Horror Anthology Television Night

I've been wanting to do this theme for awhile but there are so many hours of horror anthology TV shows it's hard to find the best. Or the best worst. But Halloween gave me enough direction so I could put together 2.7 hours of entertainment.

Except there's surprisingly few Halloween-themed episodes. I searched through the shows we're watching on Friday, which are The Twilight Zone (60s), Amazing Stories, Ray Bradbury Theater, The Twilight Zone (80s), Amazing Stories (again) and Tales From the Darkside, respectively. I also considered Night Gallery, Outer Limits and shows that were part of the 80's horror anthology explosion: Tales From the Crypt, Freddy's Nightmares and Monsters.



There's a lot of them. This guy came up with 62. I did manage to find enough that have the spirit of Halloween.

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" isn't one of them though. It did air on October 11th, 1963. It's directed by Richard Donner (Superman, Goonies) and written by Richard Matheson (Duel). In fact, even though most of these episodes were chosen for their "spirit" they have well-known authors.

"The Pumpkin Competition" isn't one of them though. The director did do production design on The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi. I think that means he could build me a rancor pit. Wait, nevermind. I can do it:



"The Screaming Woman" is written by Ray Bradbury and stars a post-booze and pot but pre-cocaine Drew Barrymore. So 11-years-old.

"The Shadow Man" is by Joe Dante in his fourth directorial effort: Hollywood Boulevard, Piranha, Rock 'n' Roll High School and I was this close to showing Gremlins 2: The New Batch once.



"Go To The Head of The Class" is directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Mick Garris, the man who brought you The Fly II and Critters 2. Well he brought me those things. Fine, the man who brought you, sigh, Hocus Pocus.



"Halloween Candy" is directed by Tom Savini, make-up artist for many of our movies and director of the Night of the Living Dead remake. It's written by the guy who wrote Beetlejuice and, well Beetlejuice. What else do you need?

Here's what happened last week: