no matter who wins will have chills
welcome to watchmojo.com bat with the
twilight zone vs American Horror Story
for this list we're comparing the
original run of The Twilight Zone to
American Horror Story to see which grabs
the crown as the most iconic sci-fi
horror anthology round 1 stories the
tales from Rod Serling's seminal
Twilight Zone are iconic there's a man
up there
gremlin some stories moments and
characters are so recognizable that even
those who haven't seen the original show
know them instantly by sight or
description how about talking Tina the
original killer doll or the broken
glasses and cries of it's not fair
whether the monsters are due on Maple
Street or there's something on the wing
of the plane these tales have become an
indelible part of the cultural zeitgeist
of the West hold this from a show that
aired over 60 years ago the stories live
on with us the stories of American
Horror Story have their shock factor for
sure and get their share of internet
buzz with each new season's release
however outside of the fan base the
plots are not well known to the public I
thought I told you to throw that thing
away oh you're not talking well I'll
give you points for creativity relying
on a core concept each season plays in
its own sub-genre of horror and can be
broadly described with those categories
slasher ghost story dystopia etc without
losing too much in the way of material
while the first season Murder House
generated a lot of attention it was
mostly for the awesome shock value of
the show provided and while new viewers
will surely be as engaged as the
original audiences we're gonna have to
go with the old-school tales winner The
Twilight Zone
round 2 format the twilight zone works
like a series of short stories each
episode is its own standalone tale and
wraps up within its roughly half hour
time slot portrait of a bush-league
Fuhrer named Peter farmer a sparse
little man who feeds off his self
delusions as an additional bit of drama
the show's creator Rod Serling
introduces and closes out each episode
in his trim gray suit and
his detached observant narrating style
he provides the audience a glimpse
through an open door to the uncanny
valley of each tale the setup makes for
tight lurid storytelling one month ago
the earth suddenly changed its
elliptical orbit and in doing so began
to follow a path which gradually moment
by moment day by day took it closer to
the Sun of course it also means the
audience has limited time to become
invested in the characters or plot by
contrast the long-form anthology format
had never really been done in this
manner in the US or so successfully on
television before American Horror Story
what can you tell me about the occupant
room 64 that rooms vacant do you mind if
I take a quick look Oh be my guest
each season is a contained story with
the next season bringing in a new plot
and new core theme while bringing back
the actors for new characters and roles
the patience fog them including really
last night have disappeared under your
supervision they die that's it period
this exciting format which allows
writers and showrunners to stretch out
and keep things fresh at the same time
has now been mirrored all over the place
in particular in horror the idea of one
full season to tell a big-budget story
was genuinely innovative winner American
Horror Story I'm Shawn get out the ice
cream truck they just stood there
Stephanie round 3 lot twists twist
endings the twists of The Twilight Zone
are legendary like EC Comics Tales from
the Crypt which had risen and fallen in
the first half of the 1950's The
Twilight Zone endings are generally
ironic or serve up a heap of just
desserts
[Music]
episodes like eye of the beholder the
invaders and to serve men are so well
done that even modern audiences will
find themselves surprised and shocked by
what's around the corner well if the
Simpsons hasn't already tipped them off
waiting you big stupid space creature
nobody but nobody Tipton and of course
the twilight zone features stories
written by some of the great Jean
writers of the 20th century
Oh colony is coming but it's from Venus
and if you're still alive I think you
will see how we differ the twists of
American Horror Story can be big and
even downright gruesome but in keeping
with the chaotic feel of the show
sometimes also a bit out of nowhere you
died crying I held you they were safe
you died love the twists frequently go
for the shocking rather than ironic
keeping the audience on its toes as the
show's creators continue to see just how
far they can go and can be allowed to
get away with on television I think it
made around I see phenomenal
hobbie however one of the great joys of
a well executed twist ending is
cleverness which a shock
doesn't need to rely on to be successful
so we're going old school winner the
twilight zone round four scares The
Twilight Zone was at its time considered
a very spooky show we still use the term
Twilight Zone to describe something
uncanny or mysterious however perhaps
unsurprisingly the 60 plus year old
scares don't always quite fold up it was
a different era and this is basically
much tamer stuff than desensitized
modern audiences can now handle being
broadcast into people's living rooms and
you keep thinking bad thoughts about me
[Music]
there are still some very chilling ideas
the little boy who sends people to the
cornfield or the woman pursued by the
relentless hitchhiker for instance but
nothing folks these days might consider
truly utterly horrifying I believe
you're going my way horror on the other
hand is the bloody bread and butter of
AHS and we do mean bloody
scares run the full gamut of the horror
spectrum jumpscares
gore body horror creeping dread haunting
visuals you name it
American Horror Story is apt to go there
from makeup to effects to plots things
can get twisted enough that even ardent
horror fans might have to look away Hey
it is called American Horror Story it
does what it says on the box winner
American Horror Story
before we continue be sure to subscribe
to our Channel and ring the bell to get
notified about our latest videos you
have the option to be notified for
occasional videos or all of them if
you're on your phone make sure you go
into your settings and switch on
notifications round 5 cultural impact
rod serling's influential show has been
parodied copied and loved for years
while it was not the first sci-fi horror
anthology of its kind on either
television or radio the reach of the
twilight zone has extended into film TV
art and music stylish and clever the
show was lived on in several
incarnations spawning an entire media
franchise its third iteration lit up
screens of a whole new generation in
2019 hosted by comedy and horror author
Jordan Peele in his final moments Justin
Sanderson made the case that he did
everything he could to avert disaster
but in the end he was an investigative
reporter unwilling to investigate
himself until it was too late its
influence can be seen in many other
shows and movies following similar
formats including well American Horror
Story The Twilight Zone does have half a
century or so on American Horror Story
so it's hard to compare but we're pretty
confident about a few things
where AHS seems primed to achieve a
well-earned cult status by the end of
its run its current cultural impact just
isn't there in the same way as
Sterling's opus while AHS did help to
shift horror TV in a bolder edge year
direction at the beginning of a decade
that would fall in love with horror all
over again it still owes a lot of its
setup to the Twilight Zone technology is
what destroyed the world social media
gave people the illusion they were
equals but that's all been swept away
and so we have our final destination
winner The Twilight Zone did we pick the
right winner let us know which show you
think is best in the comments below and
don't forget to subscribe to
watchmojo.com