There are probably very few people in the world who haven't heard of The Twilight Zone. What began as a five-season black-and-white anthology series created by Rod Serling, telling disturbing stories in the supernatural, dystopian, sci-fi and horror genres, evolved into an iconic media franchise with numerous works on screen and on paper, as well as three revival series.
Over the course of more than six decades, the franchise has attracted the most creative minds in the entertainment industry and spawned so many original stories that it's hard to find a horror project that doesn't have at least some connection to The Twilight Zone.
Some of these references are coincidental, and some were made intentionally by original Twilight Zone fans who grew up to be filmmakers themselves. Here are five of the most notable examples.
The Mist (2007)
Inspired by: S1E22 The Monsters are Due on Maple Street & S1E8 Time Enough At Last
While Frank Darabont's film is an adaptation of Stephen King's novella of the same name, the writer-director told Slash Film in 2022 that he also drew inspiration from two Twilight Zone episodes.
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street is about a fear of alien invasion that leads to paranoia, chaos and tragedy in an average American neighborhood. Darabont tried to capture the tension of this episode in his film.
Time Enough At Last, following the last man in a nuclear-destroyed world, inspired The Mist's mind-blowing ending, which differs from King's book.
Us (2019)
Inspired by: S1E21 Mirror Image
Jordan Peele is a well-known fan of The Twilight Zone. He even served as a writer and narrator on the 2019 revival series. So, it's no surprise that the filmmaker took inspiration from the original show for at least one of his fan-favorite thrillers.
Peele once told Rolling Stone that the idea for Us came to him after watching the episode Mirror Image, about a woman who meets her evil doppelganger at a bus station.
Cube (1997)
Inspired by: S3E14 Five Characters in Search of an Exit
Although the creators of the famous Cube movie series never talked about it publicly, it is hard not to find parallels between the plot of the movies and the Twilight Zone episode Five Characters in Search of an Exit.
In the episode, five characters dressed in strange costumes wake up inside a large metal cylinder. They don't remember who they are or how they got there, but they do their best to escape. When one of them finally gets out, he discovers that they are all children's toys and is returned to his eternal prison.
The Box (2009)
S1E20 Button, Button
Richard Kelly's 2009 movie starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden and The Twilight Zone episode Button, Button are based on the same short story by legendary horror writer Richard Matheson, so their plots are very similar.
Both follow struggling families who are offered the chance to get a large sum of money by pressing a button that will kill a person unknown to them. Of course, Richard Kelly took some elements from Button, Button and expanded on the original premise.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
S5E22 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
The Sixth Sense is one of the most popular thrillers of the 20th century. Its popularity is largely due to the jaw-dropping twist in the finale. The twist is similar to the one in 2001's The Others and 1990's Jacob's Ladder.
The granddaddy of this trope is An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, which tells the story of a slave owner who is executed by hanging during the American Civil War, but manages to escape, only to realize in the end that it's all been a vision as he falls to his death.
Sources: Slash Film, Rolling Stone.