The iconic Rod Serling created The Twilight Zone as an outlet for his most controversial ideas. Dystopian science fiction provided the perfect cover for his critiques of conservative society — but his groundbreaking series also demonstrated his mastery of the horror genre. The ten most bone-chilling Twilight Zone episodes prove that fears about the future are no match for the terrors that could transpire here and now.

These stories are more than 60 years old, but they continue to frighten today’s masters of horror. Some served as inspirations behind modern genre classics ranging from Annabelle to Us, while other episodes are too original to be imitated. These deadly dolls, creepy kids, and phone calls from beyond the veil still hold up as major achievements in horror.

10

The Dummy Helped Make Ventriloquism An Enduring Horror Trope

Season 3, Episode 33

Killer dolls and deadly dummies were featured frequently on The Twilight Zone, but the first time is one of the best. In “The Dummy,” Cliff Robertson plays Jerry the ventriloquist, and also his wooden costar Willie. Willie is the secret to Jerry’s success, but he is also destroying the showman’s sanity, for only Jerry realizes that the dummy is alive.

The malevolent ventriloquist’s dummy is a classic horror archetype that first appeared on film in the 1945 anthology Dead of Night, and reappeared as recently as 2007 in James Wan and Leigh Whannel’s Dead Silence. However, Cliff Robertson’s hair-raising performance as both victim and tormentor makes this Twilight Zone episode the one to beat; he even outdoes Sir Anthony Hopkins, who got in on the act with the 1978 oddity Magic.

9

Wes Craven Would Have Loved Perchance to Dream

Season 1, Episode 9

In a story reminiscent of A Nightmare on Elm Street, a man with a deadly heart condition and an overactive imagination refuses to sleep, lest he have a dream scary enough to kill him. His psychiatrist listens skeptically to the reoccurring nightmare that keeps creeping closer to a terrifying climax, and ultimately the frightened patient dies on the couch.

Charles Beaumont adapted his own short story for this episode, and he was more than pleased with director Robert Florey, as he said in Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine.

Robert Florey was originally slated to direct Frankenstein, but he proved his horror chops the following year with Murders In the Rue Morgue.

8

M. Night Shyamalan Owes a Debt to The Hitch-Hiker

Season 1, Episode 16

In “The Hitch-Hiker,” a young woman’s road trip takes a bizarre turn when she is haunted by a fellow traveler who implausibly reappears no matter how far she travels. No one else sees the solicitous specter, and when she finally calls home in desperation, she makes a horrific discovery: Her mother has suffered a nervous breakdown following her daughter’s death in a devastating car wreck.

“The Hitch-Hiker” may remind modern horror fans of The Sixth Sense, which shocked audiences with the revelation that the protagonist was actually a ghost. However, this 1960 episode may have also inspired the 1962 cult classic Carnival of Souls. In this surreal and disturbing film, a woman is stalked by a ghostly figure, only to learn that she herself is a lingering spirit.

7

It’s a Good Life Inspired a Stellar Black Mirror Episode

Season 3, Episode 8

“It’s a Good Life” proves that big scares didn’t require a big budget on The Twilight Zone. Powerful performances from a world-class ensemble cast carry this story about an imaginative child (Bill Mumy) who can will anything into existence — or out of it. No expensive effects are necessary thanks to the adults’ vivid reactions to the horrifying lifeforms and shocking deaths dreamed up by the sociopathic Anthony, whom no one can discipline.

This story may sound familiar even to fans who haven’t seen this Twilight Zone episode; affectionate send-ups have appeared in everything from The Simpsons to Johnny Bravo. It also inspired “USS Callister,” a Black Mirror episode about an angry programmer who torments the sentient characters in his Star Trek-like sim game, as showrunner Charlie Brooker told Digital Spy.

Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprized their original roles in “It’s Still a Good Life,” an episode of the 2002 Twilight Zone revival series. The story concerns Anthony’s child — played by Mumy’s real-life daughter Liliana — who inherits his God-like powers.

Related

This Phenomenal Twilight Zone Episode Quietly Inspired More TV Shows Than Fans Realize

The Twilight Zone’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has inspired more TV shows than one might guess.

6

Mike Flanagan Fans Would Adore The Masks

Season 5, Episode 25

In “The Masks,” a greedy family flocks around a dying relative in anticipation of their imminent inheritance. There’s just one hitch: His will specifies that to get what’s coming to them, they must wear a set of bizarre, custom-made masks. When he passes on, they remove the masks, only to realize that they’ve been disfigured; each one’s face is permanently twisted in a way that expresses the ugliness inside of them.

