10 Famous Horror Movies That Blatantly Copy Twilight Zone Episodes

The Twilight Zone was one of the most influential television shows of all time, to the point that some famed horror movies copied its episodes. The classic anthology series was known for its twist endings and explorations of the sci-fi and movie genres. Many of these proved so compelling, that they directly inspired many subsequent horror movies.

The Twilight Zone originally ran for five seasons from 1959 to 1964 and has since been revived on several occasions. The show created numerous themes, tropes, and narratives associated with both the horror and sci-fi genres, and its importance cannot be understated. The various types of Twilight Zone episodes have inspired a litany of sci-fi TV shows, horror movies, and more. However, some horror movies blatantly copied their premises directly from episodes of The Twilight Zone.

10 Time Lapse (2014)

Copied: The Twilight Zone season 2, episode 10, “A Most Unusual Camera”

Time Lapse is a sci-fi thriller about a group of friends who discover a camera that takes pictures 24 hours in the future. This premise is strikingly similar to the plot of the 1960 Twilight Zone episode “A Most Unusual Camera,” which depicts a ragtag group of criminals who find a camera that takes pictures of upcoming events. Both narratives revolve around their respective protagonists attempting to exploit the technology for financial gain, with horrifically dire consequences. Incidentally, a similar story plays out in R.L. Stine’s 1992 Goosebumps novel, Say Cheese and Die!, and the 1996 TV series episode of the same name, so Time Lapse wasn’t the first copy.

9 Child’s Play (1988)

Copied: The Twilight Zone season 5, episode 6, “Living Doll”

Chucky from the Child’s Play movies is the most famous example of a murderous doll, with the franchise following the homicidal exploits of a toy possessed by the spirit of a serial killer. However, The Twilight Zone depicted a scary sentient toy decades earlier in the 1963 episode “Living Doll,” about a dysfunctional family whose lives are complicated when their daughter’s “Talky Tina” is revealed to be alive. The episode established many of the tropes that later appeared in Child’s Play and similar movies, including Annabelle, which is based on a real-life 1971 case investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren. Interestingly, the mother in “Living Doll” is also named Annabelle.

8 Poltergeist (1982)

Copied: The Twilight Zone season 3, episode 26, “Little Girl Lost”

Poltergeist employs many haunted house tropes, but its central premise concerns a young girl abducted from a family’s suburban home by a malevolent spirit. Although Poltergeist is loosely based on a true story, several key elements from the movie’s plot appeared previously in the 1962 Twilight Zone episode “Little Girl Lost.” In this installment, a young girl accidentally travels to another dimension while still being able to talk and communicate with her parents as they attempt to rescue her — just like Poltergeist. “Little Girl Lost” was also famously parodied in one of The Simpsons‘ Treehouse of Horror episodes.

7 A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

Copied: The Twilight Zone season 1, episode 9, “Perchance to Dream”

Wes Craven’s classic slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street depicts the murderous Freddy Kreuger as he stalks and kills children in their dreams. The plot prompted speculation that Craven was inspired by the 1959 Twilight Zone episode “Perchance to Dream,” which focuses on a man convinced he will die if he falls asleep due to his vivid dreams and strained heart. In actuality, Craven’s inspiration for A Nightmare on Elm Street was a horrifying true story of a young man terrified of his nightmares, which is actually closer to the premise of “Perchance to Dream” than the movie.

6 The Village (2004)

Copied: The Twilight Zone season 2, episode 23, “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim”

M. Night Shyamalan is famous for his twist endings, but The Village‘s denouement is practically the same as the one from the 1961 Twilight Zone episode “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim.” In the movie, a woman journeys out of her secluded community to find medicine and discovers that her village is not in the 19th century; it’s the modern day. Similarly, “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim” depicts a man in 1847 who climbs over a nearby hill to find water and medicine, only to find himself in 1961. While “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim” is more about time travel, The Village‘s plot is still comparable.

5 Final Destination (2000)

Copied: The Twilight Zone season 2, episode 17, “Twenty Two”

Final Destination begins with a student who has a premonition of his airplane exploding — which it subsequently does, killing everyone on board. This opening is similar to the plot of the 1961 Twilight Zone installment “Twenty Two” in several key ways. The episode depicts a young woman who keeps dreaming that she is being taken to the hospital morgue. Later, she is boarding an airplane, but upon recognizing the flight attendant from her dream, changes her mind. The plane then takes off and promptly explodes in midair. There’s a very considerable resemblance, hinging on similar essential plot points that originated in The Twilight Zone.

4 The Box (2009)

Copied: The Twilight Zone revival season 1, episode 20, “Button, Button”

The Box is based on the 1970 short story “Button, Button” by Richard Matheson and depicts a young couple given a box by a mysterious man. Inside the box is a button that, if pushed, will win the couple a million dollars, but will also cause somebody to die. The short story was also adapted for the ’80s Twilight Zone revival. The 1986 episode “Profile in Silver/Button, Button” offers a rendition of Matheson’s story, exploring the narrative in a more grounded fashion. The Box built upon this plot substantially to make it feature film length.

3 Us (2019)

Copied: The Twilight Zone season 1, episode 21, “Mirror Image”

Jordan Peele’s unsettling horror masterpiece Us depicts a family being attacked by a group of sinister doppelgängers. Peele revealed to Rolling Stone that his plot was initially inspired by the Twilight Zone episode “Mirror Image.” This 1960 installment of the series portrays a young woman who repeatedly encounters an exact copy of herself in a bus depot, and she believes that her doppelgänger could only survive if it eliminated her. “Mirror Image” is a highly unsettling and effective episode, from which Jordan Peel’s Us took his premise and explores it much more thoroughly. The same year, Peele was a producer on the 2019 Twilight Zone reboot and played the narrator.

2 All Hallow’s Eve (2013)

Copied: The Twilight Zone season 1, episode 16, “The Hitch-Hiker.”

Damien Leone’s portmanteau horror movie All Hallow’s Eve boasts the feature film debut of Art the Clown. The terrifying horror icon appears throughout the movie, but the third segment centers on him entirely. A young woman drives down an isolated road when she spots Art the Clown holding a sign that says “circus.” The woman continues driving onward, but Art appears again further down the road. This is a highly unsettling trope that originated in the 1960 Twilight Zone episode “The Hitch-Hiker.” The classic installment of the series also depicts a young woman who keeps seeing the same man hitchhiking, despite repeatedly driving past him.

1 The Mist (2007)

Copied: The Twilight Zone season 1, episode 22, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”

The Mist is a heartbreaking film adaptation of a Stephen King novella, and its plot revolves around human reactions to extreme circumstances. The movie’s monsters do appear periodically, but the focus is on the anguished humans. The Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” was cited by filmmaker Frank Darabont as a primary source of inspiration for his adaptation (via The Hollywood Reporter). The 1960 installment depicts a close-knit community growing suspicious of each other as they anticipate the imminent arrival of unseen monsters. The focus on the human characters’ reactions to a looming threat is the biggest similarity to The Mist.

Darabont also noted the similarities between the Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last,” and The Mist‘s gut-wrenching final scenes, in which the protagonist kills his family to save them from the monsters, only to discover the threat is over. Darabont remarked, “When that came to me, it just felt like the kind of Twilight Zone ending that really stays with you. You know, ‘Time Enough at Last’ where Burgess Meredith breaks his glasses — that kind of ending, where you’re like ‘Oh no, if he’d only waited two more minutes!’ (via Yahoo! Entertainment). The Mist truly demonstrates The Twilight Zone‘s lasting impact and impressive legacy in horror.

Sources: Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Yahoo! Entertainment