why didnt family escape? - Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) Discussion

[–] BoSoxRule 16 years ago

Because I'm sure he had made it so they couldn't, just like when Helen tried to leave. And yes, I would imagine those were all their cars out front that hadn't moved for a long time.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] BoSoxRule 16 years ago

Amen, Second. I hated that little prick.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] Appaloosa_Stud 16 years ago

If Anthony could wish his "family" back and keep them from leaving why did he take abuse from the guy at the diner? Why didn't Anthony just wish the dude into a garden slug after he got roughed up? Or maybe wish him into the video game he was playing.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] BoSoxRule 16 years ago

Yeah, it actually looks like he rides right into her car.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BoSoxRule 16 years ago

I like the way you think, man. I actually love when the guy in the diner shoves the little sh!t to the ground. Good stuff.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] rug_burn82 16 years ago

lol Am I the only one who liked that kid. He was kick ass.

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[–] BoSoxRule 16 years ago

Yes, you are. He was a monster, as Ethel said.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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[–] karsultimate 9 years ago

He was so stupid he didn't realize he was only proving it.

EIGHT STROKS OF RYRE - Beta Grandfather Dorin

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[–] Riff98 16 years ago

Tha-Tha-Tha-Tha- That's all Ethyl!

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but through me." John 14:6

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[–] anotherfinedrone 16 years ago

Where did he get his power

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[–] Ricochet84 16 years ago

The Twilight Zone.

What you see...Isn't always what you get!

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[–] BrainGremlin 13 years ago

*cue theme*

---
Very good, Louis. Short, but pointless.

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[–] afn 13 years ago

*****SPOILER*******

They didn't escape because, if you read the original, incredibly grim and nightmarish 1953 short story by Jerome Bixby, you'll learn Anthony can read minds. So if anybody thinks a bad thought like "I'm gonna sneak up on him and ram that knife in my hand right there in his back!" he knows and inflicts a ghoulish punishment on the person (in the story IIRC even on an animal!) ***SPOILER BELOW***.
Also, in the short story he practically controls the universe, TZ style.

The film version is pure kid's stuff in comparison.

By all means, read the original short story! You can do that right here:

http://nickelkid.net/docs/greats/its_a_good_life.html

***SPOILER:

He wishes them into a grave deep under the cornfield.
Alive, that is. Suddenly buried deep in the pitch black ground, no headroom, just you and the cold, damp earth all around you. They die a terrible ultraclaustrophobic death.

************

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[–] the_mcclains 16 years ago

My first thought is that Anthony isn't really family to any of them, nor any of them family to one another. He has collected them over the years and has tried to build a psudo-family of his own like he sees on TV, or like he dreams it to be. He's never been normal and his attempt at creating normalcy looks just like his cartoons...staged, cartoonish, surreal, unnatural, etc...
The cars are probably from the 'family' members who, in the past were drawn to the house similar to the way the teacher was...by Anthony. He always gets his way because everyone fears him. His birthday meal is a child's idea of what a meal would be like (pbj burgers, ice cream, carmel apples, etc...)The teacher points out the faults in Anthony's world that no one has ever done, it's only then when he starts to see what's wrong with the world he created. I always found this one alarming.

'I ain't dirty! I washed my face and hands before I come, I did.' Eliza Doolittle

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[–] danisdabomb 15 years ago

I guess eventually he would've locked Helen in the house too and taken her car keys.

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[–] TheFatDruidofNacyl 14 years ago

I agree that he must of set it up so nobody could leave the house. One thing that bugged me about the ending was that it was just too much power for someone. Even if the hot teacher could teach him right from wrong, he is still a slave to his emotions and would cause harm to someone that made him feel bad.

Although I'm curious if peanut butter hamburgers are good.

Come visit my blackrosecastle.com
stephentheblackroseenterprises.com

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[–] karsultimate 9 years ago

Ditto. Hopefully someone just screams "why don't you imagine yourself away?!" and he just does it lol.

EIGHT STROKS OF RYRE - Beta Grandfather Dorin

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[–] aclockwork_oranges71 13 years ago

Maybe just like when Helen tried to leave, there was a giant eye on the other side, maybe something like that prevented them from escaping.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Stringey (260) 7 years ago

Right the scene with the eye when Helen tried to leave answers the question of how they were kept in the house when Anthony would ride to the diner to play video games. If they did not see the eye they saw something just as terrifying that would hurt them if they stepped out the door. To me that eye for some reason was creepy. Maybe it was actually Anthony's eye as in he could see even when away if someone tried to escape and could mentally instantly kill them or send them some place scary. What's creepy is that Anthony would not be likely to just kill someone he would send them into some crazy fantasy world or do something like take their mouth away. The fantasy childlike mind but demented.

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