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This Is the Best Episode of The Twilight Zone to Watch on Halloween
Technically it's set on a different holiday, but what's more Halloween-y than masks?
It’s hard to say what’s more surprising: That there are several episodes of The Twilight Zone (airing regularly on SYFY) that are about Christmas? Or that there are no episodes of the iconic horror anthology series that are true Halloween episodes?
Perhaps that’s because you could watch pretty much any episode of the original series during spooky season and come away happy. Sure there are episodes that skew more towards sci-fi than horror, and you probably should wait until December to watch a snowy Christmas episode (especially “Night of the Meek,” which explicitly features Santa Claus), but most episodes of The Twilight Zone could pass as Halloween episodes.
Still, if you want one episode that feels the most Halloween-y of the original 156 episodes, your best bet is probably “The Masks,” the 25th episode of The Twilight Zone’s fifth and final season, which first aired on March 20, 1964.
Why "The Masks" is the best Twilight Zone episode to watch on Halloween
“The Masks” is not set on Halloween. It’s actually set on a different holiday, the other one we associate with mask-wearing: Mardi Gras. It follows Jason Foster (Robert Keith), a wealthy, cranky old man who isn’t long for the world. Before he passes, he invites his family to come and spend the night at his estate. He does not like his family, and the feeling is mutual.
But, there’s a real reason why he’s invited them to visit. He has a special, custom-made mask for each family member that reflects their personality defects (though he sarcastically claims the Mardi Gras tradition is to wear a mask that’s the opposite of their personality). His daughter wears a subtly grotesque mask that reflects her cowardly, hypochondriac nature, and the rest of the family gets masks to match. His son-in-law is greedy, his grandson is a brute, and his granddaughter is vain. For his own mask, Jason dons a skull. All the members of his family are instructed not to remove the masks until midnight, otherwise, they’ll forfeit the inheritance that they’re so clearly only here in the hopes of getting their grubby mitts on.
It should go without saying that something happens at midnight when it’s time to remove the masks. What would an episode of The Twilight Zone be without a twist?
“The Masks” isn’t the scariest Twilight Zone episode, but there’s something about putting on a mask that makes it feel especially appropriate for Halloween — even if they are technically Mardi Gras masks. (There’s a reason The Simpsons parodied “The Masks,” albeit loosely, for a very Halloween-y installment of the show’s annual Treehouse of Horror special.)
Halloween is the time when we get to play dress-up. We put on costumes or masks that are scary, or silly, or even sexy. It’s a chance to pretend to be somebody we’re not, but even the most outlandish mask says something about the person wearing it. Inside the Twilight Zone, the connection between who we really are and who we appear to be is stranger and spookier. Imagine if there really were a Twilight Zone episode that was truly about Halloween?
The Twilight Zone airs regularly on SYFY. Check out the Schedule for more details.
