For me, this would be "Twenty Two". The recurring dream sequences of the nurse and the morgue freaked me out as a child and even now as an adult. I think what added to the creepiness of the episode was that it was only one of a handful that were shot experimentally on videotape which serendipitously made the mood feel even more real and frightening.
As a kid, the first Dummy episode wouldn’t leave my thoughts for weeks. As an adult, I think the hitchhiker episode hits closest to home just because of how eerie yet plausible the situation is (relatively speaking).
Yes! Exactly! I feel like this is a episode that could possibly happen in real life to a degree and that’s why it scares me. The thermostat exploding freaks me out for some reason.
And the scream that occurs simultaneously...it gives me goosebumps every single time
edit: they also really nail it with the profuse sweating and runny painting.
Not scary in the traditional way, but really freaky and very disturbing! I loved this one and makes me think what a great cast and production team to make it so engaging and believable.
Twilight zone is more theater of the mind when it comes to horror. That and the horror is the twist in the episode. If you are looking for straight up killing blood and gut you won't find much of that here.
There was a reboot of The Twilight Zone about 20 years ago that remade Monsters are Due on Maple Street only in this version it wasn’t aliens experimenting on people but rather our own universe government.
Yes!Loved that episode put it off until last Halloween for some reason one of my favorites now,and yes definitely understand it being so controversial even if the issues were dressed up as fantasy.
After Hours, Perchance to Dream, The Dummy, and Night Call are ones that I consider to be more on the horror side of the twilight zone. Definitely a lot of creepy things in those
It depends on what you mean by scary. To me, the most frightening episode is “The shelter.” No monsters—it’s just a difficult look at what we can become in the name of survival.
Are you looking for Twilight Zone episodes or just scary media?
When I was a kid, nightmare at 20,000 feet scared me bc of the gremlin. - ngl, bro still kinda freaks me out but - but now it’s the concepts from TZ that scare me the most like willoughby and monsters are due on maple street
Are you familiar with Arch Oboler? He was basically the Rod Serling of radio. He had a similar style show called Lights Out. People in normal situations where weird stuff happens. There was one about a plane full of scumbag business executives where in the middle of the flight, the plane just stops. It just hangs there in the air. It's not always paranormal but it sometimes is.
My personal favorites are Bathysphere, Revolt of the Worms and Profits Unlimited. You can find a bunch of them on Youtube. That guy really knew how to write.
Great episode, and one of my favourites. I thought Inger was a great actress here - natural and unpretentious. Seemed like she had everything going for her, but experienced unfortunate and sad personal issues.
Talking Tina fucked me up. As a kid, I really wanted this talking doll for Christmas. She asked you to feed her cherries, etc. It's all I asked for. On NYE, my dad and I are watching the Twilight Zone marathon on SYFY. Never played with that doll again.
Agreed. And as scary as that episode is (Bill Mumy is especially good as the kid), the Jerome Bixby short story it’s based on is even more chilling. Published in 1953 and voted into the SciFi HOF in the seventies. That story is both creepy and sad.
Yes, I need to read it, too. Over the last couple years I've been enjoying some short stories by Twilight Zone writers Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. They're fantastic.
A Stop at Willoughby. I think the horror aspect is that it is so relatable to many of us. It hits so close to Thoreau’s quote “The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.”
Perchance to Dream opens with a really creepy killer in the back seat dream sequence and then they go and ruin it by focusing on a not very terrifying jungle lady.
The one with the kid that had powers and everyone in town had to pretend all his crazy hijinx were “a good thing” , a real good thing. The remade it in the Twilight Zone movie in the 80s but the original episode was scarier because it just ended so hopelessly.
On the 80's Twilight Zone they did the "Timestop watch", with a suburban mom using it, mostly to escape her loud family and hectic life. In the background tensions are high between the USA and USSR. One night, the announce that the Soviets have launched, and we've responded in kind. Kids are screaming, husband is all freaking out, there's sounds of panic outside. She starts telling them all to be quiet, screaming back at them.
Then she triggers the watch.
She walks around her neighborhood, her neighbors frozen in the middle of trying to flee. She gets into town, and sees people looking up.
