Rating: 2.5/5
Hooptober 6.0 | 15/32 | Makeup: Rob Bottin
Wouldn’t it be great to see imaginative directors — Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, John Landis, and George Miller — make their own Twilight Zone-themed shorts? Well, too bad — they’re remaking old episodes you’ve already seen.
Richard Matheson is the actual star — his two segments are the good parts of the anthology. Everything else ranges from dull to abysmal.
Prologue - John Landis ** Midnight Special plays on the tape deck as Albert Brooks and Dan Aykroyd drive down the highway, singing along. Oh, Jesus, the cassette tape comes off the spool and spits out onto the dash. What will they do now? Bore the hell out of you for a few minutes.
Back There/A Quality of Mercy Mash-Up - John Landis * Vic Morrow plays a racist bigot who goes back in time to hang with assorted racist groups. But for a “rule of threes” thing, he also fights for the Viet Cong.
John Landis kills him and two illegally hired child actors — Renee Shin-Yi Chen and Myca Dinh Le — in a real-life helicopter accident that was, understandably, cut.
Steven Williams shows up to ask Morrow to shut up.
Kick the Can Remake - Steven Spielberg ** Scatman Crothers plays a certain Magical trope, allowing a retirement home of white people to relive childhoods and learn the true meaning of “inner child.”
It’s a lifeless script. Incredibly, it took three people to write the screenplay.
It’s a Good Life Remake - Joe Dante ***.5 Richard Matheson’s script takes the original concept and gives us Helen Foley as our audience surrogate to learn what is unusual about the town she’s traveling through. It also fixes the unsatisfying ending.
This segment is legitimately unsettling. The house design and all the practical effects are so fun! Sally Cruikshank’s animations are nightmare fuel.
What a stacked cast
- Kathleen Quinlan crushes it.
- Hey Dick Miller! This will be the sixth movie I’ve seen him in this year.
- This might be the first time I’ve seen Nancy Cartwright acting.
- Kevin McCarthy is appropriately unhinged.
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet Remake - George Miller *** John Lithgow plays William Shatner’s role as a guy who sees a Gremlin on the wing of his plane. Matheson adapts his short story a second time. I don’t think he changes much of anything, letting the updated effects and unhinged Lithgow justify its existence. Also, George Miller’s wacky cinematography helps.