In the past two years, I've celebrated Halloween by judging
the most Lovecrafty movies ever made and
the best Stephen King adaptations. This year, I'm looking at thirteen good-to-great horror flicks that mirror classic creepy episodes from
The Twilight Zone. Whether purposeful or accidental, these movies showcase the same imagination and excitement that made Serling's series so fantastic.
...what is never recorded in a log is the fear that washes over a deck like fog and ocean spray. Fear like the throbbing strokes of engine pistons, each like a heartbeat, parceling out every hour into breathless minutes of watching, waiting, and dreading.
11. "Judgment Night" / Triangle
"Judgment Night" (Wri. Rod Serling, Dir. John Brahm, Season One)
Triangle (Chris Smith, 2009)
What's So Similar?
Both "Judgment Night" and
Triangle share a confused hero with a limited memory, an ominous fog-laden boat full of expendable souls, and a sharp twist that doubles back and explains why those heroes might be amnesiac and confused.
What's So Different?
Serling's story is stuck firmly in the post-World-War-II angst that seeps into many
Twilight Zone episodes, with its boat a 1942 British warship and its hero (a nervous man named Carl) a war refugee. Smith's film has its spectral ship as a displaced liner named the Aeolus (its namesake the Greek deity of ocean winds), and its hero is Jess (Melissa George), a contemporary single mother who finds the boat by accident. The feature film plays like a logical extension of the Serling short, revealing one big twist relatively early on. Then it builds upon and subverts that twist with a crushing ending.
Serling's short grants sympathy to a character who might not merit emotional attachment, which gives his eerie little tale an added intrigue. Just who is this man? Why is he on this boat? Why does he feel so out of place? And why does this all seem familiar? Why is it set in 1942, at this point in time? Chris Smith's feature offers many of the same questions, and it communicates some of that discomforting combination of familiarity and alienation. Neither hero remembers why they're here, but they know that they forgot. Melissa George is terrific as the anxious lead, and the twists in the story don't play like gimmicks - every single surprise turns the screws tighter on the heroine's psychology and hold up to scrutiny. I saw
Triangle for the first time a year ago, and I'm still thinking about it. Watch it.
All of The Best Twilight Zone Movies...
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11. "Judgment Night" / Triangle
12. "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" / Cube
13. "Twenty-Two" / Final Destination
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