Summary

• The Twilight Zone is a classic TV show known for its scary and creative stories that explore mature themes and societal commentaries.
• It paved the way for other classic horror anthologies and has been revived multiple times, but none have matched the inventive nature of Rod Serling's original series.
• The best episodes teach valuable lessons while delivering spooky and suspenseful tales that have captivated viewers for decades.

The Twilight Zone is still considered one of the scariest and most creative TV shows of all time, and the best Twilight Zone episodes remain iconic decades later. It deals with mature themes and commentaries on society and blends them into well-crafted creepy and suspenseful stories that have terrified viewers from generation to generation. The best of the best has a lesson to teach its audience but hides it within a well-crafted spooky tale that is at turns terrifying, creepy, and often fantastical.

It was ahead of its time and The Twilight Zone paved the way for other classic horror anthologies such as The Outer Limits, Tales From The Darkside, and Tales From The Crypt. There have also been many revivals of the TV series, including a recent one by Jordan Peele, but no matter how good the stories were, they never really matched up to the inventive nature of Rod Serling's classic horror/sci-fi anthology series about things that unlock the key to the viewer's imagination and taking them into a "land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas," before finally crossing over into the Twilight Zone.

25 A Game Of Pool

Season 3, Episode 5

As with most of the best Twilight Zone episodes, "A Game of Pool" is carried by its leads, featuring two fantastic and legendary actors. The entire idea involves two men who set out to prove to be the best at something - in this case, playing pool. Jack Klugman (12 Angry Men) is Jesse Cardiff, one of the best players in the world, who feels that he will never be considered the best because he never had a chance to play the deceased Fats Brown. This brings Fats back from the afterlife to play him, with Jonathan Winters (It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World) in that role. If Jesse loses, he forfeits his life, but if he wins, his fate could be even worse.

24 And When The Sky Was Opened

Season 1, Episode 11

Alternate realities and reality-shifting events are practically the bread and butter of the best episodes of Twilight Zone. The episode titled, And When The Sky Was Opened is a prime example of the horror of such events as three astronauts return to Earth and stay in a hospital. Throughout the episode, the three astronauts vanish and are forgotten from existence. Each disappearance is represented through a newspaper that changes with each shift. There is no direct explanation for these events, much like other episodes, which adds to the horror as the astronauts slowly succumb to the event.

23 Mirror Image

Season 1, Episode 21

The season one episode "Mirror Image" has a woman waiting for a bus at the bus stop (Psycho's Vera Miles). When she tires of the long wait, she asks the attendant when the bus will arrive, but she is told she already asked three times, which she knows is not true. When a woman cleaning the bus stop tells her that she just saw her in the bathroom, the woman looks into a mirror and sees her doppelganger sitting on a bench. This episode remains notable for one key trivia fact. Jordan Peele, who made his version of Twilight Zone years later, said this was one of his favorites and influenced his movie Us, which was also about doppelgångers.

"It’s terrifying, beautiful, really elegant storytelling, and it opens up a world. It opens up your imagination."

22 The Midnight Sun

Season 3, Episode 10

Due to the Earth changing paths, it is getting closer and closer to the sun, leading to the heat gradually rising more and more. Immediately, the concept is something that feels somewhat realistic enough that can put anyone into a state of dread. It follows two women in an apartment building, essentially slowly succumbing to the heat. "The Midnight Sun" does a great job of making it seem so hot that it makes watching the episode feel uncomfortable. This is enhanced by commendable performances by Lois Nettleton and Betty Garde. By the end, the dark twist ending is a relief as much as it is disturbing.

21 Little Girl Lost

Season 3, Episode 26

"Little Girl Lost" has a legendary horror master behind the script. Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) wrote one of the best episodes of Twilight Zone in this story about parents who can hear their child but can't find them. When a married couple hears their daughter crying, they head into her room and can't find her there. No matter where they look, they can't find her or pinpoint where the crying is coming from. This episode received a parody in The Simpsons on a Treehouse of Horror episode and shares much in common with the movie Poltergeist.

