The Twilight Zone is one of the most popular shows that aired in the early 60s and had some of the most entertaining stories. It is an anthology show presented by, the amazing, Rod Sterling who wrote more than 80 episodes of the series.
The show is meant to provide the viewers with a surreal experience with the stories ranging from horror to sci-fi, to mystery etc. Most of the episodes had twist endings. Rod Sterling provided the intros to all the stories.
If you have watched the show and are looking for similar shows to watch then this list can help you out. Most of the shows we have recommended are anthology shows but a few of the entries are normal series where the episodes carry the same story forward. So, let’s get started.
Here is the list of the 10 best Shows Like The Twilight Zone.
Dark (2017-2020)
Available at Amazon Prime | Netflix
The reason why we decided to put Dark on this list is because of the way the story of the show is unravelled. We are shown different perspectives and timelines which keep us engaged in the show. Dark is one of the best shows to watch if you are into mystery-drama shows.
The episodes are nicely paced and they are very well shot. This in combination with the fantastic performances given by the cast makes Dark an entertaining and intriguing show to watch.
There are lots of twists and turns in the series and you may feel like you have to remember a lot of plot points but you will have resolutions to all the intriguing questions and get the answer to who did what.
The show is based in a town in Germany. Recently, two kids have gone missing in the town and the show sort of revolves around finding them.
As the show progresses, we slowly get to understand that the town has a dodgy past and we get to see the tension and sort of hostile relationships between four families while they search for the kids are going on.
But if you think that it is a normal mystery, it is not so. There are supernatural elements involved in the series as well. The series has received rave ratings and reviews and all of that is well deserved.
If you haven’t already watched it (it is a popular series, after all) then this should be one of the top shows on your watchlist. The series contains 3 seasons and 26 episodes in total.
Black Mirror
Available at Amazon Prime | Netflix
It’s hard to describe what kind of show Black Mirror is. It is a sci-fi drama that mostly takes place at some time in the future where there have been high technological advancements. All the episodes focus on different characters and generally on a particular piece of technology or a particular trait of society.
Black Mirror is probably one of the most popular shows on this list. It is filled with great storylines with carefully crafted interesting characters played by some of the most seasoned actors giving quality performances. The show will pull you in from the first episode itself if you are a fan of dark, mystery drama shows.
In the show, we get to see different facets of technology. The idea and concept of each of the episodes are quite fascinating. Sometimes the show focuses on the hindrances and problems that a lot of individuals face due to the technology that they have to use while there are some sombre and positively toned episodes like San Junipero.
The show is so diverse in its approach to different stories that everyone takes something different from it. This is why everyone seems to have a different episode that they feel strongly towards. The direction of each of the episodes is quite good.
When you watch the first episode you understand how absurd the storylines can be while staying quite close to the happenings in the current society. In the first episode, we see that someone has kidnapped a royal princess and is asking the prime minister to have intercourse with a pig on live television if they want her to be released without any harm.
Tales From The Crypt
Available at Amazon Prime
Tales From The Crypt probably gave a lot of people nightmares and is the reason why a lot of us are still afraid of the dark. This is one of the best horror shows that have some good, interesting albeit scary stories. If you liked The Shows like Twilight Zone because it was scary then you will get the whole nine yards with Tales From The Crypt.
The biggest similarity between Tales From The Crypt and The Shows like Twilight Zone is that the episodes are separate as they focus on different characters and storylines. This episodic feel of the series can be quite enjoyable if you don’t want to sit through a long series hoping to get a payoff at the end.
Also, each episode starts with one of the scariest narrators of all time, the Crypt Keeper. It is a spooky ghoul which can often be the scariest thing that you will watch in that episode. The series is based on a comic book series of the same name. The stories that are told are quite interesting even as an adult.
Some of the episodes even fall under dark comedy. So, if you are into that stuff you will enjoy this show. The direction of the show is quite good and if you haven’t seen the show yet then you will see that a lot of popular actors and actresses of the time have played various characters in different stories. Tales From The Crypt is a fun and scary show that you should give a try if you liked Shows like The Twilight Zone.
