''Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics'' is a 1994 American made-for-television fantasy supernatural horror film consisting of two stories by

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ' ...

. The film was co-produced by Serling's widow Carol Serling. Reportedly, she found the two pieces in a trunk in the family's garage. The first and shorter segment, entitled ''The Theatre'', was expanded and scripted by Richard Matheson from a Serling outline. It starred Gary Cole and

Amy Irving Amy Davis Irving (born September 10, 1953) is an American actress and singer, who worked in film, stage, and television. Her accolades include an Obie Award, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award. Born in Palo Alto, Ca ...

. The longer segment, ''Where The Dead Are,'' was a complete script Serling penned in 1968. Patrick Bergin and

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

starred. (Because it was written four years after the end of the original series, this was not originally a '' Twilight Zone'' story.) The tales have thematic echoes of stories about unnaturally prolonged longevity, such as

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

's '' The Picture of Dorian Gray'', Edgar Allan Poe's " The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" and H. P. Lovecraft's "

Cool Air "Cool Air" is a short story by the American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in March 1926 and published in the March 1928 issue of ''Tales of Magic and Mystery (magazine), Tales of Magic and Mystery''. Plot The narrator offers a ...

". James Earl Jones hosted and narrated the special. He previously worked with Serling on the 1972 film '' The Man.''

Plot

Introduction

The Theatre

Opening narration

Synopsis

A young woman, Melissa Sanders (

), goes to the theatre to see the classic film '' His Girl Friday.'' She sees scenes from her own past involving her fiancé, James ( Gary Cole). No one else can see these scenes. At first Melissa thinks it's a practical joke plotted by James, but when she returns to the theatre, she sees scenes of her future, in which she is killed by a bus on March 20. When she tells James about it, he assures her it will never happen. After it does happen, James visits the theatre and sees scenes from his own life.

Closing narration

Where the Dead Are

Opening narration

Synopsis

Three years after the American Civil War, a university professor and former Union Army surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Ramsey ( Patrick Bergin), performs an appendectomy on a patient named O'Neill, who dies seconds later. Ramsey notices a severe skull fracture O'Neill had endured twelve years earlier, one that no one could have survived. Ramsey travels to a mysterious island to seek answers from Dr. Jeremy Wheaton (

), who used to experiment with tissue regeneration. They discuss O'Neill, and Wheaton reveals that he has found a method to revive the dead; he explains that all of the apparently living people on the island were once dead. Later that night, Wheaton dies himself. The island's inhabitants, who have become accustomed to the impermanence of death, attack Ramsey, blaming him for Wheaton's inability to overcome his own death. Ramsey fends off the onslaught until morning, just as the ferry to the mainland arrives. Before leaving, he finds a note from Wheaton's niece in which she claims she also died and was revived by her uncle. Ramsey decides not tell his university colleagues about Wheaton's discovery, because the natural order requires that all living things must die.

Closing narration

References

External links

* {{Richard Matheson The Twilight Zone 1994 television films 1994 films 1994 fantasy films 1990s supernatural horror films American fantasy films American supernatural horror films Films with screenplays by Richard Matheson Films with screenplays by Rod Serling Films set in 1868 Films set in 1994 Films set in Massachusetts Resurrection in film Films set in a movie theatre Films set on islands CBS network films Films directed by Robert Markowitz Films scored by Patrick Williams 1990s American films