20 Nightmare As A Child

Season 1, Episode 29

When a school teacher finds a very serious little girl named Markie, the girl claims she knows her, but the teacher doesn't know where that would be from. Soon, a man shows up and says that he was a witness to her mother's death years before, but she had blocked that all from her memory. When she mentions the little girl, the man tells the woman her nickname as a child was Markie. The episode was a basic murder mystery and the twists and turns offered nothing new, but it remained a great episode thanks to the performances and the slow burn reveals that kept viewers in a constant state of tension.

19 The After Hours

Season 1, Episode 34

"The After Hours" did something that wasn't hard to do for a horror story. It brought mannequins into the picture. Decades after this episode aired, it is not hard to remember the mannequins in one of the best episodes of The Twilight Zone, and not feel a little uneasy around them. When a woman goes to a department store, she decides to buy a gold thimble and is taken to the ninth floor, where nothing is there but one counter with a salesperson and a gold thimble. This leads to the creative twist ending that turns everything on its head. This episode ended up being remade for the 1986 revival.

18 A Stop At Willoughby

Season 1, Episode 30

Where most of the best Twilight Zone episodes deal with the surreal and the horrific, "A Stop At Willoughby" is mostly just a depressing story about an unhappy man. Gart is treated miserably by both his boss and his wife, leading to him being transported to a seemingly perfect town called Willoughby in the 1800s. Gart becomes infatuated with Willoughby and continues to see it whenever he falls asleep on a train. It's easy to feel sympathetic for Gart, especially when it comes to the scenes with his wife. Nobody can blame him for wanting to live life in the serene town, but like most episodes, it ends on a sour note that is both sad and thought-provoking.

17 The Hitch-Hiker

Season 1, Episode 16

The Hitch-Hiker plays on the rational fear of hitchhikers and the legitimate possibility of them being someone insidious. On a road trip across the country, a woman begins seeing a mysterious hitchhiker who keeps reappearing no matter how far she travels. The Hitch-Hiker fills every scene with uneasiness using the titular villain. He never does anything menacing, but his blank stare gives him a creepy vibe. This concept seemed to inspire Stephen King and George A. Romero as a similar story appeared in Creepshow 2. There is a great twist to the episode which is a staple of the series that hints at the hitchhiker's identity in a subtle but effective manner.

16 Twenty-Two

Season 2, Episode 17

While many of the best Twilight Zone episodes have a dreamlike feeling seeping into the stories, when it comes to "Twenty-Two," this episode uses dreams as part of its story. Barbara Nichols plays a dancer who opens the episode in the middle of a horrific nightmare. She is in a hospital and arrives at the morgue, where a nurse welcomes her in. She wakes up and is in that same hospital, under treatment for exhaustion. She then sets out to learn what the dream means. With the recurring dream, the episode takes on a creepy Groundhog Dog feel that builds the dread to the end.

15 Five Characters In Search Of An Exit

Season 3, Episode 14

Like many of the best Twilight Zone episodes, "Five Characters In Search Of An Exit" focuses on a group of strangers in a single location. In this case, a major, a transient, a ballerina, a clown, and a bagpiper all wake up in a single circular room with no doors or windows or even any furniture. Not only do they have no memory of who they are, but no idea how they got into their situation. The result is a glimpse at how strangers react in such a claustrophobic nightmare, with five delightfully memorable performances. However, this episode does feature a twist that, while strange, is a tad bit predictable due to the many clues it gives the viewer.

14 The Invaders

Season 2, Episode 15

One thing that makes "The Invaders" notable is the fact it is almost completely silent throughout the entire episode. The episode sees a spaceship land on the roof of an old house and soon two small beings in pressure suits come out of the craft. An older woman who lives in the house ends up attacked by the beings and is in a fight for her life. The fact there is no dialogue is important here because it is the twist ending that drives things home. The ship was a U.S. Air Force space probe, and they were human astronauts on an alien planet with giant dangerous humanoids.

