Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics (1994 TV Movie) User Reviews (8)

This show sent parcel post from the Twilight Zone

[Rovin · 7/10 · 16 January 2001]

This show, hosted by the Serling scripted "the Man" star James Earl Jones, consists of two lost episodes of the Twilight Zone--scripts that were either started by Rod Serling (and finished by Richard Matheson, a TZ collaborator of his from the original series) or written by the master himself.

The first episode is pretty much forgettable.

It is the second story, concerning a Civil War surgeon who seeks a way of prolonging the lives of his patients, that should provide some amusement for Serling fans. It was indeed eerie(or should I say "twilight zone" like?) to recognize the famous writer's voice in the dialogue(especially Palance's). The tale is a decent variation on Frankenstein and like the best of Serling's work, has some biting commentary on human nature. Though I wouldn't go so far as to say this is a "classic," and the ending was predictable, it has more depth than alot of similar efforts in genre tv airing today.

I just wish they would have filmed it in harsh black and white--now that would have been a blast from the past!

Two Lost Classics

[Rainey-Dawn · 7/10 · 6 October 2017]

Both of the once lost stories have been found - this film will give us an idea of what it would have been like from Rod Sterling.

The first one is a 30 minute short. It's not bad but I wish they would have given us a glimpse into the future of the doctor as they did his girlfriend before it ended - we were left with the events that just pass but nothing about his future.

The second is about an hour long and is a little different take of the story of The Island of Dr. Moreau. I liked this one quite a bit. The atmosphere alone is watching for me.

Overall I liked this - I don't think I would watch it again but it was worth watching.

7/10

The great, late Rod Serling: Mystifying audiences from beyond the grave!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 16 January 2020]

When philosophizing about it somewhat deeper, this "Johnny-come-lately" 90s entry in the "Twilight Zone" franchise actually fits neatly into the legendary TV-series' overall mystical universe...

Bear with me; - practically 20 years after the death of mastermind creator Rod Serling in 1975, and following two reasonably successful attempts during the 80s to revive the format with a long-feature movie and a series, there suddenly came a "lost classics" film with two previously unedited tales written and invented by Serling himself. As if the imaginative genius sent a parcel from the sixties into the future, to be delivered from beyond the tomb and via ... the Twilight Zone.

Okay, all geeky fan-boy gibberish aside, the "Lost Classics" TV-movie is good entertainment for admirers of the original show, as well as for fans of mysterious Sci-Fi/fantasy in general. Two versatile tales are presented, both beneficing from solid acting performances and an uncanny atmosphere. The first one admittedly feels like rather formulaic, with Amy Irving receiving ominous premonitions of her own unfortunate future via a cinema screen. The segment won't hold many surprises in store in case you are familiar with the original TZ stories from the sixties, but it's fun to watch nevertheless. The second tale is pure gold; - a period piece with mad doctors conducting grisly experiments on remote islands, nasty immortal fishermen, a ghoulish ambiance, slowly mounting tension, a terrific twist ending, and ... the almighty Jack Palance. "Where the Dead Are" echoes the legendary tales of "Frankenstein" and "The Island of Dr. Moreau", but it's intelligent and sinister enough to stand on its own as a terrific and memorable creep story.

Twilight Zone lives on

[safenoe · 7/10 · 4 January 2024]

It's hard to believe that the Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics was released 30 years ago after two of Rod Serling's lost scripts were found in a trunk by his widow Carol Serling. Only today have I been able to watch it finally, and whilst The Theater is much maligned, I think the concept was better than the execution. The Theater starred Gary Cole and Amy Irving, and Gary Cole was fresh off his success in the sadly underrated drama series Midnight Caller.

Also, Where the Dead Are is okay but I think it could have been shaved by 20 minutes, but still more Twilight Zone is better than less.

I wish they hadn't bothered

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 25 March 2017]

TWILIGHT ZONE: ROD SERLING'S LOST CLASSICS is the twin presentation of two previously unfilmed scripts by TWILIGHT ZONE creator Rod Serling, here given the 1990s treatment (colour, famous actors) and released as a double bill. The host is none other than James Earl Jones, doing a passable Serling imitation, and the good news is that the classic intro is present and correct.

