Nothing says Halloween like a good horror anthology, and nothing does the horror anthology better than The Twilight Zone.
Luckily for fans young and old, Rod Serlings groundbreaking series is currently available to stream on the three major streaming sites, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime although Season 4 is only available to subscribers through Hulu making what to watch this Halloween a much easier choice for those looking for quality scares without all the blood and gore. (Common Sense Media rates "The Twlight Zone" for those 10 years old and older.)
So grab some popcorn and get ready to enter a "fifth dimension ... as vast as space and as timeless as infinity ... the middle ground between light and shadow." Here are 10 of the creepiest episodes of The Twilight Zone:
Eye of the Beholder (Season 2, Episode 6): This is one of Serlings most memorable episodes as a writer and a classic example of the kind of gut-punch twists the series is known for. A woman (Molly Sims) goes in for facial surgery to correct her abnormal appearance. The results, however, are anything but expected.
The Dummy (Season 3, Episode 33): Based on a short story by Lee Polk, The Dummy is one of the earliest evil doll stories put on film, and it remains one of the best. Cliff Robertson aka Uncle Ben in Sam Raimis Spider-Man stars as a ventriloquist at the mercy of his own dummy.
Its a Good Life (Season 3, Episode 8): The entire town of Peaksville lives in fear of a capricious 6-year-old with godlike powers in this episode that Time Magazine named the third best Twilight Zone episode ever made.
Time Enough at Last (Season 1, Episode 8): No. 2 on Time magazines list, this careful what you wish for morality tale stars the great Burgess Meredith (Rocky) as a bookworm whose dreams seem to come true when he becomes the lone survivor of an H-bomb, leaving him alone with a library full of books and no one to distract him.
Living Doll (Season 5, Episode 6): Another evil doll episode, this one was a more direct influence on things like the Childs Play series and 2014s Annabelle, featuring a murderous doll named Talking Tina. Living Doll is also notable for its score, composed by frequent Alfred Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Hermann.
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (Season 1, Episode 22): Time magazines No. 1 pick, this alien invasion tale also allegedly served as inspiration for Stephen Kings The Mist. When aliens show up on Maple Street, the ensuing panic poses the question, who are the real monsters?
To Serve Man (Season 3, Episode 24): Taking a very different approach to the alien invasion subgenre, To Serve Man features the kind of twist that M. Night Shyamalan based his early career on.
The Howling Man (Season 2, Episode 5): A traveler in post-World War I Europe comes across a man locked up inside a castle by a group of religious zealots. According to him, his crime was kissing in public; according to them, he is the devil incarnate.
The New Exhibit (Season 4, Episode 13): An employee at a wax museum takes some of the figures home with him when the museum closes, including serial killers like Jack the Ripper and Henri Dsir Landru. Lifelike might not quite cut it, though.
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (Season 5, Episode 3): Quite possibly the most famous Twilight Zone episode of them all, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet stars a pre-Star Trek William Shatner (one of two appearances on the series) and was scripted by seminal horror author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend). It was later remade in 1983 with John Lithgow for Twilight Zone: The Movie.
Luckily for fans young and old, Rod Serlings groundbreaking series is currently available to stream on the three major streaming sites, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime although Season 4 is only available to subscribers through Hulu making what to watch this Halloween a much easier choice for those looking for quality scares without all the blood and gore. (Common Sense Media rates "The Twlight Zone" for those 10 years old and older.)
So grab some popcorn and get ready to enter a "fifth dimension ... as vast as space and as timeless as infinity ... the middle ground between light and shadow." Here are 10 of the creepiest episodes of The Twilight Zone:
Eye of the Beholder (Season 2, Episode 6): This is one of Serlings most memorable episodes as a writer and a classic example of the kind of gut-punch twists the series is known for. A woman (Molly Sims) goes in for facial surgery to correct her abnormal appearance. The results, however, are anything but expected.
The Dummy (Season 3, Episode 33): Based on a short story by Lee Polk, The Dummy is one of the earliest evil doll stories put on film, and it remains one of the best. Cliff Robertson aka Uncle Ben in Sam Raimis Spider-Man stars as a ventriloquist at the mercy of his own dummy.
Its a Good Life (Season 3, Episode 8): The entire town of Peaksville lives in fear of a capricious 6-year-old with godlike powers in this episode that Time Magazine named the third best Twilight Zone episode ever made.
Time Enough at Last (Season 1, Episode 8): No. 2 on Time magazines list, this careful what you wish for morality tale stars the great Burgess Meredith (Rocky) as a bookworm whose dreams seem to come true when he becomes the lone survivor of an H-bomb, leaving him alone with a library full of books and no one to distract him.
Living Doll (Season 5, Episode 6): Another evil doll episode, this one was a more direct influence on things like the Childs Play series and 2014s Annabelle, featuring a murderous doll named Talking Tina. Living Doll is also notable for its score, composed by frequent Alfred Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Hermann.
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (Season 1, Episode 22): Time magazines No. 1 pick, this alien invasion tale also allegedly served as inspiration for Stephen Kings The Mist. When aliens show up on Maple Street, the ensuing panic poses the question, who are the real monsters?
To Serve Man (Season 3, Episode 24): Taking a very different approach to the alien invasion subgenre, To Serve Man features the kind of twist that M. Night Shyamalan based his early career on.
The Howling Man (Season 2, Episode 5): A traveler in post-World War I Europe comes across a man locked up inside a castle by a group of religious zealots. According to him, his crime was kissing in public; according to them, he is the devil incarnate.
The New Exhibit (Season 4, Episode 13): An employee at a wax museum takes some of the figures home with him when the museum closes, including serial killers like Jack the Ripper and Henri Dsir Landru. Lifelike might not quite cut it, though.
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (Season 5, Episode 3): Quite possibly the most famous Twilight Zone episode of them all, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet stars a pre-Star Trek William Shatner (one of two appearances on the series) and was scripted by seminal horror author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend). It was later remade in 1983 with John Lithgow for Twilight Zone: The Movie.