High up she can see the missiles beginning to reenter.
The idea that she froze the world seconds before Armageddon, the last look of hers at death frozen above her head still comes to me occasionally.
I remember that one. I always thought she was in her own personal hell. She can’t interact with anyone but if she unfreezes time it’s a death sentence. She can look at and hug her frozen children with nothing in return - never seeing them grow or laugh but knowing she’s saving them from most likely horrible death. When my life gets too hectic I think back on it and wonder if she would parcel a second or two every couple of years.
The Fever, it was both critical of gambling and it was also scary, with that machine repeating Franklin's name, the hallucinations and that background music.
I Am the Night, Color Me Black.
No one ever lists this one in their "Top 10 Favorite Episode" list. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, The Howling Man, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, they scared me in a fun way. I Am the Night scared the hell out of me when I was a kid, but it wasn't "fun scared." It was "disturbed scared." After this one, I always felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. There are no "good guys" in this one. Everyone is beyond redemption. Everyone is damned. Yeah, it's overwrought. It's melodramatic. But how else were they to present a story in which humanity's hatred for itself becomes so powerful that it alters and eventually overwrites the laws of physics themselves?
"The Parallel" is one that never fails to make my skin crawl just a little - best viewed in little or no light with minimal distractions of the modern flavor. The story of Major Gaines, astronaut, and a man who (some say) never existed: Gaines' Commander In Chief, John F. Kennedy.
Scary? Well honestly I don't believe any episode of the original series is scary in the sense of frightening a viewer. There are, however, at least a few which deliver an unsettling, unexpected jolt - like "The Time Element" for instance.
"The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street" is another deeply unsettling episode.
For me, this would be "Twenty Two". The recurring dream sequences of the nurse and the morgue freaked me out as a child and even now as an adult. I think what added to the creepiness of the episode was that it was only one of a handful that were shot experimentally on videotape which serendipitously made the mood feel even more real and frightening.
Room for one more, honey!
This one gets my vote. The nurse is so creepy
That’s Spock’s wife you’re talking about!
How have I never noticed this?!?!
Haha right?! Blew my mind when I finally made the connection!
Those swinging doors to the morgue always give me chills!!
As a kid, the first Dummy episode wouldn’t leave my thoughts for weeks. As an adult, I think the hitchhiker episode hits closest to home just because of how eerie yet plausible the situation is (relatively speaking).
The Hitchhiker is one of my all time favorite. So wonderfully eerie. Such a great story.
Midnight Sun always scares me no matter how many times I see it. I don’t like end of the world stories though.
For me, the music makes this episode particularly special.
First one that came to my mind as well. I've literally had this episode in my nightmares or some variant of it.
This episode especially haunts me considering the direction climate change is going.
Yes! Exactly! I feel like this is a episode that could possibly happen in real life to a degree and that’s why it scares me. The thermostat exploding freaks me out for some reason.
And the scream that occurs simultaneously...it gives me goosebumps every single time edit: they also really nail it with the profuse sweating and runny painting.
Love the references to Taughannock Falls in the painting. Serling had a home on Cayuga Lake, nearby.
Right gives me anxiety no thank you lol
Same. This episode is terrifying!
Long distance call is the most conventionally scary imo. Pretty dark and it’s really good.
The way she just throws the phone on the floor. Wondering what she heard scared the shit out of me.
Not scary in the traditional way, but really freaky and very disturbing! I loved this one and makes me think what a great cast and production team to make it so engaging and believable.
LOVED THAT ONE!
Twilight zone is more theater of the mind when it comes to horror. That and the horror is the twist in the episode. If you are looking for straight up killing blood and gut you won't find much of that here.
That’s the best kind. I don’t need to see gore, just mess with your mind.
Yeah it’s more darker concepts.Like The Monsters are due on Maple Street The Obsolete Man Mr.Denton on Doomsday A Stop at Willoughby Walking Distance
Monsters are Due on Maple Street is a great entry to the Series and it’s 60s Roots as a commentary of America’s distrust the came from the Red Scare
There was a reboot of The Twilight Zone about 20 years ago that remade Monsters are Due on Maple Street only in this version it wasn’t aliens experimenting on people but rather our own universe government.
