1994-05-19
N/A
89 min
James Earl Jones hosts this film based on two stories by the late Rod Serling, who wrote the stories of the original 'The Twilight Zone' (1959) series. In "The Theatre," a young woman attends a movie only to find that her life story is being revealed on the screen. In "Where the Dead Are," a Boston surgeon in 1868 searches for a scientist who may have the answer to a medical mystery.
OK, it has James Earl Jones hosting it so it gets 10 stars and a note that I'm still disappointed that he was replaced as the goto narrator. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Morgan Freeman too, but I do miss the days where you were guaranteed Jones or Nimoy as hosts and narrators.
So Jones brings it to the 10 star mark, even though it was only two episodes and the first episode was so forgettable that, honestly, I literally forgot about it... which is a pretty poor showing for a VHS that consists of only two episodes.
But the second is good, it has the irony, it has an H.G. Wells/Mary Shelly feel to it set in the Civil War and a path to hell that is all good intentions. It is good old fashioned Twilight Zone irony right there.
But it still doesn't have that classic Twilight Zone feel to it, so you don't really get what you expected. It's a little too modern for the early 60s, but the story is there... at least in the second, which was a strong finish for a two episode video tape that was only half good.
