Twilight Zone The Movie and the Spielberg/Matheson Halloween Story That Never Was

June 24, 1983.

28 years ago today, the film Twilight Zone The Movie was released in theaters.

Can you believe that this film ALMOST had a Steven Spielberg-directed, Richard Matheson-written installment that was centered around HALLOWEEN?

I can't.  But it's true.

Though I was a touch too young (or, really, a touch too "chicken") to see it in theaters, I eventually discovered this on VHS (the old Warner Bros. clamshells) in my early teens at my local video store.

What's a "local video store," you ask?
Ummm... go ask your father.

Though a bit unbalanced in its quality and tone of stories, Twilight Zone The Movie delivered some solid scares to my younger self back in the day.

Finally released on DVD in 2007, I certainly recommend checking it out for George (The Road Warrior) Miller's closing story remake of "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" featuring a very young, yet still wonderfully overacting, John Lithgow.  Other gems include Joe (Gremlins) Dante's "It's a Good Life," a segment that genuinely makes cartoons creepy, and the John (An American Werewolf in London) Landis bookend segments featuring Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks.  Ok--- who am I kidding, I like this movie a lot.
I STILL say "Do you want to see something REALLY scary?" to friends in the car, and most don't know what the heck I'm talking about.

Sure the film was marred by tragedy with the unfortunate on-set accident that resulted in the death of Vic Morrow and two child actors while filming Landis's tent-pole segment.  But it's still worth checking out by fans of anthology films (me), fans of the Twilight Zone (me) and fans of genre directors like Spielberg, Miller, Landis and Dante (me, me, me.... annnnnnd me).
Did I mention I like this movie a lot?

"But how does this relate to Halloween?" you ask?

Ahhhhh THAT is where our story goes next.
While developing stories for the Twilight Zone Movie, Spielberg (who served as Producer in addition to directing one of the segments), was working with Richard (I Am Legend) Matheson  on a Halloween-themed story.

As Spielberg told Starlog magazine (and TwilightZoneMuseum.com recounted):

“…Basically, this is a neighborhood bully, whose costume happens to be the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Trick or treat isn't enough for him--he runs amok across the streets on Halloween, egging houses, leaving burning bags of dog manure on the front porch; stealing bags from other kids; and single-handedly ruining the holiday for everyone he can, enjoying every minute of his mischief. That is, until … a few strange things commence to happen."

Hieronymous Bosch

“It's been years since I read the script, but I remember a postbox lurching at him; I remember a little girl in a witch's costume suddenly growing into an ugly, full-sized witch lurching out to seize him. I remember the streets full of 'REAL' werewolves and patched-together Frankenstein Monsters and vampires, all stalking him in earnest. I remember a doorknob attempting to BITE his hand when he tries to take refuge in his own house. [Matheson likened this whole sequence to a Hieronymous Bosch painting (Twilight Zone Magazine, October 1983)] And ultimately, I remember that when he thinks he is safe in his own home, safe at last from the unexpected horrors which have transformed his neighborhood into a living hell, he catches a glimpse of his reflection in the hall mirror, and he sees Quasimodo-----the real thing. His simple makeup and costume are gone. He IS Quasimodo!

“Horrified, he runs out of the house in total disorientation, and the monsters catch sight of him, and we last see them in close pursuit as he stumbles on his twisted legs across a large vacant lot with the huge October moon in the sky beyond.

“I was DYING to do this segment, needless to say.  It was canceled, however, allegedly on account of the terrible disaster that befell the John Landis episode, and the death of Vic Morrow and especially the two children. Suddenly, another episode requiring filming at night with children seemed very ill-advised, and as I understood it, that was the death knell of that particular tale.”

Other people involved in the movie also believed the accident was a factor in the cancellation of this segment.
However, near the time, Matheson said: “They told me it was too expensive to shoot. If this film makes a lot of money, maybe they'll use it in the next one.”(Fangoria #31)
Dante noted that in addition to all of the monster effects, “an entire city block would have to have been built for the segment,” and “after all, Twilight Zone was only a moderately-budgeted film.” (Cinefex #14)."

How about THAT?!
Now THAT is a Halloween story!
And it would have been a HALLOWEEN Twilight Zone (to the best of my knowledge, no Twilight Zone has dealt with the topic of Halloween).
Given the on-set tragedy, we never got that Halloween story in the anthology film and we never got a second Twilight Zone film. 

If you haven't seen it, check out Twilight Zone The Movie on DVD (Amazon link is below as it was just pulled from Netflix streaming) and think about what COULD have been.

If Mike Dougherty (and/or Warner Bros.) were to ever make a second Trick 'r Treat film, it sounds like this Matheson/Spielberg story would fit right in.  And as Warner Bros. owns Trick 'r Treat AND Twilight Zone The Movie... I'm just sayin'.
I'm just sayin'.