Top Ten Twilight Zone "GAH!" Moments
10. Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?
A group of bus passengers on their way to Boston are milling about in a diner, waiting to find out if the bridge up ahead is safe to cross. Then a couple of state troopers arrive, investigating a possible UFO crash in the area. Footprints from the crash site led directly to this very diner. That's when the bus passengers realize something rather troubling...there is one more "passenger" in the diner than there were passengers on the bus. While the passengers try to remember which one of them hadn't been there before, strange things start to happen, such as the lights flickering and the jukebox playing by itself.
Eventually, the passengers are told the bridge is safe, and they all pile back onto the bus. A little while later, the cranky businessman Ross comes back to the diner and tells Haley, the counterman, that the bridge wasn't safe. It collapsed as they tried to cross it, killing everyone but him. He doesn't seem particularly upset about it as he sits down and starts to stir his coffee with his third arm.
Actually, that's not the "gah" moment. The strange thing about this scene is that Haley seems curiously unfazed by Ross's third arm, as well as his ability to make the jukebox play or the phone ring with the power of his mind. He is still unfazed when Ross announces he's from Mars, and that pretty soon Martians will be colonizing Earth. Why is this? Because Haley's not from around here either. And after informing Ross that his people - the Venusians - have intercepted the Martians, Haley takes off his paper hat to reveal the EYE IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS FOREHEAD.
9. The After Hours
Marsha White (Anne Francis) has found herself in a very odd department store, one which has a ninth floor dedicated to the sale of a single golden thimble, which just happened to be the very item she was looking for. After realizing the thimble is scratched, Marsha goes to the complaints department, only to discover...why, this department store doesn't have a ninth floor. Discoveries like that are rarely comforting. Even more disconcerting is the moment when Marsha spots the clerk who sold her the thimble and calls out to her...before realizing the clerk is now a mannequin.
Yes, that's upsetting enough. But it gets truly creepy after Marsha is accidentally locked in the department store after closing time. She is surrounded by mannequins, who all seem to be calling her name. Marsha, now having a complete breakdown, makes it into an elevator which automatically takes her back up to the ever elusive ninth floor. And when the doors open, there's that same clerk waiting on the other side...still in mannequin form.
Once you know how the episode ends, this moment is never quite as scary. But nothing beats seeing it for the first time...watching those elevator doors slide open and being greeted by that vacant, staring face.
8. Death Ship
Three astronauts manning a very "Forbidden Planet"-esque spacecraft wind up on an alien planet, only to discover the wreck of a ship that looks identical to their own. Closer examination reveals that this mystery ship is in fact an E-89, the same as theirs. The interior of the ship is in shambles, with chairs and wrecked equipment strewn about. And the bodies of three men. The astronauts turn the bodies upright...and find they are looking at carbon copies of themselves. Complete with ID cards.
Um, eeek?
7. The New Exhibit
There are five murderers in Martin Lombard Senescu's basement. Not to worry - they're made of wax. They can't hurt you.
...
Martin is, unfortunately, growing just a bit too fond of these figures. You see, he used to be the curator of Murderer's Row in a wax museum. When the museum closed, he volunteered to look after his "friends", much to the dismay of his wife. He's now pouring his money into an air conditioner that has to run 24 hours a day, and looking for another job isn't really high on his list of priorities. The figures have become his entire life. And his empathy for the real life murderers has reached a flashy red level on the "disturbing" scale.
His wife Emma, deciding she has had enough, sneaks down into the basement one night to destroy the air conditioner. Jack the Ripper, however, doesn't like this plan. The next morning, Martin finds Emma on the basement floor, stabbed to death. Because he knows everyone will assume HE did it (and because he couldn't possibly turn in his good buddy Jack), Martin decides to bury her right there in the basement. Later on, when Emma's brother heads down to the basement to find out what Martin's been up to, he meets the axe of Albert W. Hicks. And when Martin's former employer, Mr. Ferguson, shows up to measure the figures (a wax museum in Brussels has requested to buy them), he winds up with Henri Désiré Landru's rope around his throat.
Martin decides that three murders is going a bit too far, and he announces to his friends that he's going to destroy them.
That's when they all step down from their pedestals and start walking towards him.
(Insert petrified Lou Costello imitation here.)
Curiously enough, they speak to him as well (without moving their lips), and inform Martin that HE committed all these murders, not them. Now, while Hicks was pretty subtle, we actually did see Jack's arm move towards Emma, and we also saw Henri lower the rope over Ferguson's head. So are we to assume that we were being tricked - that that didn't really happen? Or did Martin find a way to murder through the figures? This is the Twilight Zone, after all.