A pity, then, that the '90s-era presentation of these stories is below par, with too much focus on emoting and over the top acting which makes the whole experience more than a little cheesy. What I would have preferred was something more low key and realistic, but what we get is typically glossy and overblown. The first story, THE THEATER, sees CARRIE star Amy Irving playing a woman who goes to see a Cary Grant flick at the cinema, only to find her own life story playing out on the screen. Eventually, she begins to witness events that have not yet taken place. The reliable Gary Cole co-stars, but the whole story feels sentimental and unappealing.

The second tale, WHERE THE DEAD ARE, is a riff on H.G. Wells's THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU, but suffers from poor direction where everything takes place at night so that you can't see what's going on. It's a historical story in which surgeon Patrick Bergin goes off to investigate weird goings-on on a remote island and discovers old-timer Jack Palance at the heart of a conspiracy. Palance is great here and the story has potential, but the execution is merely so-so and rather underwhelming if I'm honest.

The first episode was a classic

[summerbob · 9/10 · 16 August 2010]

The first episode was a Twilight Zone classic.

It features a young woman with commitment issues who keeps putting off her boyfriend/fiancé's marriage proposals. She thinks she has all the time in the world, but doesn't know what lies waiting for her at the local movie theater where "His Girl Friday" is playing. During the movie she suddenly sees an on-screen video of her earlier conversation with her boyfriend, which no one else seems to see. Thinking it's a prank, she confronts him and he acts dumbfounded, not knowing what she's talking about. As the movie unfolds, she makes repeated trips to the theater, each time seeing more video of her past, and future. Her boyfriend thinks she is having a breakdown and recommends therapy and to "not go back there again", but by this time she's obsessed and can't get away from it. In the end she sees herself get hit by a bus and fulfills her own death prophesy.

In the last scene her boyfriend finally watches the movie and sees the sequence of videos himself. The moral of the story is to live life to the fullest and don't take time for granted, because we don't know the future.... or, in rare cases, we may see it in our minds if it's projected from "The Twilight Zone".

James Earl Jones of "One Book" commercial fame does a great job as "Rod Serling" doing the narrative at the end. To me it's a classic Twilight Zone episode that could have come right out of the 1960 series.

Lost episodes

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 18 April 2022]

Originally airing on May 19, 1994 on CBS, this made for TV movie was made up of two unproduced episodes that were found in a trunk in the Serling's garage. The first segment, "The Theatre," was expanded and scripted by Richard Matheson while "Where The Dead Are" was written four years after the show went off the air.

"The Theater" finds Melissa Sanders (Amy Irving) watching His Girl Friday in a repertory theater when she begins seeing scenes of the life she shares with her fiancé James (Gary Cole). At first, she thinks he's behind it. Yet every time she watches it, she sees more, including her own death, which happens and then James relives it when he attends the very same cinema.

"Where the Dead Are" is about Dr. Benjamin Ramsey (Patrick Bergin), who has a patient who dies yet has injuries which should have killed him way earlier. This brings him to an island where Dr. Jeremy Wheaton (Jack Palance) has created a series of tissue regeneration techniques that can revive dead people. When he learns the secret of keeping the dead alive, he must struggle with ethical questions that medicine school never prepared him for.

Director Robert Markowitz mostly worked in TV and he does a decent job here. Obviously, it doesn't get close to the original series, but it's still nice to see two stories that could have been.

An Honest Review

[generationofswine · 10/10 · 12 October 2020]

OK, it has James Earl Jones hosting it so it gets 10 stars and a note that I'm still disappointed that he was replaced as the goto narrator. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Morgan Freeman too, but I do miss the days where you were guaranteed Jones or Nimoy as hosts and narrators.

So Jones brings it to the 10 star mark, even though it was only two episodes and the first episode was so forgettable that, honestly, I literally forgot about it... which is a pretty poor showing for a VHS that consists of only two episodes.

But the second is good, it has the irony, it has an H.G. Wells/Mary Shelly feel to it set in the Civil War and a path to hell that is all good intentions. It is good old fashioned Twilight Zone irony right there.

But it still doesn't have that classic Twilight Zone feel to it, so you don't really get what you expected. It's a little too modern for the early 60s, but the story is there... at least in the second, which was a strong finish for a two episode video tape that was only half good.