Twilight Zone: The Movie

This one-inch pin is an image from "Twilight Zone: The Movie" which came out in 1983. That's Kevin McCarthy pulling a rabbit out of his hat, which of course has gone horribly wrong. This is from the "It's A Good Life" remake sequence. Even though they update the story for the eighties, they're both still quite different. The original is a less exaggerated and comical (although, the neighbor yelling about "Perry Como" always cracked me up). Bill Mumy (who has a cameo in the film) plays the boy with all the mind powers and manages to turn this neighbor into a scary Jack-In-The-Box.

 Its also funny to see how different kids were portrayed from the 1960s into the 1980s. In the movie version, the kid (Jeremy Licht) always wants junk food and cartoons. It's been awhile since I saw the original, but I just recall him wanting to make his own creatures. The writers also had a real understanding of being a naive, unknowing child because he doesn't think of the consequences of making it snow (which will kill off their food supply). 

I always found it funny that they use the name, Helen Foley for the woman who ends up at the house in the film version. That was a character name used in another original "Twilight Zone" episode. Also, that Nancy Cartwright (best known as the voice of "Bart Simpson") is a "sister" in the house, since they parody "It's A Good Life" on "The Simpsons" maybe 10 years later. And finally, Cherrie Currie pops up as the creepy "sister" with no mouth. 

The Dickies do a funny parody on the killer rabbit character for the cover of their album, "Dogs From The Hair That Bit Us". 

Finally "Twilight Zone: The Movie" is sadly known for its accidental death of Vic Morrow. You can read about this in a great book called "Killing For Culture". This occurs in the first segment about Morrow being a bigot who somehow ends up experiencing just about every racial battle. I'm not sure if this is a rewrite of an original episode. As far as know, there's a scene involving a helicopter where Morrow was too dangerously close. 

You can watch the entire film here: