Sometimes overconfidence can get us into big trouble. A nerdy thirteen year old is visited by a "Shadow Man" who lives under his bed. It becomes his protector and his previously mundane life takes on new proportions. Unfortunately, he plays his cards too aggressively. Then we have "The Uncle Devil Show" where a guy on a videotape induces a child to do outlandish things. He is a bad influence and the clueless parents just ignore what is going on. "Opening Day" is the opening day of duck season and it's about the eternal triangle. A man, played by Jeffrey Jones, is going hunting with the man who is having an affair with his wife. The idea is to kill the husband during the trip. The deed is done, but that's only the start. During the act, the perpetrator loses his shotgun but the police bring it back to him. When he goes to meet the woman, time has changed. He is now a married man with a couple kids. Of course, in The Twilight Zone, no one gets away with murder.
The Twilight Zone (TV Series)
The Shadow Man/The Uncle Devil Show/Opening Day (1985)
User Reviews
Review this title8 Reviews
Supernatural beings, a devilish children's show, and reverse fate.
b_kite11 December 2018
Episode 10 returns us to three segments.
The first "The Shadow Man" has a young boy discovering that a supernatural being is residing under his bed. He's not very brave so when the being refuses to harm him due to the fact its living under his bed while its wrecking havoc over the whole town, he takes the liberty to be the only one to go out after dark and be the hero. However ultimately he pushes his luck to far. It's a tale that amazingly feels like an episode of "Goosebumps", but, its interesting and enjoyable for what it is. Joe Dante directed.
The second "The Uncle Devil Show" has a young boy learning devilish tricks from a strange children's television show. It's very short clocking in at like nine minutes, but, it goes crazy towards the end. Not bad, even though I seem to remember it being a lot better then what it actually was.
The third "Opening Day" is a story of betrayal and reverse fat as a woman manages to talk her lover into killing her husband which also turns out to be his friend, he does the deed while on a duck hunt and everything goes as planned, until he returns to find, that, everything is switched were he is the husband, and the friend the cheater, however things don't end up the way they did the first time around. Interesting episode, I enjoyed it, even though the conclusion confused me a bit.
Overall a good fun episode, with two good longer stories, and a fun shorter one.
The first "The Shadow Man" has a young boy discovering that a supernatural being is residing under his bed. He's not very brave so when the being refuses to harm him due to the fact its living under his bed while its wrecking havoc over the whole town, he takes the liberty to be the only one to go out after dark and be the hero. However ultimately he pushes his luck to far. It's a tale that amazingly feels like an episode of "Goosebumps", but, its interesting and enjoyable for what it is. Joe Dante directed.
The second "The Uncle Devil Show" has a young boy learning devilish tricks from a strange children's television show. It's very short clocking in at like nine minutes, but, it goes crazy towards the end. Not bad, even though I seem to remember it being a lot better then what it actually was.
The third "Opening Day" is a story of betrayal and reverse fat as a woman manages to talk her lover into killing her husband which also turns out to be his friend, he does the deed while on a duck hunt and everything goes as planned, until he returns to find, that, everything is switched were he is the husband, and the friend the cheater, however things don't end up the way they did the first time around. Interesting episode, I enjoyed it, even though the conclusion confused me a bit.
Overall a good fun episode, with two good longer stories, and a fun shorter one.
One out of three was a classic!
mm-3927 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
I remember watching these episodes with my friends the boys. The Shadow Man had it all. The jocks, geeks, popular girls 80's theme. Well a smart but arrogant nerdy kid has a Shadow Man under his bed. The episode takes a turn on popularity and costs. The special effects, 80's backdrop and the plot twist ending makes Shadow Man memorable. My buddy Tony thought the kid was a jerk! The Uncle Devil show was a take on the old episode about the kid who got what he imagined, but with a twist about parents who never pay attention. Humor but in a disturbed way. Opening day has a murder plot, and loops the two characters together. Bizarre but effects conclusion; was it in his mind or did the man have a future vision. Deep ending. 6 stars the disturbed episodes.
Very memorable show of the series. Well liked as a kid, the shadow man stayed with me.
blanbrn26 November 2007
Episode 10 of "The New Twilight Zone" from CBS's 1985-86 season has to clearly be one of the most memorable and well liked ones for me really because of the first segment "The Shadow Man" it just put that fear and fright in me so well.
