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The Twilight Zone - Rod Serling's Lost Classics (1994)
02/08/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Region 2 DVD: Network 7952905. 89 minute film with no extras. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). Buy The Twilight Zone - Rod Serling's Lost Classics in the USA - or Buy The Twilight Zone - Rod Serling's Lost Classics in the UK  check out website: www.networkdvd.co.uk
Carol Serling, the widow of Rod, discovered an unfilmed screenplay of her husband's called 'Where The Dead Are' and a short story called 'The Theatre' which was adapted to TV by Richard Matheson. The two stories on this DVD constitute their release in the UK were originally released in 1994.
'The Theatre' stars Amy Irving and Gary Cole. A woman sees footage of herself mixed into the Cary Grant film 'My Girl Friday' and her husband at the local movie theatre which her husband denies filming. She goes and watches again and given some future insight and avoids being hit by a bus when she goes home. Except the date was wrong and the husband rushes to the rescue too late. Later, the husband visits the theatre alone and watches the events leading up to his wife's death. Closely matched to how the original 60s 'Twilight Zone' ran, it is left to the viewer to contemplate the implications of watching someone's life end time after time.
'Where The Dead Are' stars Patrick Bergin, Jenna Stern, Julia Campbell and Jack Palance. It is Boston 1858 and Doctor Ramsay saves O'Neil, a drunken sot from appendicitis, only to discover later after he dies that he had a sutured skull which should have killed him years ago. He goes in search of the surgeon, Jermey Wheaton, who lives on an island. Discovering Wheaton, the surgeon is now a tad paranoid and a double amputee and refuses to talk. However, on leaving Ramsay sees a man resurrected to life. Wheaton refuses to give the secret. Susan, Wheaton's daughter, explains that this was the last of the formula. The resurrected patient returns and attacks when his own family doesn't recognise him. He crashes through a window and dies outside. Shortly after, Wheaton also dies and they flee before the fearful villagers come and destroy the house. With Wheaton's death all the villagers he treated slowly die. He gets Susan to safety and is thrown into the water himself. Recovering on the beach, helped by other villagers, he finds that Susan has also died, another recipient of the formula. A message in her hands explains that death should happen when it happens and not prolonged. There are no favours given when you live in The Twilight Zone. Whether Serling would have used this story in the original run or not will always be left open to speculation but it still works well today.
The first story is a normal half hour long whereas the second nearly an hour. The cast list alone should tell you these are not low budget. Indeed, had they been filmed in black and white, could easily have slipped into the original TV series. After all, they are part of The Twilight Zone. Well worth your time seeking them out.
GF Willmetts
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