This is my favorite Twilight Zone episode. It is so well-made and frightening that, when you watch it, you'll feel as if you were punched in the chest. It poses the question- Is the reality we encounter in our dreams and nightmares, where we can suffer and die, greater than the one we experience while awake? RICHARD CONTE turns in a stellar performance as Edward Hall, a man in his mid-thirties with a weak heart and an all-consuming fear of falling asleep. Visiting a psychiatrist(JOHN LARCH) whom his doctor recommended he see, Mr. Hall tells a story which, for him, turns out to be a nightmare in living color.
Upon entering the Doctor's office, he regards the receptionist with a strange, perturbed look as he passes her desk. Hall tells the psychiatrist that he's extremely tired and the Doctor suggests that he lie down on the couch. This Hall does, closing his eyes for a few seconds. He then opens his eyes and bolts off the couch. Spying a picture of a sailing vessel over the Doctor's desk, Hall uses it as a prop to reference an ability he has had since childhood regarding his overactive and very vivid imagination. Hall tells him that when he was fifteen, he developed a rheumatic heart. He was told he would never really get well and that he was to avoid any kind of excitement or shock. He asks Dr. Rathmann whether he believes it possible to dream in sequence, like in the old-time movie serials. Rathmann replies that he doesn't think it's impossible and Hall assures him that it can happen. He tells the Doctor that he's been awake for 87 hours now. He says it's not that he can't fall asleep, he mustn't fall asleep. Because if he does, it will be the final shock.
Hall relates a frightening story of having two sequential dreams the previous week in which he found himself in an amusement park at night. He describes the park as the kind of place you see only in nightmares- everything garish, grotesque and misshapen. He stops at one of the attractions which features a carnival dancer named Maya the Cat Girl. Played by SUZANNE LLOYD, who deserved an Emmy for her performance, Maya focuses her attention on Hall and seems to know quite a lot about him. She is incredibly beautiful and sexy in a devilish way. She has a very sensual-looking mouth and gorgeous teeth. She's all that. Hall is both uneasy in her presence and attracted to her at the same time. She lures him into the funhouse and invites him to kiss her. He says "What if I don't want to?" She replies "Oh, you want to." With that, she plants a full-mouth liplock on him. Freaked out by her and the scary exhibits, he bolts as she mocks him with her devilish laugh. The psychiatrist asks him if he recognized her from somewhere and Hall replies that he might have seen her on the street, but he wasn't sure.
He goes on to tell the Doctor that after waking from this first dream, his heart was pounding. The next night when he fell asleep, he found himself back at the amusement park with Maya. It's obvious that he's very scared of her. He knows she wants to kill him and if he dies in the dream, he'll die for real. But he cannot escape her or the hold she has on him. He tells her that he knows none of this is real. That he's home asleep in bed and that he's having a dream and that she's a part of his dream. She tells him she knows that and that now he can do all the things he can't do when he's awake. She coaxes him to follow her onto the roller-coaster and he finds himself powerless to resist her. As they hit the crest of the first rise, Maya says sardonically "Hold on, Edward!" As the coaster picks up speed, Hall is out of his mind with fear and we see Maya sitting there with the shadows of the night playing across her features. She fixes him with an evil smile, her teeth flashing in the darkness. He screams "I've got to get out" and she tells him "Jump, Edward. Jump." He tells Dr. Rathmann that if he falls asleep again, he'll go right back to the roller-coaster and Maya will push him out. And that will be the end of him. But if he stays awake much longer, the stress will be too much for his heart and that will be the end of him. He opens the door to leave and looks at the receptionist again. And this time, we see her, too. He runs back inside and tells Rathmann that it's her, the woman in his dream. Realizing there's no escape for him, he dives headfirst out the window, screaming his life away.
We then see Rathmann sitting at his desk, with a pensive look on his face. He calls the receptionist in and they walk over to the couch on which lies the inert form of Edward Hall. The Doctor checks for a pulse but finds none. He declares him dead and the receptionist is shocked at this, saying that he just came in a minute before. Rathmann says he had Hall lie down because he complained he was tired and a couple of seconds after he closed his eyes, he let out that scream. The receptionist says "Heart attack?" and the Doctor replies "Probably. I guess there are worse ways to go. At least he died peacefully." Phenomenal episode with terrific performances, a surreal atmosphere, and a very effective haunting, eerie score. 10 out of 10, hands down.
