10 Greatest Episodes Of The Twilight Zone
7. The After Hours
Some Twilight Zone episodes aren’t really that scary until the end, and they’re essentially just long buildups for a final twist. But here’s an episode which is absolutely terrifying for the entire half hour, and yet it still manages to be about something. It follows a woman who goes to a department store looking for a gift, but she ends up on a mysterious ninth floor which apparently doesn’t even exist.
The After Hours plays on universal fears of dark, empty buildings, mysterious and unexplored places, and of course how absolutely horrifying mannequins really are. When the mannequins themselves come to life and start talking, you only hear the voices coming out of thin air, a great example of how less is more.
The twist is pretty obvious, but it doesn’t really matter because that’s not what The After Hours is about. It’s an intensely scary but meaningful episode about who you want to be contrasted against who you are, and how comparing those two can often be an unpleasant experience.