Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics unearthed two new tales of terror from the legendary anthology show. The Twilight Zone was created and hosted by the legendary Rod Serling, with the show debuting in 1959. The series was a pioneering mix of horror and sci-fi and it became famous for its twist endings. It originally ran for five seasons before coming to an end in 1964, with episodes such as "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet" - starring a young William Shatner - and "Time Enough At Last" being considered among the best. Serling would later co-write sci-fi classic Planet Of The Apes.
The series would inspire many other anthology shows in the years that followed, including The Outer Limits and more modern-day examples like Black Mirror or Inside No. 9. The Twilight Zone has been rebooted many times since its original run too, including the 1983 movie and TV revivals in the 1980s, early 2000 and the new, Jordan Peele hosted take in 2019 for CBS All Access; the latter series has been renewed for a second season.
The show returned once again with a 1994 TV movie dubbed Twilight Zone: Rod Serlings' Lost Classics. This was due to the discovery of two unproduced Serling scripts, who passed away in 1975. The first story is dubbed "The Theatre" and was written by Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) from a Serling concept, while the latter "Where The Dead Are" was Serling's riff on H.P. Lovecraft tales like Re-Animator. The TV movie was also hosted by James Earl Jones, whose voice is perfect for anything Twilight Zone related.
Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics' first tale "The Theatre" involves Melissa (Amy Irving), who keeps putting off work and relationship issues, but is later shocked to see snippets of her life playing out onscreen during a viewing of Cary Grant classic His Girl Friday. Nobody else can see this and unsurprisingly, nobody believes her, even her boyfriend (Gary Cole, Office Space). She later catches a glimpse of her own death, which she can't seem to put off. The second tale "Where The Dead Are" involves a doctor played by Patrick Bergin, who travels to a remote island and discovers the local doctor (Jack Palance) has discovered how to bring back the dead.
"Where The Dead Are" is also notable for being the longest ever Twilight Zone story, clocking in at nearly an hour. Neither of Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics' tales are among the best the show has produced, but they're effective little morality tales and the TV movie was a nice treat for fans of the show. It seems the movie has been effectively forgotten since its 1994 debut, but it's worth seeking out for completionists.