Well, I just got The Twilight Zone: Definitive Edition season 1 and all I can say is, "wow". I'm embarrassed to admit I bought it blind and had never seen the show before.

In general I loved the bizarre plots, eerie subtexts and sudden twists. Which feature length dvd movies or other shows would you folks recommend (can be from any era)?

Well, of course there are the other entries in the franchise: The '80s version of the show which ran for 3 seasons, Season 1 of which is now out on DVD; there's the new 2002 version hosted by Forest Whitaker which is out on DVD; and of course there's Twilight Zone: The Movie which so far is only available on VHS. Other TV series you might want to check out that are along the lines of TZ:

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (there's the original series which ran from 1955-1965, and the '80s version which ran from 1985-1989)
The Outer Limits (there's the original series which ran from 1963-1965, and the '90s version that ran from 1995-2002)
Night Gallery (1969-1973) - this is the show Rod Serling did after TZ
Tales from the Darkside (1983-1988)
The Hitchhiker (1983-1991)
Amazing Stories (1985-1987)
Tales from the Crypt (1989-1996)

For movies, I'd recommend these (they're more on the macabre/horror side though):

Twice Told Tales (1963)
Black Sabbath (1963)
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
The Vault of Horror (1973)
Trilogy of Terror (1975)
Creepshow (1982)
Cat's Eye (1985)
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)

Plus there are a lot of movies that play almost like long episodes of TZ:

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Soylent Green (1973)
The Dead Zone (1983)
They Live (1988)
Spoorloos (a.k.a. The Vanishing) (1988)
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
The Game (1997)
Cube (1997)
Dark City (1998)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Unbreakable (2000)
Memento (2000)
Identity (2003)

To name a few.

Other shows:

The X-Files
Millennium


Movies:

I'll second The Game, Cube and Identity, listed above.

Also:
The Forgotten (2004)
Dead End (2003)
eXistenZ (1999)
Lost Highway (1997)
The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
Dark City (1998)
Disturbing Behavior (1998)
Abandon (2002)
Donnie Darko (2001 & 2004)
Final Destination (2000)
Frequency (2000)
Vanilla Sky (2001)
The Village (2004)
After Hours (1985)
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Solaris (2002)
Till Human Voices Wake Us (2001)
Total Recall (1990)

All of the above have Twilight Zone elements/influences.

A few others:

It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Mirage (1965)
Dying Room Only (1973)
Somewhere in Time (1980)
Altered States (1980)
Angel Heart (1987)
Frantic (1988)
Millennium (1989)
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Shattered (1991)
Dead Again (1991)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
12 Monkeys (1995)
Event Horizon (1997)
Breakdown (1997)
Vana espuma (1998)
Sphere (1998)
The Matrix (1999)
Hellraiser: Inferno (2000)
The Others (2001)
Soul Survivors (2001)
Frailty (2001)
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
The Eye (a.k.a. Jian gui) (2002)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Jacket (2005)

Just wanted to point out that Dark City is a great movie, can be had for cheap (less than $10 on DVD), and is the only movie that I know of that has a commentary by Roger Ebert.

Other movies already listed that I know about and that I want to give my vote of approval for are:

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Dead Zone (1983)
They Live (1988) (starrying Rowdy Roddy Piper!)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
12 Monkeys (1995)

And instead of Vanilla Sky, I recommend the Spanish film "Open Your Eyes" ("Abre Los Ojos"), which was remade in English as Vanilla Sky (Penelepe Cruz was in both movies). Alejandro Amenabar was the director, he also directed Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside), which just won best foreign picture (though not a twilight zone-type movie), and he also directed The Others with Nicole Kidman (which does of fit as a twilight zone-type movie).

I haven't seen The Cube, Donny Darko, Identity, or The Game, I'll need to check those out.

What awesome movie suggestions above. This genre is my cup of tea. The only warning I want to give you is that if you buy the 1980s version of 'The New Twilight Zone' on DVD do not expect much as far as video quality. The transfer is absolutely atrocious, considering the show is only twenty years old.

However, with that being said, I still had to buy that version of the series because it contains some of my favorite episodes of the series including "A Matter of Minutes", "Monsters", "Dead Run" and "Profile in Silver".

Another movie that has a similiar Twilight Zone feel as do the other films already listed is "Being John Malkovich" . Loved that film.

