Remaking a Twilight Zone Episode into a Movie???

I've been hearing buzz about this movie for ages. I had no idea it had anything to do with Twilight Zone.

It was originally filmed as a Twilight Zone (the new Twilight Zone in the 80s) episode, but its based on a short story by Richard Matheson.

It should translate into a movie pretty well. There was plenty of room for suspense expansion within the episode. I'm hopeful for the film.

There was a Twilight Zone movie back when, I think in the 1990's, actually named "The Twilight Zone." I recall it was a remake/expansion of three episodes, including the one with (in the original) a younger William Shatner on a plane where a monster was on a wing tearing it apart. He was so petrified it's hard to believe he went on to be a starship captain...

Yeah, it's older than I thought, and it was a remake of FOUR episodes:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086491/

Is this the TZ project that Leonardo DiCaprio was/is working on?

gabbleandhiss said:

Is this the TZ project that Leonardo DiCaprio was/is working on?

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No. The news of that project only broke around July; The Box is releasing in theaters next month. Apparently that project is not going to be a remake of any episode(s), but something new.

Oh god, I remember the Twilight Zone Movie and it was so so so horrible it made me and my friend want to kill ourselves.

THAT's what the Box is about?!! I am so disappointed.

Come on! From all the episodes of Twilight Zone, which one would you adapt?

I vote for The Monster At Mapple Street

Not sure if one could sustain that one for a whole movie.

That's the problem with most Twilight Zone episodes: They're fucking AWESOME short stories.

But, well, sometimes taking a short story and stretching it leads to an awesome movie.

More often, though, it just makes...shit.

Zoombie said:

Not sure if one could sustain that one for a whole movie.

That's the problem with most Twilight Zone episodes: They're fucking AWESOME short stories.

But, well, sometimes taking a short story and stretching it leads to an awesome movie.

More often, though, it just makes...shit.

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Quoted for true.

Prozyan said:

It was originally filmed as a Twilight Zone (the new Twilight Zone in the 80s) episode, but its based on a short story by Richard Matheson.

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This.

It should translate into a movie pretty well. There was plenty of room for suspense expansion within the episode. I'm hopeful for the film.

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It could translate well, but I don't have the same hope for the movie as I did wayyyyy back when I first read about it. The constantly shifting release date also does not bode well.

"The Monsters are due on Maple Street" would make a pretty decent film.

However, the best in my opinion would be "The Howling Man."

maxmordon said:

Come on! From all the episodes of Twilight Zone, which one would you adapt?

I vote for The Monster At Mapple Street

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Monster are due on Maple Street or Number 12 Looks Just Like You (though I'm not sure how well that would work given the popularity of Uglies)

dgiharris said:

are there any better Twilight Zone episodes to turn into feature length films?

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Nothing in the Dark
Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room

Although a movie format may be too long for either of these.
Still, I'd like to see them again.

I have never seen that episode. But I've read the short story -- it was pretty bad, actually. Matheson's writing was bad. And the twist ending was ho-hum.

The movie trailer looks great to me -- obviously they expanded the story. I was at their panel at ComicCon and it really grabbed me. The original short story was super short and simple.

Also, I have faith in Richard Kelly, who did the outstanding Donnie Darko. The trailer simply looks awesome, and it's not going to be a "remake" of the Twilight Zone episode, but more like a story based on the same premise.

The Mirror could be expanded to be a decent enough film, but the real question is, who can surpass Peter Falk playing Fidel "coughs" Ramos Clemente?