In any case, a wax figure of Martin Lombard Senescu wound up in Murderer's Row at the Brussels Wax Museum.
6. It's a Good Life
In this episode, evil comes in the pint-sized form of 6-year-old Anthony Fremont (Billy Mumy...yes, Will Robinson himself). It figures that a kid devoid of morals and empathy would be born with the magical ability to make anything happen. He can also read minds...and he doesn't like it if you aren't thinking happy thoughts. He has either spirited his entire hometown of Peaksville, Ohio off to its own universe or he has destroyed the rest of the world - no one knows for sure. And he took away the electricity, except for "television night", when everyone gathers to watch stopmotion dinosaurs battle it out on the screen. (Actually, that part's pretty cool.) His victims, any person or animal who has displeased him, are inevitably sent to "the cornfield". With his godlike powers, Anthony holds a reign of terror over this unfortunate little town. Everything has to be his way...all the time...and remorse isn't a concept he understands.
Therefore, you know poor, tipsy Dan Hollis is in trouble when he finally lets loose during a birthday party in his honor, starts singing (which Anthony hates) and then shouts about how Anthony is evil and dear GOD won't somebody bash the kid's head in while he's distracted? The outburst doesn't go over too well with Anthony, who turns Dan into a human jack-in-the-box, drawing an agonized scream from Dan's widow. Yes, that's the "GAH!" moment. Now before you laugh that off, thinking it's almost cartoonish, I want you to really imagine yourself in this world. Your entire life has been destroyed - you can't say what you want, do what you want, or even think what you want. And you can't escape, because as far as you know, absolutely nothing exists outside of Peaksville, Ohio. You live in constant fear. Hope is unknown. Have you got all that? No, no, have you really got all that? Okay. Now imagine the disembodied head of the person you love most swaying atop a spring. And you can't do anything about it.
If that can't be catalogued amongst the most surreal of psychological, gutwrenching horrors, I don't know what can.
5. The Dummy
Jerry the ventriloquist (Cliff Robertson) is convinced that his dummy is alive...and evil. Unfortunately for Jerry, this isn't the sort of thing that most people would believe, especially since he's a borderline alcoholic who keeps bottles of liquor hidden in his dressing room. And Willy the dummy, like so many monsters in the Twilight Zone, employs the "Michigan J. Frog" technique - he won't move or talk if anyone other than Jerry is around to witness it. (Albeit, there is one scene where Willy flirts with a couple of chorus girls, but they just laugh, thinking that Jerry has thrown his voice across the room.)
Jerry grows more and more terrified as the episode progresses...he can't go anywhere without hearing Willy's taunting voice and evil cackling. Nearly driven to madness, Jerry storms back into his dark dressing room and destroys the dummy. Except he inadvertantly destroyed the wrong dummy - a harmless hunk of wood named Goofy Goggles. Willy, who's lounging on the couch, talks to Jerry directly for the first time and explains why he's alive. Now, it's kind of a bizarre explanation...all Willy claims is that Jerry poured words into him and effectively "gave him life"...but Jerry seems to buy it.
Now we cut to Willy and Jerry's next act. We trail behind them as they head out onto the stage and sit down. As the camera pans in on the backs of their heads and then starts to curve around, we know what's coming...we know it...and yet it's still absolutely horrifying.
The ventriloquist now has Willy's face, while the dummy has Jerry's.
*shudder*
4. Living Doll
Erich Streator (Telly Savalas) is not a nice guy. This was never really in question. He's just a tad insecure about being a man who can't father children, and the best way to deal with that is to take it out on his wife Annabelle and stepdaughter Christie.
Christie's new doll isn't having any of this. Talky Tina (voiced by June Foray - she of Rocky the Flying Squirrel fame) says lotsa sweet things when Christie and her mother are around, such as, "My name is Talky Tina, and I love you very much." When she's left alone in a room with Erich, however, her range of "pre-recorded" phrases broadens out and becomes a lot more interesting. She has conversations with Erich, telling him she doesn't like him and could very possibly hate him. She also mentions Annabelle and Christie by name.
Erich, thinking this is all an elaborate trick, throws Tina in a trash can in the garage. He is, therefore, rather startled when he later gets a phone call and hears the doll's voice on the line...
"My name is Talky Tina...and I'm going to kill you."
