Casey Chong presents a selection of Twilight Zone-esque movies for your watch list…
The Twilight Zone began life as an anthology television series that originally ran from 1959 to 1964, before it evolved into more series (1985, 2002 and 2019), radio dramas, comic books and graphic novels, and of course, the 1983 feature-length Twilight Zone: The Movie. Created by Rod Serling, the enduring popularity of The Twilight Zone stems from its imaginative and often thought-provoking tales, which span various genres. Although there are a huge number of movies influenced, whether directly or indirectly, by The Twilight Zone, we’ve narrowed it down to ten great films that evoke the classic series. Cue to the iconic music of The Twilight Zone…
Mulholland Drive (2001)
David Lynch’s magnum opus embodies everything that defines the director’s one-of-a-kind filmmaking style. It’s like a surrealistic trip to Los Angeles covered in Lynch’s signature dream logic. Here’s what you need to know about the story: An amnesiac woman played by Laura Elena Harring had an accident on Mulholland Drive before ending up seeking refuge at an apartment. That apartment is later occupied by Betty Elms (Naomi Watts), an aspiring actress arriving in L.A., hoping for a big break. They eventually cross paths, and from there, Lynch manipulates his story inside out while exploring themes of identity crisis, duality, reality vs. fantasy and the dark side of the entertainment industry, which in this case, the so-called Hollywood dream.
Mulholland Drive is notable for Naomi Watts’ breakthrough performance, while Lynch’s enigmatic puzzle box-like storytelling is a captivating mix of surrealist cinema, psychological thriller and neo-noir mystery with a dash of horror and melodrama.
SEE ALSO: David Lynch: American Cinema’s Great Enigma
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Despite the word “Cloverfield” in the title, this is far from a traditional sequel that one might expect a direct follow-up to the 2008 original. Instead, it’s more of a spiritual successor – a small-scale chamber drama that blends psychological thriller and mystery with sci-fi horror elements. First-time feature director Dan Trachtenberg eschews the first movie’s found-footage aesthetics in favor of a more classical shooting style and well-placed camerawork to maximize claustrophobic tension and ominous dread.
The story predominantly takes place in the confines of an underground bunker as Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who is a victim of a car accident, finds herself trapped inside with one of her legs chained to a wall. A middle-aged man named Howard (John Goodman), who rescues her, claims that it’s not safe outside as a result of a mysterious chemical attack. Here lies an all-important question: Is Howard telling the truth about the chemical attack that rendered the air completely hazardous? 10 Cloverfield Lane is an intriguing cinematic experience, thanks to Trachtenberg’s assured direction and a top-notch cast including Mary Elizabeth Winstead and the volatile John Goodman.
Shutter Island (2010)
Martin Scorsese returns to the Cape Fear territory, albeit with a more twisted psychological thriller drenched with neo-noir tropes in Shutter Island. Based on Dennis Lehane’s 2003 novel of the same name, the movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo as two U.S. Marshals assigned to investigate the missing patient on the titular island that houses a mental asylum.
The movie zeroes in primarily on DiCaprio’s character and how his own murky past consumes his sanity gradually unfolding in a deliberate fashion. Scorsese delves deep into the psychological aspect of the movie while maintaining a sense of unease and dread-inducing paranoia through Robert Richardson’s atmospheric cinematography and Robbie Richardson’s evocative string-laden score. DiCaprio gives his all in Shutter Island, and the movie culminates in a shocking twist.
The Game (1997)
Between Se7en and Fight Club, David Fincher directed this underrated psychological thriller, boasting a story about an arrogant, wealthy banker (Michael Douglas’ Nick Van Orton), who receives an unusual birthday gift from his brother Conrad (Sean Penn). The gift in question comes in the form of an entertainment voucher provided by Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). The “game” is set after Nick decides to visit the company but somehow fails the required tests, only to be surprised by a wooden clown left outside his home later that evening. What follows next is a series of near-death experiences as he faces all kinds of trouble.
The Game is best seen as long as you manage to put yourself in suspension of disbelief, especially the fundamental structure of the elaborate “game” orchestrated by CRS. It helps that Fincher’s absorbing direction exploring the blurred line between reality and make-believe, coupled with Douglas’ stellar performance, keeps the movie engaging from start, and right down to the twist finale.
SEE ALSO: The Enviable “Worst” Films of David Fincher
The Village (2004)
M. Night Shyamalan’s period thriller The Village may have been a huge box-office hit, grossing over $250 million worldwide, but it was largely seen as a polarizing effort, particularly the director’s controversial twist ending. Some may feel it’s a cop out, while others applaud Shyamalan’s bold surprise reveal.