13 The Shelter

Season 3, Episode 3

A family hides in a fallout shelter after everyone believes a nuclear attack is about to occur. Friends and neighbors of the family try their best to break in, so they can protect their own families, as well. This episode shows how humans react to dangerous situations, and the final moments allow characters to realize how far they are willing to go to survive. Filled with suspense, this episode is a highlight of the series and is entertaining from beginning to end. The apocalypse plays a role in several of the best Twilight Zone episodes, and this one ranks near the top of that category of episodes.

12 Deaths-Head Revisited

Season 3, Episode 9

Oscar Beregi appeared in three different Twilight Zone episodes, with his best being "Deaths-Head Revisited." This episode had a former Nazi officer revisit a German concentration camp 15 years after World War II. Since this took into account the Holocaust, the episode played it in a serious, somber, and extremely dark tone. This Nazi had tortured and killed countless people during the war as the commandant, and this offers a scene of poetic justice when the ghosts of prisoners he tortured and murdered put him on trial for his crimes. His punishment was fitting for his countless crimes, making this a memorable episode of the series.

11 Walking Distance

Season 1, Episode 5

"Walking Distance" was one of the most critically acclaimed of the best Twilight Zone episodes, with Rod Serling's daughter saying it was her dad's favorite episode (via SyFy). The episode saw a man stop to get his car looked at before realizing he was close to his hometown. When he does, he ends up walking into his past and sees himself as a young child. However, he scares his childhood self as well as his parents, and he soon realizes there is no place for him there anymore, and he realizes his childhood is gone, replaced by a less-than-happy adult life.

10 Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?

Season 2, Episode 28

This fun mystery episode involves a group of people at a diner trying to figure out who among them is not who they say they are. Anyone could be an extraterrestrial being playing themselves off as a human. This episode is pure entertainment filled with suspense and a good mystery. The dialogue and interactions between all the suspects are top-notch. It acts as a precursor to John Carpenter's The Thing with the many memorable characters trying to figure out who is an imposter. The final moment itself is worth the watch.

9 It's A Good Life

Season 3, Episode 8

A favorite among many viewers, this episode involves a little boy terrifying a small town with his special powers, leading everyone to do exactly as he says. It helped establish the trope of powerful children as villains in horror, showing just how terrifying a kid can be. Part of the creepiness of the episode is wondering where the boy sends people when they make him angry. It is stated that he sends them into the "cornfield," but, what exactly does that mean? The ending is one of the scariest scenes of the series and solidifies the boy as one of the scariest characters from The Twilight Zone.

8 The Big Tall Wish

Season 1, Episode 27

"The Big Tall Wish" remains iconic as one of the few Twilight Zone episodes to feature Black actors in the lead roles. In this episode, a former boxer named Bolie Jackson spends some time with a young boy before he decides to make his comeback. The young boy says he plans to make the "biggest, tallest wish" for Bolie. After this, Bolie is about to lose another fight when he magically switches places with the other boxer and wins. When he returns home, the boy says it was his wish, but Bolie refuses to believe this and the episode shows that if someone doesn't believe in magic, it can kill all magic for everyone involved.

7 The Masks

Season 5, Episode 25

People are more complex than they appear. People who seem sweet and innocent turn out to have a dark side, and others who make people cautious may be the sweetest people in the world. This episode involves a dying man making sure the members of his family's faces match the people they are on the inside. He makes them wear these creepy masks throughout the episode, and the final moment is one of the best Twilight Zone episode endings of any in the series. The makeup effects, for the time, are top-notch, and the great performances by everyone in the cast make this episode a classic.

6 Living Doll

Season 5, Episode 6

Before Chucky terrified audiences everywhere in the Child's Play franchise, there was "Talky Tina." A mean stepfather gets what he deserves when his stepdaughter's doll takes a turn from being cute to sinister. This suspenseful tale is considered one of the scariest episodes of The Twilight Zone, and rightfully so. Creepy dolls have been around in TV and film for years, and this is one of the absolute best depictions of the concept. With a great performance by Kojak's Telly Savalas and voice-acting by June Foray, this episode is sure to make viewers think twice before letting their children play with dolls.