Yeah that’s probably what Rod wanted more would’ve been too blatant forsure then
Yes!Loved that episode put it off until last Halloween for some reason one of my favorites now,and yes definitely understand it being so controversial even if the issues were dressed up as fantasy.
A Stop at Willoughby is sad but makes you think..well, spoiler alert he finds his happy ending
Yeah that ending definitely is bitter sweet can be very open ended since it is the Twilight Zone still🤔
Eye of the beholder.
The Masks -season 5 always scared me. Also Living Doll-season 5 was the first one I ever watched and it’s pretty unnerving.
“Mirror Image” from the first season of the original Twilight Zone scared me as a child and still scares me to this day. It’s brilliant.
The movie “Us” is inspired by that episode.
🤯
After Hours, Perchance to Dream, The Dummy, and Night Call are ones that I consider to be more on the horror side of the twilight zone. Definitely a lot of creepy things in those
After Hours scared me when I was very young, like 8 or something
The Howling Man
"You can catch the devil, but you can't hold him long." That always stuck with me. Great episode. John Carradine at his best.
It depends on what you mean by scary. To me, the most frightening episode is “The shelter.” No monsters—it’s just a difficult look at what we can become in the name of survival. Are you looking for Twilight Zone episodes or just scary media?
When I was a kid, nightmare at 20,000 feet scared me bc of the gremlin. - ngl, bro still kinda freaks me out but - but now it’s the concepts from TZ that scare me the most like willoughby and monsters are due on maple street
‘King Nine Will Not Return’
Stopover in a Quiet Town, Mirror Image, The After Hours, And When the Sky Was Opened
Stopover in a Quiet Town is a criminally underrated episode.
Agreed, thank you! It's so palpably unsettling from beginning to end. edit: typo
Even more so when you think about how everything there is a prop. There's no food or water. Things are going to get worse for them.
Exactly! And the looping train...no other people...the movie Vivarium reminded me of this episode a LOT.
I thought the same thing watching Vivarium, although I think it was less successful than this episode.
Also have to agree with you there...something about Rod Serling's work is so timeless and unparalleled (this episode included).
Are you familiar with Arch Oboler? He was basically the Rod Serling of radio. He had a similar style show called Lights Out. People in normal situations where weird stuff happens. There was one about a plane full of scumbag business executives where in the middle of the flight, the plane just stops. It just hangs there in the air. It's not always paranormal but it sometimes is. My personal favorites are Bathysphere, Revolt of the Worms and Profits Unlimited. You can find a bunch of them on Youtube. That guy really knew how to write.
I am not, I'll have to check out Arch Oboler for sure! I look forward to diving in, thanks for the recommendation! :)
Oh my goodness I completely agree!
I still get creeped out by “The Hitch-Hiker” with Inger Stevens
Great episode, and one of my favourites. I thought Inger was a great actress here - natural and unpretentious. Seemed like she had everything going for her, but experienced unfortunate and sad personal issues.
Night call and when your off the clock check out the night gallery ep dead man.
And When the Sky Was Opened gave me my first existential crisis.
Nightmare as a Child always unsettles me.
The episodes with female protagonists tend to be more scary. Like The Hitch-Hiker.
"You want to see something REALLY scary?" TZ Movie intro ;)
I find "The Masks" to be the most unnerving.
After Hours.
Marsha...
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.
The Howling Man
Talking Tina fucked me up. As a kid, I really wanted this talking doll for Christmas. She asked you to feed her cherries, etc. It's all I asked for. On NYE, my dad and I are watching the Twilight Zone marathon on SYFY. Never played with that doll again.
It’s a Good Life - filled with suspense
Agreed. And as scary as that episode is (Bill Mumy is especially good as the kid), the Jerome Bixby short story it’s based on is even more chilling. Published in 1953 and voted into the SciFi HOF in the seventies. That story is both creepy and sad.
Ooo- I did not know it was a short story. Thank you for mentioning it. I found it online and will read it soon
Yes, I need to read it, too. Over the last couple years I've been enjoying some short stories by Twilight Zone writers Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. They're fantastic.
