Summary
- The Twilight Zone has imitators and precursors, offering different variations of spooky and bizarre scenarios for audiences to enjoy.
- Out of the Unknown is a sci-fi rival to The Twilight Zone, adapting classic science fiction literature but suffers from lost episodes.
- Goosebumps is a children-friendly alternative to The Twilight Zone, delivering horror and goofiness in equal measure.
The Twilight Zone is remembered as one of television's finest anthology shows. Each week, audiences were presented with a spooky, funny, or simply bizarre scenario (a telephone call from beyond the grave, a man gifted with physical strength, a mannequin come to life) in stories that revealed important truths about post-war America.
The Twilight Zone: Best Episodes Of The 1985 Revival
The 1985 revival of The Twilight Zone may not have been as popular as the original, but there are still plenty of episodes worth watching.
Naturally, The Twilight Zone has both imitators and precursors. Some of these anthologies dial up the fear factor, some are more suited for children, while others draw on contemporary fears about the misuse of technology. No matter the specific breed of spooks, there's a series out there for everyone.
8 Out Of The Unknown (1965–1971)
- Created by Irene Shubik
- 49 episodes broadcast; 20 currently available
The BBC is well-known in nerd culture circles for its role in the production of Doctor Who, which it has broadcast on-and-off since 1963. Two years after Doctor Who's debut came Out of the Unknown, a Twilight Zone rival that, at least initially, placed a greater emphasis on science fiction storytelling.
As such, Out of the Unknown adapts several works of classic science fiction literature, including E.M. Forster's 1909 short story "The Machine Stops", but does shift towards the supernatural for its final season. While the series is a great stylistic alternative to The Twilight Zone, it suffers from one major drawback—over half of its episodes are considered to be lost media. Since each episode is a standalone story, this shouldn't be a problem, but it is likely to leave dedicated viewers hungry for more.
7 Goosebumps (1995–1998)
- Created by R.L. Stine
- 74 episodes
The Twilight Zone is rarely shocking enough to deserve an adults-only designation, but it's safe to say that some episodes are more suitable for children than others. While juvenile fans are likely to enjoy comedic episodes like "The Mighty Casey ", spookier installments like "The After Hours" are likely to lead to childhood trauma.
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For younger viewers who still crave a good scare, Goosebumps delivers. Based on the series of novels of the same name, Goosebumps delivers horror and goofiness in equal measure. While its stories may not be as thought-provoking as those of Serling's series, they continue The Twilight Zone tradition of spine-chilling spookiness.
6 Journey To The Unknown (1968–1969)
- Created by Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd
- 17 episodes
The Twilight Zone's creepy opening theme is one of its most iconic aspects, but the British horror anthology Journey To The Unknown may be one of the few shows to have an even more sinister credit sequence. Viewers are led into a seemingly abandoned theme park while uncanny whistling contributes to the ghoulish atmosphere.
Journey To The Unknown has much in common with The Twilight Zone when it comes to subject matter. One episode focuses on a man's romance with a department store mannequin, while another involves a woman who can see the future. The series was overseen by Hammer Film Productions, which specialized in spooky productions. This "Hammer Horror" quality is evident in Journey To The Unknown, which offers a supernatural twist on the anthology drama formula.
5 Tales Of The Unexpected (1979–1988)
- Created by Roald Dahl
- 122 episodes
Author Roald Dahl is best known for his contributions to children's literature, from the iconic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Fantastic Mr. Fox. However, his fiction for adults (three short story collections) proved the perfect basis for a Twilight Zone-style anthology series with an emphasis on twist endings, Tales of the Unexpected.
The classic "Lamb To The Slaughter" sees detectives tasked with solving a seemingly impossible (and tasty) murder, while "The Landlady" shows the dangers of renting rooms in strange houses. The aforementioned stories were also adapted in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, though Tales of the Unexpected offers a somewhat updated production aesthetic.
4 Night Gallery (1970–1973)
- Created by Rod Serling
- 43 episodes
While The Twilight Zone remains an enduringly popular series, creator Rod Serling was uninterested in the stress of managing a production when it came to Night Gallery, a Twilight Zone-esque series hosted by Serling in the 1970s. Serling's lack of control over the supernaturally themed Night Gallery caused him to resent aspects of the series, but several of his scripts formed the basis of episodes.
Rather than each episode being a single story, most Night Gallery episodes featured multiple stories per installment, in addition to linking commentary from Serling. While the series is generally regarded as being inferior to The Twilight Zone (or at least far less influential), it still has the power to send a shiver down viewers' spines.
3 Black Mirror
- Created by Charlie Brooker
- 28 episodes
While Black Mirror is often derided as being overly focused on the apparent evils of technology, this British anthology series offers a slew of great ideas and spookily prescient concepts. From twisted punishments for child murderers to futuristic parodies of contemporary reality TV, the series takes the anxieties of our age and twists them into intriguing morality tales.
Black Mirror is also a formally innovative series; just as The Twilight Zone experimented with the silent comedy form in the Buster Keaton-starring "Once Upon A Time", Brooker's series embraces alternative storytelling practices in "Bandersnatch", an interactive Black Mirror installment released in 2018. Indeed, while the show may be criticized for its excessive exploration of high-tech gadgets, it is also willing to use technology to break new narrative ground.
2 The Outer Limits (1963–1965)
- Created by Leslie Stevens
- 49 episodes
Pop culture rivalries are a universal constant: Pepsi versus Coke, Nintendo versus Sega, and The Twilight Zone versus The Outer Limits. Fans of both anthology shows still fight over which is better, but the outcome is something of a moot point, as both offer plenty of spooky intrigue for fans of the genre.
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Despite being over 60 years old, the original Twilight Zone still has the power to shock, unnerve, and make viewers think.
The Outer Limits differs from The Twilight Zone in both form and style, as its fifty-minute runtime and heavier emphasis on science fiction set it apart from Rod Serling's series. Highly regarded episodes include 1964's "Demon With a Glass Hand" (written by sci-fi maestro Harlan Ellison) and 1963's "The Zanti Misfits", although viewers are free to pick and choose where to begin. An award-winning reboot in the 1990s also impressed viewers, and there are ongoing attempts to bring The Outer Limits back to the small screen. While it's hard to say whether The Outer Limits eclipses Serling's show, it's certainly a viable option in a similar vein.
1 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1965)
- Created by Alfred Hitchcock
- 361 episodes
Alfred Hitchcock needs no introduction. His work on movies like Psycho revolutionized the horror genre, while his storytelling techniques are still studied to this day. It's unsurprising, then, that Alfred Hitchcock Presents is a worthy alternative to The Twilight Zone. This predominately half-hour series foregrounds crime and suspense stories rather than science fiction, although episodes sometimes have a more fantastical tone.
Episodes of Hitchcock's series with strong Twilight Zone vibes include the alien invasion-themed "Human Interest Story", "One More Mile To Go", which resembles a more grounded version of "The Hitch-Hiker", and "Into Thin Air", in which a woman's mother vanishes from a hotel. The wonderfully tense "Bang! You're Dead" shows Hitchcock's talent for creating nail-biting drama, while "The Man From The South" pairs Steve McQueen with Peter Lorre to produce an unforgettable story about the dangers of gambling. It may shy away from supernatural elements, but Alfred Hitchcock Presents still offers its share of scares.