Sonny brought back some cool memories in the 80's thread so instead of derailing that one, I'll post here. So what's your favorite episode of these type of shows (Twilight Zone, Tales from the Darkside/Crypt, Outer Limits, Monsters, etc.)? Mine had to be an episode from the 80's run of Twilight Zone. **spoilers, in case anyone out there is watching fifteen year old taped broadcasts** This struggling couple is visited by a man who offers them a substantial sum of money. All they have to do to get the money is press a button. The catch is, that once they push the button someone that they don't know, somewhere will die. The death will not be traced back to them, but it will be a result of their pushing the button. The man gives them time to make a decision, so the bulk of the episode is spent with the couple debating whether or not to push the button. Every excuse and possibility is examined, and they even throw away the box with the button for awhile but later dig it out of the dumpster and they justify and eventually do push it. Sure enough, the man shows up with the money... Then he requests the box as it is needed by someone else now. "But who are you taking it to?" one of the couple asks... "To someone you don't know." EDIT: on second thought, that might not be Twilight Zone... Forgive me, I was like six when I saw it...
I was a fan of the Outer Limits. Never really saw any of the other shows you mentioned. I like shows that make me think like they do though. Have you ever seen the series Psi Factor with Dan Akroyd?
Antisonic - I kid you not - when I opened this thread about Twighlight Zone I was wondering if was about the button pushing episode, and sure enough.... My alltime favorite...
I like the old TZ with Agnes Moorehead battling the invaders of her crude little home. There's not a word of dialogue until the last 3 minutes when it is revealed that the spaceship she is destroying with her broom is from the U.S. Another TZ that gives me the creeps to this day is the one where the invalid spinster keeps getting these telephone calls through the night-- just unintelligible moaning. They persist and persist. Finally she manages to trace the origin of the call back to a fallen telephone line into a graveyard onto the grave of her long-dead fiancee from her youth. Man, I get goosebumps just typing this synopsis!
The one old TZ episode that creeped me out is the one in which the ventriloquist was "transformed" into his dummy and the dummy transformed into the ventriloquist. That episode reminded me of an even scarier episode from Alfred Hitchcock Presents in which a woman falls in love with this ventriloquist only to realize that he is a dummy and the dummy is the actual ventriloquist! Alfred Hitchcock Hour was not as good as Alfred Hitchcock Presents but had some scary ones like "An Unlocked Window" and "The Jar" (written by Ray Bradbury).
Forgot about the one where that guy gets psychic powers from landing a coin on its edge when flipping it. Not scary at all, just a cute little story... Shame on you guys for not mentioning "Time Enough at Last." Outlaw: that was "Freddy's Nightmares."
I remember a favorite "Tales from the Crypt" episode. A scientist discovered the area of a cat's brain that allows a cat to have 9 lives. So he gets a volunteer to allow him to implant this part of a cat's brain into his own. The volunteer awakes from the operation and agrees to let the scientist kill him to see if he comes back to life. Sure enough, he comes back to life. The scientist wants to study him, but the volunteer decides he wants to make some money. So he joins a circus and has himself killed in very inventive and entertaining ways. After 7 shows, and tons of money, he decides to perform his last and greatest stunt, since it will be his eighth death and he can live out his ninth life with all his money. So after loads of advertising and hype buildup, he has a casket brought out and he gets inside, so the he can be buried alive. The crew is not supposed to dig him up for one week. He gets in, he gets lowered into his grave, and gets buried. So now he's lying there, waiting to die, think about the previous 7 deaths, when it suddenly dawned on him...the cat had to die once to get the piece of brain needed for him to have the other 8 lives! He had miscounted by one. The show ended with him screaming to be unburied, while circus goers idly walked over his grave.
Man, that other thread has had me searching for any episodes I can find of Monsters / TZ. If anyone finds some let me know, I've seen some on Amazon and Ebay, nothing good yet though. Speaking of The Outer Limits, I really like the new episodes from Showtime. The "Sand Kings" was excellent, with Beau Bridges. Basically he is a scientist working on rocks brought back from Mars, he finds some life on the rocks and steals one. He then grows them in a big sand pit in his barn and they are just some amazing creatures. They sculpt sand formations and worship the scientist. I think they even made a follow-up episode to this one, I'm not sure though. Good thread Anti!
Unsovled Mysteries could get creepy somtimes. I remember one particular episode where this dude keep seeing a lady dressed in white and she kept appearing in the backseat of his car and ****. the thought of that freaked me out very much.