The OA (2016)
Available at Netflix
The OA is a show that can be watched by anyone who likes mystery dramas. What makes this shows Like The Twilight Zone is that they both contain elements of sci-fi, fantasy and mystery. The show did feel slow at first and it took me a few episodes to get used to the pacing of the show.
If you like Black Mirror or The Tales From The Crypt because each episode is a story on its own and the pacing is quite good. You can watch a whole character journey in a couple of episodes. But in The OA, the drama is drawn out a bit but you what, it works for the story.
Once I got accustomed to the pacing of the plot and how the characters are shown and fleshed out everything became more comprehensible and I enjoyed the show. Also, I am a mystery lover so waiting for the payoff can often help enjoy the story along the way.
The show is about a girl, Prairie Johnson, who has been missing for 7 years. She has suddenly reappeared and everyone is, rightfully so, surprised. Many hail her as a miracle because oftentimes people who have gone missing for so long turn up dead.
But many are also scared of her since they are unsure as to what her story or mystery might be. Prairie can easily remove all the confusion by just telling the truth but she hasn’t discussed the incident at all and the FBI and other concerned folks have been unable to find out any important detail about her disappearance. The story has some twists and turns and if you are a fan of twist endings then do check out this show.
Into The Dark (2019)
Available at Amazon Prime | Netflix
If you like to hear scary stories and enjoy anthology shows focusing on different stories and characters then Into The Dark is something you can check out.
There are some stories in the show which creeped me out. But this show is definitely not the one that you would like to watch with your kids as it involves blood, gore and lots of other weird and questionable stuff that make the stories much more intense.
The direction of the stories is decent enough and the performances by the casts did not let me down. In the beginning, as with many other shows, I felt that the pacing was a bit slow but over the first season and the consequent seasons after that, the show does seem to pick up the pace as it tells different stories.
Remember, that this show does not hold back when it comes to graphic stuff. If you are easily put off by the display of gore then you can skip this one. If you are okay with some gore sprinkled in the story to enhance the scare and psychological effect then you will enjoy this show.
The first episode of the show follows a hitman as he is looking to hide a body. But since it’s the Halloween season people are thinking that he has a pretty nice costume.
Though not the best episode by far it is enough to get you started on the show. This episode does have elements of dark comedy sort of mixed into it. So, why not give this series a try? You can stream it on Hulu.
Thriller (1960)
Available at Amazon Prime
Now, there are a lot of shows from the 60s that were of the anthology nature i.e. the show has episodes that were separate and had their own plot and characters. Many of these shows are still quite popular like the one with Alfred Hitchcock.
But there are some shows that have flown under the radar and Thriller is one of them. This show did not last for a long time as it was cancelled after a couple of seasons. I was recommended this show by a friend and after putting it off for almost 3 months I finally decided to check it out.
Though it is not the best show that you will find on this list it is quite an entertaining watch. The style in which the stories are presented is Show Like The Twilight Zone. Though in the starting it does sort of feel like it is going to go in a similar direction as Hitchcock’s show, Thriller changes gears and starts to establish its own style and way of telling macabre and mystery stories.
The intros of the episode are narrated by Boris Karloff and I really liked his performance. Boris is a very good presenter and in every episode, I sort of looked forward to hearing his intros. A lot of people who have seen the show enjoy his work and there are some really good stories in this anthology show.
The tone of the show becomes grimmer than Shows like The Twilight Zone and once you move past some of the earlier episodes dealing with crime you will get to experience some quality and intriguing stories that have been shot well and have decent performances.
Darkroom (1981)
Available at Amazon Prime
Let’s move on to the next entry on the list which is another show that is known by very few people. I didn’t know this series existed until I stumbled upon it while browsing YouTube. Yes, I saw the show on Youtube! Though not the best quality when it comes to the viewing experience the show itself is quite good.
This show also has a host and this time it is James Coburn. James was quite charismatic as the show’s host and I really liked his performance on this show. I had a good time watching the show once I got past the quality of it (I shouldn’t complain since the show came out in the early 80s).
The show still holds up after 4 decades. The stories are quite good and some of them can give you a nice scare. Each of the episodes of the show lasted around an hour in which there were two to three short stories. Most of the stories were pretty good and generally had a twist ending which is often quite popular with these anthology shows.
