Highlights
- The Twilight Zone delves into the darker side of life through morality plays that examine the human condition with supernatural and fantastical elements.
- The scariest stories from The Twilight Zone hold up today, with episodes like “You Drive” and “Nightmare As A Child” delivering tension and psychological terror.
- “The New Exhibit” and “The Dummy” explore obsession and fear, while “Living Doll” combines effective horror moments with a human interest story.
The Twilight Zone ranks among the finest anthology television shows of the twentieth century. Created and hosted by Rod Serling, the series delves into the darker side of life, with morality plays that examine the human condition through supernatural or fantastical lenses. There is justice in The Twilight Zone, but it is far more likely to punish wrongdoers than to reward those who do good.
RELATED: The Twilight Zone: Best Episodes Of The 1985 Revival
Such a moral compass lends itself to the horror genre. Throughout its initial 156-episode run (the franchise was rebooted several times over the following decades), Serling’s anthology terrified audiences with dark tales of spooky dolls, evil cars, and strange things that go bump in the night. While it has been over 50 years since the debut of The Twilight Zone, its scariest stories hold up today.
8 “You Drive”
- Season 5, Episode 14
The haunted car is a classic trope of horror fiction, having been explored in Stephen King’s Christine and reinvented in the far future in Star Trek: Voyager‘s “Alice.” The Twilight Zone offers its own take on the concept in “You Drive,” in which a man guilty of killing a child in a hit-and-run accident is pursued by his possessed car.
“You Drive” ramps up the tension by revealing the haunted car’s powers one at a time. At first, it is merely disruptive, flashing its lights and honking its horn during the night. However, as the episode continues, the car begins to grow more active in its attempts to bring its driver to justice. While the episode is unlikely to give anyone nightmares, it’s a great glimpse into The Twilight Zone‘s most haunted reaches.
7 “Nightmare As A Child”
- Season 1, Episode 29
Horror stories can feature masked murderers, killer clowns, or extradimensional monsters, but they can also focus on a more mundane kind of terror. “Nightmare As A Child” deals with the theme of repressed memories, as a young woman struggles to piece together what happened on the night of her mother’s murder, many years prior.
RELATED: Best Twilight Zone Twist Endings, Ranked
“Nightmare As A Child” is as much a detective story as it is an example of terror, but the episode goes to show how ghosts can be psychological as well as ectoplasmic. A well-realized atmosphere and sense of creeping dread make this early episode an underrated gem, and one that’s bound to result in goosebumps.
6 “Nothing In The Dark”
- Season 3, Episode 16
There are different kinds of terror, from the folk horror of films like The Wicker Man to the torture frenzy of franchises like Saw. While these subgenres differ in many ways, they both share a common ingredient: a fascination with the concept of death. The Twilight Zone treads similar ground in “Nothing In The Dark,” in which an old woman fears the arrival of the Grim Reaper.
“Nothing In The Dark” is a tense and often disturbing look at one woman’s desperate quest to delay the inevitable. That the episode is rooted in such a universal human fear adds to its power, while strong performances (including by Hollywood star Robert Redford) make “Nothing In The Dark” essential viewing for fans eager to test their courage.
5 “The New Exhibit”
- Season 4, Episode 13
As part of The Twilight Zone‘s fourth season, “The New Exhibit” makes use of a doubled runtime to depict an obsessive man’s descent into madness. Martin Senescu works at a failing waxworks museum. When he learns that the museum is going to be replaced by a supermarket, he swears to preserve the museum’s most important exhibit – its collection of wax serial killers.
RELATED: The Twilight Zone: Best Episodes Of The Original Series, Ranked
“The New Exhibit” blurs the line between reality and delusion as Senescu becomes increasingly paranoid about looking after the wax figures. But just how far is he willing to go to keep them safe? “The New Exhibit” is a chilling exploration of murder, madness, and limitless obsession, and represents one of The Twilight Zone‘s most horrific installments.
4 “The After Hours”
- Season 1, Episode 34
Contemporary Internet horror demonstrates a fascination with liminal spaces, unsettling locations that inspire fear or unease in individuals. While modern-day gamers can explore the spooky Backrooms, viewers of The Twilight Zone delved into similar spaces decades earlier. Bus stations, airplanes, and abandoned malls all formed the backdrop for classic episodes.
“The After Hours” sees a young woman visit a department store only to receive some very strange customer service. An initially uncanny atmosphere soon escalates into outright terror as the woman finds herself trapped in the mall at night—only to learn that she may not be alone. “The After Hours” is commonly regarded as one of The Twilight Zone‘s finest episodes, and it still holds the power to terrify.
3 “Night Call”
- Season 5, Episode 9
Black Mirror, which is sometimes regarded as a successor to The Twilight Zone, often shows how technology can lead to some truly spooky situations. However, this was a theme also present in the original Twilight Zone, as evidenced in “Night Call,” in which an old woman is disturbed by troubling phone calls in the dead of night.
At first, the calls consist of static; then, basic words can be heard; then, full sentences emerge. The mysterious calls terrify the old woman, but she is even more shocked when she discovers where they are coming from. “Night Call” is tragic as well as scary, and the episode’s ending ranks among the show’s most heartbreaking.
2 “The Dummy”
- Season 3, Episode 33
Sufferers of automatonophobia are well-served by the horror genre, which frequently employs ventriloquist dummies to send shivers down the spine. The Twilight Zone is no exception, with two episodes demonstrating how dummies earned their reputation as objects of fear. Of the two, “The Dummy” is certainly the scariest, even for those without the phobia.
RELATED: The Twilight Zone’s Influence On Modern Science Fiction
The episode follows a down-on-his-luck ventriloquist who begins to suspect that his wooden dummy is actually alive (and quite possibly evil). This well-directed slice of horror uses shadows and disembodied voices to ramp up the tension, and the terrifying final twist is one of the show’s finest visual terrors.
1 “Living Doll”
- Season 5, Episode 6
Creepy dolls have scared audiences for decades, most notably in the Chucky franchise. The Twilight Zone explores these terrifying toys in “Living Doll,” in which a man grows increasingly suspicious of his stepdaughter’s new playmate, the so-called “Talky Tina.” Talky Tina is meant to comfort children with a cute catchphrase, but this particular doll demonstrates a troubling violent streak.
As well as featuring one of television’s creepiest toys, “Living Doll” explores themes of masculinity and impotence. The episode’s infertile protagonist resents his stepdaughter, and it appears that his hatred of Talky Tina may be a projection of his insecurities. However, as it becomes clearer that there is more to the doll than meets the eye, he is offered the chance to reconnect with his troubled family—assuming that Talky Tina doesn’t get to them first. “Living Doll” combines effective horror moments with a human interest story to produce what many consider to be the franchise’s scariest moment.
Leave a Reply