Tim :-)

I own both versions and for me, Vanilla Sky is the far superior version because .....

(Not spoilers if you've seen at least ONE of the two films)


Oh you do. Sounds like you'll love 'em

Another "plays like a long episode of the Twilight Zone" movie you might want to check out is "Miracle Mile," starring Anthony Edwards years before "E.R." On DVD it's available only in full screen, if I remember correctly, so it might be more of a rental than a purchase...

A truly excellent film! Good call!

Yeah I'd recommend The New Twilight Zone: Season 1. The video quality is spotty but that's probably because they didn't have a good master to transfer from. Lots of great stories in there, though.

Cocoon?

Yeah, lots of good movie suggestions. Especially "Sixth Sense" and "The Village." Both are heavily influenced by TZ.

I'd also recommend The New Twilight Zone (80s series).

This is the box cover:



Not to be confused with this one (from a few years ago) that's probably best avoided:

I thought the Forest Whitaker TZ wasn't too bad - there were a few good episodes. Overall, the '80s version is better, and both are left completely in the dust by the original. And I'll throw another vote out there for Miracle Mile too - I should have thought of it considering I just saw it for the first time last week and loved it. God it sucks that it's in Foolscreen.

I watched a film last night that was fantastic and immediately thought of this thread for it's Twilight Zone like plot.

The I Inside with Ryan Phillippe, Piper Perabo and Sarah Polley.

Really blew me away!

I think Fahrenheit 451 (1966) would be a good fit.

A bit of a stretch perhaps, but I'd say Blowup (1966) as well.

I would say these have a creepy edge to them.

Also The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (1959) but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available on video at all

I just wanted to stress what was briefly mentioned in the first response... if you enjoyed The Twilight Zone, you will likely enjoy the original Outer Limits program. The whole show is available from MGM in two DVD sets. Fantastic program!

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Seven Days in May, written by Rod Serling, and directed by his close friend John Frankehiemer. Starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, it's more of a tense political thriller than a TZ, but it is 100% Rod Serling. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I've seen Open Your Eyes five or six times, and Vanilla Sky only once (when it came out).



Again, I've only seen Vanilla Sky once, maybe a repeat viewing is warranted. I'll check for it on the dollar rack next time I'm at the video store.

Moving to Movie Talk Forum.

- David Stein

The Trigger Effect reminds me of a feature-length Twilight Zone episode.

cheers,

-the Jesus

Some other TV stuff:

Friday the 13th: The Series (1987-1990) - no real relation to the movie series
Freddy's Nightmares (1988-1990) - no real relation to the movie series
Wild Palms (1993)
Earth: Final Conflict (1997-2002)
Taken (2002)
The Dead Zone (2002-present)

Some other anthology films:

Tales of Terror (1962)
Kaiden (1964)
The House That Dripped Blood (1970)
From Beyond the Grave (1973)
Dead of Night (1977)
Nightmares (1983)
Tales of the Third Dimension (1984)
Creepshow 2 (1987)
The Willies (1991)
Body Bags (1993)
Trilogy of Terror II (1996)
Campfire Tales (1997) - not to be confused with the utterly horrible Campfire Stories
Terror Tract (2000)
Strange Frequency (2001)

Some other movies:

Dead of Night (1945)
The Thing from Another World (1951)
Invaders from Mars (1953)
Village of the Damned (1960)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
The Doomsday Flight (1966) - another great Serling-penned Thriller
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
The Omega Man (1971)
THX 1138 (1971)
Slaughter-House Five (1972)
Westworld (1973)
Sisters (1973)
Where Have All the People Gone? (1974)
The Terminal Man (1974)
Futureworld (1976)
Logan's Run (1976)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Coma (1978)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
The Final Countdown (1980)
Looker (1981)
Brainstorm (1983)
The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)
Dreamscape (1984)
The Terminator (1984)
The Quiet Earth (1985)
Flatliners (1990)
The Dark Half (1993)
Body Snatchers (1993)
The Puppet Masters (1994)
Brainscan (1994)
Hideaway (1995)
Phantoms (1998)
The Nineth Gate (1999)
The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
Xchange (2000)
Secret Window (2004)

The Machinist has a Twilight Zone-esque plot and score