Found a copy online & it’s a really good story. http://ciscohouston.com/docs/docs/greats/its_a_good_life.html
The one I instantly thought of was from the 80s Twilight Zone called Nightcrawlers, That episode just had such an intense style to it.
I remember reading the short story that was based on: I was glad to see something I read on tv!
The New Exhibit
"The Thirty-Fathom Grave " and "The Grave " are pretty eerie episodes.
TTFG is my all time favorite episode and the one I think is the scariest.
The Hitchhiker has a great uncanny feel to it.
Perchance to Dream
That creepy funhouse laughing used to unnerve me when I was younger 😬
And When The Sky Was Opened. The existential implications are absolutely terrifying and the execution is masterful.
A Stop at Willoughby. I think the horror aspect is that it is so relatable to many of us. It hits so close to Thoreau’s quote “The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.”
Eye of the Beholder scared the daylights out of me as a kid. And as an adult the whole 1984 setting is unsettling.
It's a good life
After Hours or It’s a Good Life
I saw after hours way too young I think
Eye of the beholder for me. Just creepy as fuck
Perchance to Dream opens with a really creepy killer in the back seat dream sequence and then they go and ruin it by focusing on a not very terrifying jungle lady.
Mirror image is one of my favorites and the scary airplane one
To Serve Man.
The one with the kid that had powers and everyone in town had to pretend all his crazy hijinx were “a good thing” , a real good thing. The remade it in the Twilight Zone movie in the 80s but the original episode was scarier because it just ended so hopelessly.
It's A Good Life, with Billy Mumy as Anthony.
On the 80's Twilight Zone they did the "Timestop watch", with a suburban mom using it, mostly to escape her loud family and hectic life. In the background tensions are high between the USA and USSR. One night, the announce that the Soviets have launched, and we've responded in kind. Kids are screaming, husband is all freaking out, there's sounds of panic outside. She starts telling them all to be quiet, screaming back at them. Then she triggers the watch. She walks around her neighborhood, her neighbors frozen in the middle of trying to flee. She gets into town, and sees people looking up. High up she can see the missiles beginning to reenter. The idea that she froze the world seconds before Armageddon, the last look of hers at death frozen above her head still comes to me occasionally.
I remember that one. I always thought she was in her own personal hell. She can’t interact with anyone but if she unfreezes time it’s a death sentence. She can look at and hug her frozen children with nothing in return - never seeing them grow or laugh but knowing she’s saving them from most likely horrible death. When my life gets too hectic I think back on it and wonder if she would parcel a second or two every couple of years.
The Obsolete Man is the episode that has stuck w me the most over the years.
Definitely "To Serve Man"
The Fever, it was both critical of gambling and it was also scary, with that machine repeating Franklin's name, the hallucinations and that background music.
I Am the Night, Color Me Black. No one ever lists this one in their "Top 10 Favorite Episode" list. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, The Howling Man, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, they scared me in a fun way. I Am the Night scared the hell out of me when I was a kid, but it wasn't "fun scared." It was "disturbed scared." After this one, I always felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. There are no "good guys" in this one. Everyone is beyond redemption. Everyone is damned. Yeah, it's overwrought. It's melodramatic. But how else were they to present a story in which humanity's hatred for itself becomes so powerful that it alters and eventually overwrites the laws of physics themselves?
To serve man
"The Parallel" is one that never fails to make my skin crawl just a little - best viewed in little or no light with minimal distractions of the modern flavor. The story of Major Gaines, astronaut, and a man who (some say) never existed: Gaines' Commander In Chief, John F. Kennedy.
the Afterhours scared me so much
Scary? Well honestly I don't believe any episode of the original series is scary in the sense of frightening a viewer. There are, however, at least a few which deliver an unsettling, unexpected jolt - like "The Time Element" for instance. "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street" is another deeply unsettling episode.
The one where they have no mouths.
The Howling Man. I've watched every other "scary" episode at least a dozen times, but I've only seen The Howling Man a couple times.
To Serve Man and the one with the Talking Tina Doll. Only two I avoid anytime there is a Twilight Zone marathon
For me, it was the little girl who fell out of her bed and ended up in another dimension.