The first and best segment of the episode "The Shadow Man" I remember best as I watched with my mother and anyone who saw this episode can relate that this made you as a kid feel frightened and worried about the devil! All of us as kids one time or another have been afraid of the dark, or worried about the closet monster and fear things that go bump into the night. And this segment captured that childhood feeling so well only to present hope yet take a very unexpected and wicked twist at the end. Directed by Joe Dante("Gremlins" fame) is a story of a schoolboy who's timid and bullied and pushed around by others he's looked and picked upon as the biggest chicken around. Then it seems to get worse as one night he meets a dark figure under his bed called "The Shadow Man", yet protection and comfort is promised from this shadow man at all times. Then when strange attacks and abductions of kids happen in town with sightings of a dark figure attacker, never fear one young man isn't worried. Only this episode takes a wicked and hair jolting twist in the end proving never put to much trust in anything or anyone, and it just goes to show that other people have many of the same things that you have. A episode that brought back the fears and chills for us kids at the time.
Second segment "The Uncle Devil Show" is much short and fairy tale type in a hedonistic and devilish settings. It features parents who buy a video for their son that demonstrates magic, only it's a crazy kind of magic from the hand of the devil as a little boy just has some devilish fun. Really nothing special.
Last segment was well acted, written, and takes a twist that proves a good moral lesson of being happy with who you are. Titled "Opening Day" stars Martin Kove as a slick con who works and is friends with rich business man(Jeffrey Jones) yet behind it all the Kove character is having a steamy and lustful affair with the hot and sexy wife of the Jones character. So when duck season comes it's time to settle the score only this murder causes a funny turn and twist as both characters find they have became each other in a new dimension of time! Proving that many times when going to extreme measures many are disappointed and it proves being yourself is often the right choice. Really a pretty classy and written episode that twist well.
Overall good episode that's memorable and well liked due to the first segment one that many of us remember as kids.
The first and best segment of the episode "The Shadow Man" I remember best as I watched with my mother and anyone who saw this episode can relate that this made you as a kid feel frightened and worried about the devil! All of us as kids one time or another have been afraid of the dark, or worried about the closet monster and fear things that go bump into the night. And this segment captured that childhood feeling so well only to present hope yet take a very unexpected and wicked twist at the end. Directed by Joe Dante("Gremlins" fame) is a story of a schoolboy who's timid and bullied and pushed around by others he's looked and picked upon as the biggest chicken around. Then it seems to get worse as one night he meets a dark figure under his bed called "The Shadow Man", yet protection and comfort is promised from this shadow man at all times. Then when strange attacks and abductions of kids happen in town with sightings of a dark figure attacker, never fear one young man isn't worried. Only this episode takes a wicked and hair jolting twist in the end proving never put to much trust in anything or anyone, and it just goes to show that other people have many of the same things that you have. A episode that brought back the fears and chills for us kids at the time.
Second segment "The Uncle Devil Show" is much short and fairy tale type in a hedonistic and devilish settings. It features parents who buy a video for their son that demonstrates magic, only it's a crazy kind of magic from the hand of the devil as a little boy just has some devilish fun. Really nothing special.
Last segment was well acted, written, and takes a twist that proves a good moral lesson of being happy with who you are. Titled "Opening Day" stars Martin Kove as a slick con who works and is friends with rich business man(Jeffrey Jones) yet behind it all the Kove character is having a steamy and lustful affair with the hot and sexy wife of the Jones character. So when duck season comes it's time to settle the score only this murder causes a funny turn and twist as both characters find they have became each other in a new dimension of time! Proving that many times when going to extreme measures many are disappointed and it proves being yourself is often the right choice. Really a pretty classy and written episode that twist well.
Overall good episode that's memorable and well liked due to the first segment one that many of us remember as kids.
The Uncle Devil Show
Scarecrow-8826 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"The Uncle Devil Show" is a quick buffer tale commenting on parents who consider themselves attentive to their child's needs and time. The father purchased his son a PBS children's show on video which seems to feature a soft-spoken, kid-friendly host. However, as the parents go about their morning activities, with little serious attention to what the show is telling their kid and the bizarre magic tricks taught to him, there's reason to worry...the punchline is how oblivious the parents are to what is going on around and to them. The dog with multiple eyes, the father with a lizard head and the mom with a wolf head, a toy dinosaur grown to life and walking outside the home, and roaches crawling from the coffee table vase; the child video from hell isn't exactly Sesame Street! Murphy Dunne is amusing as the innocent looking host who offers possibly insidious tricks for impressionable kids to use against others and warmly speaks to them in a vocal tenor that gains their trust.
wasted potential
nebmac25 April 2016
"The Shadow Man" feels like a prequel to the "Goosebumps" series of children's books, and it seems to be aimed at the same audience. All the ingredients were there for a suspenseful story that would appeal to kids and adults alike, but the end result came across as a failed morality play.
"The Uncle Devil Show": Fans of "Calvin and Hobbes" might appreciate this one, though it's much more bizarre than the comic strip. There is a (very obviously presented) lesson to be learned underneath all the wackiness.
