So there’s a new Twilight Zone movie in the works. Huh. I rather enjoy the original movie (well, most of it) and its anthology approach that kept the basic structure of what makes The Twilight Zone what it is. I liked that a group of talented directors were allowed to bring their visions together under one roof, so to speak, and give us short, concise stories … much like watching several episodes of the classic TV show back-to-back.
But Warner Brothers is now planning a new Twilight Zone movie, and apparently after approaching a who’s who of directors — including Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises), Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men), Michael Bay (Transformers) and Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) — the studio has settled on Matt Reeves (Cloverfield). Yes, a single director to shoot a feature-length Twilight Zone movie with a single story that is somehow linked to the classic TV show.
I don’t know about you, but to me this seems like a cheap ploy to retain the rights to use the title The Twilight Zone instead of trying to produce a movie that actually seems like it belongs under that banner. The Twilight Zone works in the short form because of the moralistic lesson or twist ending most of the stories had. Rod Serling hated when CBS forced him to expand the original series to an hour in season four because padding the stories ruined their structure (the show was returned to its 30-minute format for the final season). Anyone can make a movie with a twist ending, but that doesn’t make it The Twilight Zone.
The story is being billed as a “big science fiction action movie with a single freestanding story that is linked to the original series mainly in that it shares that familiarly eerie feel.” Okay, so what makes it The Twilight Zone? The original movie was reverential to the series and kept the spirit of what The Twilight Zone was. This just sounds like a way for Warner Brothers to make a quick buck off the name. If you’re a fan of the series (and the first movie), how do you feel about a single-story, feature-length film with the Twilight Zone name attached to it? Sound off in the comments section below.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Oct 16, 2011 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
