Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Twilight Zone'
What a new movie version of Rod Serling's classic show might offer
"We are entering a dimension of both familiarity and surprise," said Michael Adams in The Wrap, "of exhaustion and excitement, of vague hopes and managed expectation." Yes, once again, Rod Serling's "classic" TV series The Twilight Zone is being brought to the big screen, this time by Leonardo DiCaprio's production company Appian Way and Warner Bros. What a new take on The Twilight Zone "will offer is anyone's guess."
"I'd vastly prefer an anthology-style TV series," said Margaret Lyons in Entertainment Weekly, "particularly one that covered as much ground as The Twilight Zone did." But I'm also "optimistic about a feature's potential." The Twilight Zone "might be remembered as more of a sci-fi series," but underneath that it was "a profoundly political show," and our current "politics are rich for interpretation."
Rod Serling's series "taught us many valuable life lessons through allegory and ham-fisted liberal sermonizing," said Nathan Rabin in The Onion's A.V. Club. But news of yet another remake is kind of depressing: The Twilight Zone has "been resurrected for television multiple times," and the 1983 film version of it was "a famous debacle." To make matters worse, the script for the new movie is being written by Rand Ravich, "whose most prominent film credit, The Astronaut's Wife (watch the trailer), was widely compared to a bad episode of The Twilight Zone."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
A running list of RFK Jr.'s controversies
In Depth The man atop the Department of Health and Human Services has had no shortage of scandals over the years
By Brigid Kennedy
-
Film reviews: Sinners and The King of Kings
Feature Vampires lay siege to a Mississippi juke joint and an animated retelling of Jesus' life
By The Week US
-
Music reviews: Bon Iver, Valerie June, and The Waterboys
Feature "Sable, Fable," "Owls, Omens, and Oracles," "Life, Death, and Dennis Hopper"
By The Week US