Upon entering the Doctor's office, he regards the receptionist with a strange, perturbed look as he passes her desk. Hall tells the psychiatrist that he's extremely tired and the Doctor suggests that he lie down on the couch. This Hall does, closing his eyes for a few seconds. He then opens his eyes and bolts off the couch. Spying a picture of a sailing vessel over the Doctor's desk, Hall uses it as a prop to reference an ability he has had since childhood regarding his overactive and very vivid imagination. Hall tells him that when he was fifteen, he developed a rheumatic heart. He was told he would never really get well and that he was to avoid any kind of excitement or shock. He asks Dr. Rathmann whether he believes it possible to dream in sequence, like in the old-time movie serials. Rathmann replies that he doesn't think it's impossible and Hall assures him that it can happen. He tells the Doctor that he's been awake for 87 hours now. He says it's not that he can't fall asleep, he mustn't fall asleep. Because if he does, it will be the final shock.
Hall relates a frightening story of having two sequential dreams the previous week in which he found himself in an amusement park at night. He describes the park as the kind of place you see only in nightmares- everything garish, grotesque and misshapen. He stops at one of the attractions which features a carnival dancer named Maya the Cat Girl. Played by SUZANNE LLOYD, who deserved an Emmy for her performance, Maya focuses her attention on Hall and seems to know quite a lot about him. She is incredibly beautiful and sexy in a devilish way. She has a very sensual-looking mouth and gorgeous teeth. She's all that. Hall is both uneasy in her presence and attracted to her at the same time. She lures him into the funhouse and invites him to kiss her. He says "What if I don't want to?" She replies "Oh, you want to." With that, she plants a full-mouth liplock on him. Freaked out by her and the scary exhibits, he bolts as she mocks him with her devilish laugh. The psychiatrist asks him if he recognized her from somewhere and Hall replies that he might have seen her on the street, but he wasn't sure.
He goes on to tell the Doctor that after waking from this first dream, his heart was pounding. The next night when he fell asleep, he found himself back at the amusement park with Maya. It's obvious that he's very scared of her. He knows she wants to kill him and if he dies in the dream, he'll die for real. But he cannot escape her or the hold she has on him. He tells her that he knows none of this is real. That he's home asleep in bed and that he's having a dream and that she's a part of his dream. She tells him she knows that and that now he can do all the things he can't do when he's awake. She coaxes him to follow her onto the roller-coaster and he finds himself powerless to resist her. As they hit the crest of the first rise, Maya says sardonically "Hold on, Edward!" As the coaster picks up speed, Hall is out of his mind with fear and we see Maya sitting there with the shadows of the night playing across her features. She fixes him with an evil smile, her teeth flashing in the darkness. He screams "I've got to get out" and she tells him "Jump, Edward. Jump." He tells Dr. Rathmann that if he falls asleep again, he'll go right back to the roller-coaster and Maya will push him out. And that will be the end of him. But if he stays awake much longer, the stress will be too much for his heart and that will be the end of him. He opens the door to leave and looks at the receptionist again. And this time, we see her, too. He runs back inside and tells Rathmann that it's her, the woman in his dream. Realizing there's no escape for him, he dives headfirst out the window, screaming his life away.
We then see Rathmann sitting at his desk, with a pensive look on his face. He calls the receptionist in and they walk over to the couch on which lies the inert form of Edward Hall. The Doctor checks for a pulse but finds none. He declares him dead and the receptionist is shocked at this, saying that he just came in a minute before. Rathmann says he had Hall lie down because he complained he was tired and a couple of seconds after he closed his eyes, he let out that scream. The receptionist says "Heart attack?" and the Doctor replies "Probably. I guess there are worse ways to go. At least he died peacefully." Phenomenal episode with terrific performances, a surreal atmosphere, and a very effective haunting, eerie score. 10 out of 10, hands down.