The Twilight Zone, created and hosted by Rod Serling, was basically the first Mortality Movies TV series. The series, which aired on CBS from 1959 to 1964, presented a range of stories in the fantasy, horror and science fiction genres. The characters often dealt with disturbing or unusual events, an experience described as entering “the Twilight Zone.”
If you are of certain age, you’ll remember those ominous words uttered by Serling at the beginning of each episode. “You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead. Your next stop, the Twilight Zone.”
Many episodes wrestled with death, dying, the afterlife, legacy, fear, fate, and what it means to be human when the clock is running out. Here is a curated list of classic episodes that absolutely fit within a Mortality Movies framework.
Mortality-Themed Twilight Zone Episodes
Robert Redford in “Nothing in the Dark” The Twilight Zone
“Nothing in the Dark” (Season 3, Episode 16)
A fearful elderly woman barricades herself inside her apartment to avoid “Mr. Death,” only to learn he’s gentler than she imagined. A young Robert Redford stars as an injured police officer who turns out to be the not-so-grim Reaper.
Themes: Fear of dying, acceptance, the humanizing of death.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: The soft-landing category—death as a guide rather than a threat.
“The Hitch-Hiker” (Season 1, Episode 16)
A young woman on a cross-country trip keeps seeing the same mysterious hitchhiker. She eventually learns why.
Themes: Sudden death, denial, liminal spaces, the journey to the afterlife.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: The “you’re dead but haven’t gotten the memo” archetype.
“One for the Angels” (Season 1, Episode 2)
A kindly sidewalk pitchman tries to outsmart Death, only to learn about sacrifice, meaning, and timing.
Themes: Bargaining with death, purpose, compassionate endings.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: The deal with Death storyline.
“The Trade-Ins” (Season 3, Episode 31)
An elderly couple has the opportunity to trade their worn-out bodies for new ones. But there’s a catch.
Themes: Aging, bodily decline, love, identity continuity.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: “If only tech could save us from aging…” stories.
Kick the Can episode of The Twilight Zone
“Kick the Can” (Season 3, Episode 21)
Residents in a senior home rediscover youth—some literally, some metaphorically.
Themes: Fear of aging, youthful spirit vs. physical limitation, mortality as a mindset.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: Longevity fantasies, reclaiming lost time.
“The Changing of the Guard” (Season 3, Episode 37)
A professor forced into retirement contemplates suicide, only to encounter the legacy he didn’t know he had.
Themes: Meaning, legacy, despair, the impact of a life’s work.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: “A life evaluated at the edge.”
“Nothing But the Truth” / “The Obsolete Man” (Season 2, Episode 29)
A librarian declared “obsolete” in a dystopian society faces his mortality and his value as a human being.
Themes: Existential worth, state-imposed death, moral courage.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: Mortality via oppression, meaning under authoritarianism.
Burgess Meredith in the “Time Enough at Last” episode of The Twilight Zone
“Time Enough at Last” (Season 1, Episode 8)
A book-loving man survives an apocalypse and discovers the brutal irony of survival.
Themes: Solitude after mass death, survival guilt, hope vs. hopelessness.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: Loneliness and last-human narratives.
“Passage on the Lady Anne” (Season 4, Episode 17)
A young couple boards a mysterious ocean liner populated entirely by the elderly—and learns the true nature of the voyage.
Themes: Aging, transition, the symbolic crossing into death.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: Journey-as-death metaphors.
“The Long Morrow” (Season 5, Episode 15)
A man entering deep-space hibernation awakens to discover the tragic consequences of time, aging, and sacrifice.
Themes: Time dilation, loss, the cost of life choices.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: Mortality through time, separation, and regret.
“Twenty Two” (Season 2, Episode 17)
A dancer plagued by a recurring dream about a morgue discovers its chilling truth.
Themes: Premonitions of death, anxiety, fear of oblivion.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: Psychological brushes with mortality.
Richard Conte in the “Perchance to Dream” episode of The Twilight Zone
“Perchance to Dream” (Season 1, Episode 9)
A man terrified that going to sleep will kill him confronts dream and death intertwining.
Themes: Fear of dying, nightmares as omens, mind/body boundary.
Mortality Movie Equivalent: Sleep as the mortal threshold.
Why These Fit the Mortality Movies Genre
They share one or more of these core themes:
- Death personified
- Examining life’s meaning
- Confronting aging or legacy
- Near-death liminality
- Facing regret or unfinished business
- Accepting, resisting, or negotiating mortality
What are your favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone that were missed here that would be in the Mortality Movie genre? Post your comments below!
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Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death, hosts Mortality Movie Nights to get conversations started about planning for end-of-life issues.