steven Spielberg. I am expecting this to an excellent segment with the talents involed, but in the end while yes it is well filmed, well lit and well acted it ist just boring and predictable. Scatman Crothers plays Mr. Bloom who would like some of the elderly folk at an old age home to play kick the can and find their younger-selves. This segment also stars Priscilla Pointer. To me this is one of the weakest films that Spielberg has directed. The third story is written by Richard Matheson and directed by Joe Dante. This is where the film starts picking up speed and gets much better to me. My wife actually found this entry very creepy. I do love the lighting and colours in this segment. I really enjoyed this segment although the ending is kind of a minor let down. It is the story of a little boy named Anthony (Jeremy Licht) who is hit while riding his bike by a woman named Helen Foley (Kathleen Quinlan). She rides him home, but soon finds out some secrets about the little boy and some powers he has. This segment also stars Dante regulars Kevin McCarthy and Dick Miller. Also has some nice, cartoony effects by the great Rob Bottin. The final segment to me is the best as we have John Lithgow in an amazing performance as a nervous air passenger that is currently flying through a terrible storm. Thing is he soon believes that there is a gremlin outside the plane and it trying to take the plane down. This was written by Richard Matheson and directed by George Miller. Also stars Donna Dixon. Effects by Craig Reardon and Micheal McCracken. Burgess Meredith also acts as the narrator for the film (which he does a very good job at).
If you do watch it just remember that some elements are great and some are not. To me a very good thing is it does get better once you get through the first half.