“The Twilight Zone” is one of the most influential creations in the history of entertainment. 2024 marks Rod Serling’s centennial.
There are 156 episodes, and most are hit or miss. I struggled to craft a list of the Top 60 and ranked them accordingly.
45 – The Thirty-Fathom Grave
Crippled by the hour-long run time, its still a solid horror episode. The clanking sounds coming from a sunken ship and the ghostly sailors are what true terror is all about.
44 – Death Ship
The best of the Season 4 episodes, it features the great Jack Klugman as the captain of a galactic Flying Dutchman.
43 – The Arrival
A plane lands with no one on board. I got chills just typing that.
42 – A Most Unusual Camera
Comical episode with a great Twilight Zone prop – a camera that takes pictures of the future
41 – Dead Man’s Shoes
Mob episode with noir style and great soundtrack.
40 – The Silence
Nothing supernatural here, just a friendly wager between two enemies.
39 – Stopover in a Quiet Town
A couple wakes up in a deserted town. Add the sounds of a child giggling and you have your scares.
38 – The Purple Testament
Chilling war themed episode in which a soldier can foresee the deaths of his unit.
37 – A Kind of Stopwatch
Another great TZ gimmick – a stopwatch that stops time
36 – The Odyssey of Flight 33
A passenger plane travels back in time.
35 – Elegy
Three astronauts crash land on a spooky asteroid. Would be Top 10 if not for the goofy score that kills the terror several times
34 – Deaths Head Revisited
Dark story about a Nazi captain returning to a desolated concentration camp.
33 – Third From the Sun
One of the iconic episodes features the great Edward Andrews as Carling, one of my favorite TZ characters.
32 – The Four of us are Dying
Urban styled episode about a man who can swap faces.
31 – The Hitchhiker
The beautiful Inger Stevens stars as a woman on a cross-country road trip stalked by an ominous man.