This Fall of the House of Usher-like episode was directed by Ida Lupino, an actress and filmmaker known for gritty dramas featuring sharp social commentary. The iconoclastic Lupino was the only female director of the original Twilight Zone series, and the only person to both direct and act on the show: She starred in the first season episode “16 Millimeter Shrine,” a Sunset Boulevard-like story about a forgotten movie queen who longs to live inside her old pictures.

5

Chucky and Annabelle Were Inspired by Living Doll

Season 5, Episode 6

Erich Streator (Telly Savalas) is a man with a lot of problems: His new wife Annabelle (Mary La Roche) keeps spending his money, her daughter Christie (Tracy Stratford) needs a psychiatrist, and Christie’s doll Talky Tina is threatening to kill him. No one else is aware of the doll’s unusual abilities — at least, not until it’s too late for Erich.

Though Blumhouse’s Annabelle takes her name from a real, allegedly haunted doll, Talky Tina has inspired everything from the Child’s Play franchise to Toy Story 4. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, director Josh Cooley discussed Christina Hendricks’ character Gabby Gabby, who may have drawn additional inspiration from “The Dummy.”

4

Long Distance Call Is Darker Than Usual

Season 2, Episode 22

“Long Distance Call” starts innocently enough, with an elderly woman gifting her beloved grandson Billy a toy telephone for his birthday. After she passes away, he starts talking to her all the time on the toy phone; at first, it seems like a simple coping mechanism, but soon the very real ghost of his grandmother starts urging him to join her in the afterlife.

Though Bill Mumy is most famous for his role in “It’s a Good Life,” he starred in The Twilight Zone three times, and his series debut “Long Distance Call” marks his darkest appearance. A child’s first experience with death can be a tough subject to tackle, but five-year-old Billy’s subsequent suicide attempts make this episode much more intense than the more fantastical episodes of the show.

3

Jordan Peele Was Influenced By Mirror Image

Season 1, Episode 21

“Mirror Image” begins on a dark and stormy night, but its horror is anything but typical. Vera Miles (Psycho) plays a young woman who encounters her own doppelgänger while waiting for a bus. She becomes convinced that the mischievous double is trying to replace her, while everyone else becomes convinced that she has lost her mind.

Jordan Peele’s affection for The Twilight Zone is obvious to anyone who watched his 2019 revival series. He was particularly struck by “Mirror Image,” which expanded into a nagging phobia that he described to The Guardian.

Peele capitalized on his irrational fear by extrapolating it into his 2019 masterpiece Us.

Related

This 60-Year-Old Twilight Zone Episode Was Based on a Haunting Real-Life Incident

The original Twilight Zone series features many spine-tingling episodes, but this one in particular has a bizarre real-life connection.

2

Nightmare At 20,000 Feet Hints at the Horrors of War

Season 5, Episode 3

Arguably the most famous episode of The Twilight Zone is also one of the most frightening. In “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet,” William Shatner plays a man who was recently treated for severe aerophobia who boards a plane only to realize it carries an extremely disturbing passenger. Only he perceives the hideous gremlin that is slowly tearing apart the wing — and the gremlin also sees him.

This episode is one of several that reflect the emotional scars Rod Serling acquired as a World War II paratrooper. Serling’s daughter Anne told Fox News about the trauma he suffered on the battlefield.

Her book, As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling further describes how the war affected him, while also exposing a sweet, funny side that fans might not expect from the sinister host of one of television’s scariest shows.

1

Night Call Is the Scariest Episode – And Also the Most Devastating

Season 5, Episode 29

The Twilight Zone is as famous for its frightening fantasies as it is for its biting irony, and no episode is as emotionally crushing as “Night Call,” in which an old woman receives disturbing phone calls after a violent storm passes through. The mysterious caller’s strange and unidentifiable voice terrifies her, and she begs him to leave her alone. She then learns that the phone line fell over the grave of her late fiance, who was killed in a car accident she caused.

This agonizing episode was directed by Jacques Tourneur, the acclaimed filmmaker behind the noir classic Out of the Past, and the horror favorite Cat People. The latter film, about a lonely young woman stricken with a shape-shifting curse, showcased Tourneur’s ability to blend supernatural terror with gothic tragedy. This is the exact quality that makes “Night Call” the most powerful horror-centric episode of The Twilight Zone.

The Twilight Zone (1959)

Release Date

October 2, 1959

Seasons

5