If one knew nothing about anthology horror films and was asked which one is better, Twilight Zone: The Movie or Tales from the Darkside: The Movie and was then shown one of the higher-reviewed episodes from each series, they would assume The Twilight Zone had the better movie, ten times out of ten. But, surprisingly enough, they’d be quite wrong. Is Twilight Zone: The Movie a disaster? Quite unfortunately there was a disaster while filming John Landis’ segment, which claimed the lives of Vic Morrow and two child actors. But as for the movie itself, it’s more just wholly average, even if its heart is in the right place.
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It’s composed of four segments. Landis’ is a still-relevant tale of a bigot being put in the shoes of the races he hates. It’s a loose remake of the Twilight Zone episode “Back There.” Segments two through four are direct remakes, however, including Steven Spielberg’s second segment, based on Season 3’s “Kick the Can,” which first aired all the way back on February 9, 1962.
What Is “Kick the Can” About & How Faithful Was Spielberg’s Remake?
Some The Twilight Zone classics are actively attempting to frighten you. For instance, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” “It’s a Good Life,” and “Living Doll.” Others are tales meant to reveal and review character defects, e.g. “Time Enough at Last” and the brilliant but controversial “The Encounter.” But every now and then you’d get a lovely heart-warmer, and one of the definitive examples is “Kick the Can.”
We follow Charles Whitley, a retiree at Sunnyvale Rest Home who is under the impression that he knows how to retain youth. All he has to do is act young. None of his fellow retirees, nor Sunnyvale’s superintendent believe him. In fact, the superintendent intends to put him in isolation.
However, before that can happen, Charles has some of his fellow retirees engage in a game of kick the can. Charles’ friend refuses to play and gets the superintendent instead but, when they come out of Sunnyvale, all they see are some happy, energetic kids playing, you guessed it, kick the can.
Like Joe Dante’s “It’s a Good Life” and George Miller’s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” Spielberg’s segment is a pretty direct adaptation of the 20 or so minute episode. And Spielberg’s touch of lighthearted magic was certainly a good match for the material, just as Dante’s love for horror and twisted sense of humor were perfect for “It’s a Good Life.”
On one hand, one can see why these directors would want to get as close as they could to recapturing what made the series’ episodes work. They’re classics, after all. But it’s this adherence to the source material that makes the movie feel redundant. Tales from the Darkside: The Movie adapted a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle short story, Stephen King’s “The Cat from Hell,” and a segment from the 1964 Japanese movie Kwaidan. It had a range of inspiration. With Twilight Zone: The Movie you ended up just wanting to watch the episodes upon which the film’s segments are based. Why not watch the better version of the same story if they’re both at your disposal.
But it’s not as if Spielberg’s version is without its tweaks. For one, it changes the protagonist’s story a bit. He goes from the white Charles Whitley to the Black Mr. Bloom (The Shining‘s Scatman Crothers), who is a new arrival at Sunnyvale. Furthermore, the man who finds his youthful desires silly isn’t an old friend, but rather a new acquaintance. It also alters the ending a bit, and not necessarily for the better. In the episode, Charles’ friend is left behind by all of the now-youthful other retirees. It’s a hard-hitting ending about lacking faith in magic.
The movie’s version has Sunnyvale’s residents wish to be their true age again, which is granted by Mr. Bloom, who knows that they’re hearts will still feel young. Then the non-believer starts playing kick the can by himself to try and recapture the youth they recaptured at which point Bloom looks at the camera and says “He’ll get it.” The changes don’t fully change the point of the segment, but they end up feeling like runtime-stretchers.
Do you think any of the segments in Twilight Zone: The Movie are better than their small screen counterparts? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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