Either way, The Village boasts an intriguing story that takes place in 19th-century Pennsylvania, where mysterious creatures are lurking deep inside the woods. A sense of dread dominates the movie as the villagers continue to live in fear and anxiety until one day, the blind Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard) decides to brave herself into passing through the otherwise forbidden woods to retrieve medicine for her injured lover, Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix). Shyamalan draws great performances from his stellar cast all around, and also does a good job evoking atmospheric tension with Roger Deakins’ gothic-like cinematography and James Newton Howard’s haunting score.
The Truman Show (1998)
Working from Andrew Niccol’s fascinating screenplay, Peter Weir’s The Truman Show explores the then-fresh reality television angle as Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) is unaware that his whole life has been broadcast live 24/7. Weir effectively mixes drama and comedy with psychological undertones, while incorporating thought-provoking themes of manufactured reality, manipulation, privacy and freedom.
The movie features one of the best performances from Jim Carrey, unlike the ones where audiences have grown accustomed to his broad rubber-faced comedy style seen in the Ace Ventura movies and The Mask. His significant departure from stepping out of his comfort zone proves that Carrey has the versatility of an actor who can also handle a dramatic role. Despite the movie’s financial and critical success, the Academy somewhat turned a blind eye to denying Carrey a much-deserved Oscar nomination in the Best Actor category.
After Hours (1985)
Imagine finding yourself trapped in a place where you struggle to find your way out, only to face more troubles. After Hours is such a movie and among the odd ones made by Martin Scorsese, a rare departure from the auteur primarily known for violent crime sagas. And yet, he’s like a seasoned pro venturing into a mix of black comedy and neo-noir tropes, as the movie introduces one Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne). He is an office employee who’s been stuck in a mundane job until he somehow hits a jackpot with an attractive stranger (Rosanna Arquette) in a café. It was supposed to be the best night of his life as he agreed to visit her in Soho, only to end up with a series of unfortunate and even bizarre misadventures.
Dunne’s go-for-broke performance remains his finest acting performance, a result that earned him a much-deserved Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in the Comedy or Musical category. Scorsese has a field day turning After Hours into a surrealistic exploration of paranoia and yuppie nightmare caught in a “foreign” world that plagued Paul’s life, trying to survive the ordeal.
Memento (2001)
Christopher Nolan’s sophomore directorial effort marks the writer-director’s unique approach in telling the story of a man (Guy Pearce’s Leonard Shelby) who suffers from short-term memory loss. This gives him a disadvantage in creating new memories, which in turn, forces him to improvise through taking Polaroid photos, writing notes and even using the tattoo method. His quest? Find the person who is responsible for the murder of his wife.
Nolan incorporates non-linear structure, reverse chronological storytelling, and even includes the alternating use of color and black and white to represent Leonard’s disconnected memory. Pearce’s committed performance is one for the ages, while the neo-noir mystery angle is brilliantly structured like a puzzle piece. Memento is one of the best movies coming from Christopher Nolan, who would go on to venture into more star-studded features in his subsequent filmography.
Triangle (2009)
The otherwise familiar time loop concept takes on a brutally sinister ride in Triangle, as poor Jess (Melissa George, in her game performance), along with her group of friends, attempts to find their way out of a somewhat deserted ocean liner after their yacht overturned. However, they find themselves stuck in a seemingly endless spiral of déjà vu experience again and again, ad nauseam.
Imagine Triangle like a psychological horror version of Groundhog Day, and you’ll get the idea of how the story works. Writer-director Christopher Smith, previously helmed Creep and Severance, embraces all things surreal and warped reality surrounding its conceptual storyline. The movie also explores the recurring nature of life and death along with other thematic subject matters related to identity, trauma and overcoming sin.
Final Destination (2000)
The familiar “you can’t escape death” adage is executed both literally and figuratively in Final Destination, marking the feature-length directorial debut of The X-Files series veteran James Wong. The movie gets off to an attention-grabbing opening: A Boeing 747 flight from JFK Airport to Paris turns into a disaster after high-school student Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) has a premonition that the plane is going to explode mid-air and kills everyone on board.
So, Alex manages to “cheat” death along with some friends by disembarking from the flight, but the plane still blows up as predicted in the first place, leading the survivors to experience their respective deaths sooner or later. This allows Wong to stage some grisly Rube Goldberg-style kills and death scenes, which mainly involve everyday objects. Final Destination became a box-office hit and has since spawned a film franchise with varying degrees of success, including the recent legacy sequel in 2025.
What are your favourite Twilight Zone-esque movies? Any recommendations to add to our own list? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Casey Chong