The very first story of the show deals with science fiction. In this story, we see a TV newsman experience the bitter side of technology. He is going to be replaced by a computer simulation of him. This simulation is completely like him i.e. it looks like him and is able to copy his mannerisms as well.
Another good story of the series was when two siblings decide to hire a homeless guy to play their dead uncle so that they can keep on cashing in his pension. This show is a nice watch for anyone who likes anthology shows and has Shows like The Twilight Zone.
Night Gallery (1969)
Available at Amazon Prime
Keeping with the theme of Anthology shows, the next show is Night Gallery. It came out in the late 60s and aired during the early 70s on NBC. This was one of the first anthology shows that showed multiple stories during its runtime of 50 minutes.
Some of the stories would be quite small and you would reach the ending in a few minutes while others were quite big and ran for 80% of the runtime of the episode. There are a couple of reasons as to why Night Gallery is Shows Likes The Twilight Zone.
First, it is the anthology theme of the show and the second reason is that Rod Sterling hosted this show as well. Yes! Rod Sterling was the host of Night Gallery as well and did fine work in narrating the intros and the outros of the episode and the stories.
A lot of people may not remember this show because it was overshadowed by Sterling’s earlier popular anthology shows Like The Twilight Zone. But the Night Gallery is not bad. If you are a fan of anthology shows then you should definitely check out this show.
There are some classic stories that you will find on this show. I did find the quality of some of the shorter stories a bit of a downer but overall I liked most of the episodes of the show.
The very first story that aired was The Return of The Sorcerer. In this story, a sorcerer enlists the help of a translator to translate an Arabic book. One of the passages in the book is quite dark. It includes sordid acts like dismembering a body etc. If you like scary and creepy stories then this show will provide you with a bunch of them.
Manifest (2018)
Available at Amazon Prime | Netflix
Let’s take a break from the anthology shows and look at a sci-fi thriller show that has intense elements of mystery and drama. The show is based on the premise of plane disappearances. What if suddenly all the people missing come back? It is an intriguing thought and Jeff Rake, the creator of the show thought that as well.
This show is quite entertaining to watch if you are a fan of the sci-fi genre. The story revolves around the crew and passengers of a flight named Montego Air Flight 828. During its journey, the flight ended up in turbulence which scared everyone.
But thankfully there was no harm done and the flight made a safe landing. Everyone was relieved but their relief was only momentary as the passengers learned that even though it had been a few hours for them over 5 years have passed on earth and people have presumed that they have died and have moved on with their lives.
This made it quite hard for the passengers to get integrated back into their normal lives. But that’s not all. It seems that there’s a purpose to all this. Their return is supposed to mean something more. Jeff Rake had this idea a long time ago but his idea was rejected by the higher-ups in the television industry.
After the disappearance of the MH370 flight, the idea generated a lot of interest when he decided to resurface it again after some years. The show is quite good in the way it presents the plot and the characters. If you like mysteries with a flavour of sci-fi and twist endings then give this show a watch.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Available at Amazon Prime
Well, we can’t have a list of best anthology shows and not mention Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It is one of the most popular anthology shows and features one of the best directors of Hollywood. A lot of other anthology shows are lesser-known or are underrated because of the popularity of this show.
The show started in the mid-50s and had a good run for over a decade. Later, the name of the show was changed to The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. A lot of people believed that Hitchcock had directed most of the episodes of the show but it is not true. Out of the 300 something episodes, Hitchcock only directed some 18 episodes.
Regardless of this I really liked the intros and outros that he did before and after each story. Some of them were quite funny and quirky. The show starts with the now-iconic title screen which pulls you in right from the start.
The episodes of the first 7 seasons of the show were of 25 to 26 minutes in length which later increased to 49 to 50 minutes in the last 3 seasons. I enjoyed most of the stories that this series presented. They were very well-written and the direction was quite decent as it kept the mystery ongoing till the very end.
This, along with quality performances by the cast has given the show the stature it has today. If you haven’t already watched this show then it should be one of the first shows that you should try out from this list.
Conclusion
So, these were some of the recommendations from our side if you loved Shows like The Twilight Zone. I really enjoyed watching all of these shows and I am sure you will find some good options.
Since most of the entries on the list contain shows that have already been completed, you can easily binge-watch them. We hope you have a great time watching them.