"Opening Day": I can't decide whether this is a huge flop, or a deliberate parody of bad 1980s soap operas. The standard "wife and lover conspire against husband" plot is enhanced by a twist right out of Star Trek. With better acting and more subtle directing (I'm looking at you, endless stream of fog!), it could have been a winner.
"The Uncle Devil Show": Fans of "Calvin and Hobbes" might appreciate this one, though it's much more bizarre than the comic strip. There is a (very obviously presented) lesson to be learned underneath all the wackiness.
"Opening Day": I can't decide whether this is a huge flop, or a deliberate parody of bad 1980s soap operas. The standard "wife and lover conspire against husband" plot is enhanced by a twist right out of Star Trek. With better acting and more subtle directing (I'm looking at you, endless stream of fog!), it could have been a winner.
Dante's ghoul & a love triangle story with an unbelievable twist
Leofwine_draca23 April 2015
THE SHADOW MAN is one of the better stories in this series, which is mainly thanks to the participation of director Joe Dante who brings some of his own brand of horror-loving kookiness to the small screen. The story is a very simplistic one in which a kid discovers there's a sinister, suited-and-booted 'Shadow Man' living under his bed, an evil entity who makes him a promise: he never kills the person under whose bed he lies.
So far so straightforward, and it's fair to say that this story is aimed at kids. There's a twist in the tale which you'll see coming a mile off, but Dante is on strong form here as usual and he invests the tale with atmosphere as well as making the monsters relatively frightening.
THE UNCLE DEVIL SHOW is barely worth mentioning. It involves a kid who comes into possession of an evil VHS tape. It's not RING, I'll say that for it. The VHS tape teaches him the power of the black arts, but it's all played out in a very silly and unappealing way, barely worth the time it's taken to write out this brief review.
OPENING DAY has one of the most bizarre twists I've seen in an episode of THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE but it doesn't really make much sense and a weak execution lets it down. The storyline tells of a pair of golf buddies, one of whom is having an affair with the wife of the other. The adulterer decides to bump off his rival during a duck shoot, but then a twist in time sees the two men transported to an alternate reality, where their roles are reversed.
It sounds nonsensical and it is, but at least the segment has a decent main actor going for it; Martin Kove has always been good value for money and he's effective here as the ruthless protagonist. The creepy Jeffrey Jones bags a supporting role as his unsuspecting friend.
So far so straightforward, and it's fair to say that this story is aimed at kids. There's a twist in the tale which you'll see coming a mile off, but Dante is on strong form here as usual and he invests the tale with atmosphere as well as making the monsters relatively frightening.
THE UNCLE DEVIL SHOW is barely worth mentioning. It involves a kid who comes into possession of an evil VHS tape. It's not RING, I'll say that for it. The VHS tape teaches him the power of the black arts, but it's all played out in a very silly and unappealing way, barely worth the time it's taken to write out this brief review.
OPENING DAY has one of the most bizarre twists I've seen in an episode of THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE but it doesn't really make much sense and a weak execution lets it down. The storyline tells of a pair of golf buddies, one of whom is having an affair with the wife of the other. The adulterer decides to bump off his rival during a duck shoot, but then a twist in time sees the two men transported to an alternate reality, where their roles are reversed.
It sounds nonsensical and it is, but at least the segment has a decent main actor going for it; Martin Kove has always been good value for money and he's effective here as the ruthless protagonist. The creepy Jeffrey Jones bags a supporting role as his unsuspecting friend.
Opening Day : Casting Error
Enrique-Sanchez-562 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
OK. The story is interesting and the acting is passable for this kind of affair.
But the ONE thing that makes this episode fail miserably is the casting for the two wives in this tale. The two actresses are not at fault here. The one thing that caused me to be confused throughout and at the climax, which should have been obviously noticeable was blurred.
Why? Because the actresses "nearly" looked the same to my eyes. Both were attractive brunettes! At least they could have chosen one blond, one brunette to highlight the contrast between the two. Why? Because as I see it, I could not tell which wife was attached to which husband. It should have been clear-cut. Instead I found myself wondering which woman came back to Jeffrey Jones at the end?
But the ONE thing that makes this episode fail miserably is the casting for the two wives in this tale. The two actresses are not at fault here. The one thing that caused me to be confused throughout and at the climax, which should have been obviously noticeable was blurred.
Why? Because the actresses "nearly" looked the same to my eyes. Both were attractive brunettes! At least they could have chosen one blond, one brunette to highlight the contrast between the two. Why? Because as I see it, I could not tell which wife was attached to which husband. It should have been clear-cut. Instead I found myself wondering which woman came back to Jeffrey Jones at the end?
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