10 Scariest TV Episodes To Watch This Halloween

2. Eye Of The Beholder - The Twilight Zone

Twilight Zone Eye of the Beholder
CBS

When it comes to horror on TV, it'd be remiss not to mention The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling's series was groundbreaking in a number of ways, and it remains one of the most influential horror series of all time. It had a number of genuinely scary episodes that hold up even now, but just edging it is Eye of the Beholder, the sixth episode of the show's second season.

A woman, Janet Tyler, undergoes one final surgery to alter her supposedly disfigure face, which is hidden by bandages throughout the episode. All the while we're told she is too ugly to fit in, and will be outcast to a village of similarly disfigured people, if this doesn't succeed.

It's shot featuring a number of silhouettes to keep us in the dark as to what's actually happening, and builds to the reveal that... she is perfectly normal looking. Everyone else, however, considers her deformed, when in truth it's they who are disfigured. It's a horrifying twist, and begets a sequence through the hospital that is not only spooky to match, but offers a haunting critique on society's standards of appearances and innate prejudices.

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Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.