Truth be told, I don't know what's creepier...the above line or the line at the end of the episode, when Tina DOES kill Erich (by tripping him on the stairs), and says to Annabelle (after she's discovered the body)...
"My name is Talky Tina...and you'd better be nice to me."
Yeah. You pick. They're both pretty equal in the Blood Turning To Ice Department for me.
3. Eye of the Beholder
Also known as "A Private World of Darkness", it's arguably the most famous Twilight Zone episode of all. We are introduced to an unfortunate woman who is hideously deformed, but we are not allowed (at least not initially) to see her face. It is wrapped in bandages - the aftermath of extensive plastic surgery.
We're never allowed to see the faces of the doctors or nurses either. They are always shown in silhouette.
Towards the end of the episode, the patient's bandages are finally taken off, one by one. She is told that if this surgery didn't work, there's nothing more they can do. The last bandage comes off and the doctor drops his scissors, exclaiming, "No change! No change at all!"
At last, we see a blonde bombshell look up into frame. Why, it's Elly May Clampett! And she's gorgeous! What do you mean, "no change"? What went wrong here? How can you...GAHHHH! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THAT DOCTOR??
Yes, our first glimpse of the doctor's face reveals that he is hideously deformed...as are all the other doctors and nurses...and essentially everyone in this world. Making them the normal ones. And cute little Elly May is an uggo, who will soon be shipped off to a private community of uggos, so that no one "normal" is ever forced to look at her grotesque face again.
Bet you didn't see that one coming. Well, you know, if it weren't for the fact that this is probably the most frequently aired Twilight Zone episode ever.
2. To Serve Man
A lot of shocking moments in The Twilight Zone rely on visuals, but in "To Serve Man", we get all the shock we need in a single line of spine-tingling dialogue.
Nine foot tall aliens called Kanamits arrive on Earth, having traveled across the cosmos from their own planet (which is far more developed than ours). All they want is to help us out by ending hunger, war, and needless suffering...and they have handy dandy devices with which to accomplish all this. And look, they're true to their word! They turned arid deserts into gardens (thanks to a spiffy new nitrate), and invisible force fields around every country have eliminated wars.
And now that everything's great on Earth, don't we want to come see THEIR planet? Ships are departing daily!
In the meantime, a decoding specialist named Chambers and his assistant Patty have been given the task of translating a book that the Kanamits' ambassador left behind at the UN. They clearly slacked off, seeing as they'd had the book for months and had only managed to come up with the title: the very encouraging "To Serve Man".
Finally the day arrives for Chambers to depart for the Kanamits' home planet - he's been on the waiting list for some time. Right as he's climbing the ramp, however, Patty comes bounding through the crowd, calling after him...
"Mr. Chambers, don't get on that ship! The rest of the book...To Serve Man...it's...it's a cookbook!"
The Herrmann-esque violins begin to screech, a look of horror comes over the face of Mr. Chambers, and, though he struggles to get off the ship's ramp, he is no match for a Kanamit. He is thrown on-board and the ramp closes, leaving Chambers to his gruesome fate.
As the episode draws to an end, Mr. Chambers - now imprisoned in a small living quarter aboard the flying saucer - looks into frame.
"How 'bout you? You still on earth or on a ship with me? Really doesn't make very much difference...because sooner or later, we'll all of us be on the menu. All of us."
1. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
This episode nearly traumatized me when I first saw it at age 10. Every once in awhile, I will STILL get nervous around windows at night, all due to this episode.
Robert Wilson (a cute, young Bill Shatner) is flying home with his wife, after having just been released from a six-month stay at a sanitarium. It seems he had had a complete mental breakdown...while on an airplane. But he's all fine now, no worries - I mean, his doctor wouldn't let him fly if he weren't cured, right?
But wait, would a mentally stable guy see a shadowy figure out on the far edge of the wing, walking slowly towards the plane? That's gotta be all in his head, right?
Right?
Okay, that moment is creepy enough. But the true "wet your pants" moment comes a little while later. You see, Bob couldn't deal with the idea of a gremlin out on the wing of the plane, so he drew the curtain over his window and tried to forget about it. But that didn't work. And now he's obsessed with whatever might be out there. In genuine, tense Twilight Zone fashion, he very very slowly reaches for the curtain, grabs it, and yanks it back...revealing the gremlin's face PRESSED UP AGAINST THE WINDOW AND LOOKING IN AT HIM.
Never mind that the monster is, in reality, the acrobat Nick Cravat plastered in make-up and wearing old shag carpeting. For me, it quite possibly ranks as the most terrifying TV moment ever.