Where You Can Watch Twilight Zone: The Movie

You're about to enter another dimension. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. I'm talking, of course, about the world of streaming. We've all found ourselves wandering its endless terrain, confused, slightly panicked, ultimately grabbing on to something vaguely familiar just to gain a sense of stability. Alas, we appear doomed to remain stranded in the streaming sphere as long as the idea that being able to access every piece of media ever produced at any time is viewed as a positive thing.

So, what happens when you want to go a level deeper? Perhaps you're not perturbed enough by our contemporary situation as it is, and feel like further spooking yourself with a visit to the Twilight Zone itself? Well, I might suggest Rod Serling's original series, which ran from 1959 to 1964 and in large part remains as relevant today as it was back then. In fact, "The Twilight Zone" pioneered the sci-fi genre for years to come. Then, Steven Spielberg and his buddies got their hands on it. (More on that later.)

But if you're looking to give "Twilight Zone: The Movie" another chance, allow us to be your guide.

"Twilight Zone: The Movie" was distributed by Warner Bros. so it should be on the studio's Max streaming service, right? Well, in this topsy-turvy world of streaming, nothing is as it seems: This movie is currently only available to rent or buy. That's right, despite the countless streaming services to which we all subscribe, "Twilight Zone: The Movie" isn't available to stream anywhere. Therefore, you'll have to fork over $2.99 to rent the film in HD from any of the usual outlets (Amazon, Apple, Vudu, etc). You can also buy the movie for $9.99, but at the time of this writing, Vudu is offering a discount for just $6.99.

In 1983, almost 20 years after the original series had wrapped, "Twilight Zone: The Movie" arrived, complete with an anthology format to match its predecessor. Produced by Spielberg and John Landis, the movie includes segments directed by Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller. Unfortunately, critical response was less than stellar, lying somewhere between the pit of man's negativity and the summit of his praise. (That's a "Twilight Zone" reference, by the way, not just a randomly overwrought sentence.)

"Twilight Zone: The Movie" is known as a cursed production, mainly for the horrific on-set accident that claimed the lives of actor Vic Morrow and child actors Renee Shin-Yi Chen and Myca Dinh Lee. It was a tragedy, and it's impossible to separate this event from any discussions of the film. In fact, discussions of critical reception and box office performance are essentially meaningless, because this will always be the first thing anyone thinks of when hearing the title "Twilight Zone: The Movie."

If you were one of those people who turned out to watch when the film first released, you might be in the mood for a revisit. Alternatively, perhaps you've heard of this cursed piece of popular media and are intrigued. Or maybe you've never even considered watching the movie, but find yourself finally intrigued enough to investigate. In any case, it might help to keep in mind while watching that the movie was originally supposed to have all of its disparate parts be interconnected, but the tragic accident led to changes that wiped that plan off the books.