The Rod Serling-Twilight Zone shows were the most thought provoking shows to ever grace the small screen. Impossible to pick just one, every one was unique and a pleasurre to watch. This is one that comes to mind: Sunnyvale Rest, a home for the aged, a dying place, and a common children's game called kick the can that will shortly become a refuge for a man who knows he will die in this world if he doesn't escape into the Twilight Zone. Charles Whitley, resident of the Sunnyvale Rest Home, is in a very excited mood as he is certain that his son is coming to take him home today. Unfortunately, Charles misunderstood what his son meant. His son was planning on just talking with Charles about the possibility of taking him home, and his son ends up leaving without him. Most of the residents of the Sunnyvale Rest Home have witnessed this and they feel bad for Charles. Charles starts to walk back to the home when he notices a group of kids nearby playing kick the can. The can is kicked in his direction and Charles bends over to pick it up. As one of the kids tries to tell him that he's got their can, Charles ignores him and sits down against a tree, firmly holding onto the can. Later that day, Charles is watching the kids play kick the can from his bedroom window. He also still has the can that he took earlier in the day. One of Charles's roommates, Ben Conroy, walks in and starts complaining about the noise the kids are making. Charles defends the kids, claiming that they always go where the grass is located. Ben notices that something is wrong with Charles. Talking about what happened earlier that day, Charles tries to rationalize why his son didn't take him home. The conversation turns back to the kids outside and Charles realizes that kids begin to grow old the minute they stop playing games. Then he starts to talk about magic and how Ben used to believe in magic. He wants to know what changed. Ben explains that he grew up, that's all, and that everybody gets old. But that reasoning gives Charles an idea. He theorizes that staying young is merely a state of mind, that the fountain of youth is a way of looking at things. Ben tries to reason with Charles, telling him that he's old simply because of time. Charles can't be reasoned with, though, as he thinks he has found the secret to staying young. Ben is worried about Charles's behavior so he goes to talk with Mr. Cox, the superintendent of Sunnyvale Rest Home. Mr. Cox reassures Ben that he did the right thing in coming to see him. After they talk, they run into Charles and he appears to be in a very good mood. He rolls a wheelchair at them then walks outside. Then he tries to give the other residents sitting on the porch a pep talk. Part of his speech includes a mention of running through sprinklers, and when he notices a lawn sprinkler going he decides to start running through it. The other residents are shocked at Charles's action, none more so than Ben and Mr. Cox. Mr. Cox quickly grabs Charles and hands him off to the nurse with strict instructions of a fresh shower and off to bed. Mr. Cox then tells Ben that he's going to have to isolate Charles for awhile, mainly for observation. Before Charles can be isolated, Ben tries to talk some sense into Charles. His advice is to just act like everybody else for awhile. Charles says that maybe Ben is right, but that night, after everybody is asleep, he rounds up most of the residents - excluding Ben - and holds a meeting. At the meeting, he pitches that they play kick the can right then and there in order to find the secret of youth. The other residents are skeptical, but Charles's impassioned speech and enthusiam eventually wins them over. Charles then goes to tell Ben what is happening, but Ben still doesn't believe in Charles's idea. He turns down Charles's offer to play kick the can. While the rest of the residents distract the nurse with a firecracker in order to sneak outside, Ben goes to Mr. Cox to warn him about what Charles and the residentals are planning on doing. They both run out onto the front lawn, only to find nobody but kids running around. Mr. Cox goes around back looking for the other residents, but Ben realizes that the kid right in front of him is Charles. Ben pleads with Charles to take him as well, but the kid runs off into the trees. Mr. Cox tracks down Ben and says that he thinks Charles took the residents down to the orchard. As he runs off, Ben knows that Mr. Cox won't find them there... Sunnyvale Rest, a dying place for ancient people who have forgotten the fragile magic of youth. A dying place for those who have forgotten that childhood, maturity and old age are curiously intertwined and not separate. A dying place for those who have grown too stiff in their thinking to visit the Twilight Zone. Excellent site that has almost every episode (156 of them) http://www.thetzsite.com/pages/episodes/index.html
I love the version of that one that they did for the TZ movie.. Scatman Crothers was great in that one..always loved that guy. RIP greta call onthat one Anti.. thats a classic TZ one that I always remember...Burgess Meredith as Mr. Henry Bemis... Episode Summary Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the printed page but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a world full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just a moment Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or clocks or anything else. He'll have a world all to himself without anyone. another favorite movie that I think would go along with this topic. Creepshow. I especially love the Crate...where the guy feeds his loud mouth wife(Adrienne Barbeau) to the monster in the crate. and the last one where the mean old guy gets overwhelmed by roaches was freakin nasty... thanks for the link Finn..I could spend hours browsing through there.
