After completing barely one season, I can state already that "The Twilight Zone" never ceases to amaze me in terms of diversity, quality and sheer craftsmanship. Judging from the previous couple of episodes, like "A Passage for Trumpet" and "Mr. Bevis", I got the false impression that the series was becoming more soft and sentimental, but in "The After Hours" Rod Serling strikes back with genuine suspense and an unequaled ambiance of pure mystery and eeriness. Of all the individual tales I've seen thus far, "The After Hours" is undoubtedly the most effective one when it comes to keeping the viewer unaware of what's going on and simultaneously making him/her feel increasingly uncomfortable. The things that help to accomplish this are the settings (like abandoned shopping center floors) and scenery (mannequin dolls are creepy) but there's more! The screenplay is very well-written and doesn't reveal anything too soon, Anne Francis' vulnerable performance is truly forceful and the exact right use of photography and sound effects make the mannequin dolls at least 10 times scarier than they really are! I'd like to write a brief plot description, but in this particular case I rather encourage everyone to discover this wonderful episode! I guarantee that "The After Hours" contains one or two unforgettable and haunting sequences, as well as a conceptual idea that is fundamentally petrifying.
Review of The After Hours
