The After Hours - Twilight Zone Episode REVIEW 

Aaaaaand this is why I always apologize when I accidentally bump into store mannequins 😂

Her face through that blurry glass crying for help is peak horror imagery. Great episode, with a twist ending that is more melancholic than terrifying.

One of my favorite episodes. Always used to creep me out still does honestly.

I remember watching this episode every New Years too. I always love a good Twilight Zone twist ending, but the twist in this episode really caught me off guard, even for Twilight Zone standards. Something about mannequins are just unsettling. Something that isn't human, but looks human is just creepy.

The creepiest moment is when Marsha just… accepts it.

One of the first Twilight Zone stories i ever saw and it has really stuck with me. Even now at 42 i have a terrible fear of being alone in buildings in case the displays are haunted.

I had the pleasure of escorting Anne Francis to a tribute held for her in Hollywood in the nineties. They showed The After Hours and Forbidden Planet as part of the evening. She didn't want to sit through the movie, so we had dinner instead. It was a thrill though to sit next to her and watch The After Hours. She was proud that it had endured as a favorite of TZ fans.

Getting forgotten inside a store was a secret fear of mine...😆

Anne Francis was superb as Marsha in The After Hours. Director, Douglas Heyes, created a truly disquieting episode from Serling's screenplay. One of my favorites.

Classic episode. I also had a laugh at your comments about the film Mannequin, which I had somehow forgotten ever existed.

This episode encapsulates the existential horror of returning to work after an extended vacation of any kind. That sinking feeling of "oh yes, this is me, this is my life."

Excellent review of one of my truly favorite episodes. The After Hours is an absolute classic, and an episode that I feel is emblematic of the best of what the show can be in terms of high concept storytelling and twist endings. The reveal with the mannequins coming to life has such an eerie and disturbing quality to it as does the zoom-ins of the mannequin faces calling out her name which is fantastic and TZ at its peak for creepiness. I didn’t know about the remake episode with Terry Farrell no less which I have to see now! Strong work as always, Anthony!

Wow, this episode scared me as a kid. Now it’s one of my favorites. Great review, man.

One of my favorite episodes! Never forgot this one, just excellent.

This sounds like an awesome episode. I miss the days of the department stores. Ironically I just watched a room tour video where a gal was decorating with those old school mannequins. So cool how they created the mannequins here. Loved this one Anthony, hope your week is going well✌️

Another excellent review! Imagine what it was like to see this when you were eight years old, like me! It's no wonder my generation ended up going crazy. This is one of the best half hours of dramatic television ever produced. Anne Francis made it a classic with her wonderful performance. She was a very talented and underrated actress.

I never caught the cornfield homage the '80s remake gave to it's a good life. Great catch.

I don’t know but I wouldn’t be surprised if Doctor Who took inspiration from this episode of the twilight zone for the autons. It sounds so horrifying which what makes it so much better!

One of my favorites. My Dad, sister and me caught this rerun after coming home from seeing Temple of Doom. Brilliant shadows and lighting in the department store sets. The mannequin recreation of Anne Francis is true art.

Fantastic video Anthony! Definitely one of the best TZ epsiodes ever. Anne Francis was brilliant. Loved how you brought in the episode remake, the comic and of course, the Mannequin movie (one of my favourite 80s films). Those mannequin heads were really well made, very lifelike and accurate resemblance to the actors. Excellent job dude, really enjoyed this!

One of the most famous Twilight Zone episodes,Fever.This would make most people's top ten list.

Hey man! I got curious and watched "Jess-Belle" after you mentioned it in this. What a friggin' masterpiece! I never even knew it existed! Thanks for the heads up!

Another great video! The episode is definitely creepy! I have to wonder if the Bar scene from The Shining is losely inspired by this episode.

One of my all time favorite episodes and the one that introduced me to the series. I highly recommend the episode!!

This was one of my all time favorites , and gosh I just love the way rod serling broke this down further and he poses the question of “ who are the people we say hello to?”, what is real and normal, is actually quite deep

This fabulous episode aired again this morning 12:30 est on METV. Serling was a genius, and Ann Francis, wow! She was such an incredibly beautiful and talented actress who really excelled at her Kraft. Marsha . . . Marsha! . . . Marr-sha

Great episode! I remember a made for TV movie from the 70's where a guy ( I think it was TV's Harry O) gets trapped in a department store after hours and they release a bunch of doberman pinschers as security, definitely talked about that one on the school playground the next day.

I think of this episode everytime I am out we never know anything about the people we pass by everyday..i just love Anne Francis.

James Millhollin adds a level of (often needed) goofiness to everything that he is in. I totally forgot he was in this one. I always really liked the remake of this one; I think the 80s version of the show did good retellings of the earlier show's stories, Great video as always! Be well!

Awesome review Anthony- those creepy mannequins! I’ll have to look for the remake episode - it looks pretty wild!

My number 26 episode. Would have been higher but it didn't really say too much about human nature to me. It was well done, and relates to a time when there really WERE realistic looking manniquins in stores. It is an extremely weird concept, but good horror. Also recommended is story Rod did for Suspense TV, as well as a John Collier story about manniquins.❤

Thank you for this excellent analysis of this iconic episode! Like so many others, I enjoyed the Twilight Zone immensely, but the additional treat for me in this episode is the stunningly beautiful Anne Francis!

Nice essay. Well done. Noteworthy is the cinematography. DP George Clemens managed some effective tracking shots and some nice high-angle frames that added to the sense of other-worldliness. My favorite TZ episode.

We don't care for wacky ideas round these parts. But I'll let that slide this time, because this is one of my favorite episodes. Probably even top five of the first season. I didn't know about the remake episode though. And you are right, some truly terrifying imagery. Those blue shorts in particular.

Marsha. MARSHA. MARSHA. 😨

Always wondered why she's buying something for her mother - do mannequins have mothers? Was Marcia a human at one point ?

Creepiest episode of the first season and funny enough Douglas Heyes had a knack for that. Elegy and When the Sky was Opened are both extremely effective in the unsettling department. This is an episode that everyone remembers I’m a big fan. Excellent review as always there’s no one better in the TZone reviewing game than you my brother cheers!

Another great review. You’ve inspired me to have a TZ marathon today. I think the entire run is on Paramount +

I watched this as a young child and it's haunted me for decades! THANK YOU for finally answering my question, WTH did I watch?

10:00 - Rockne S. O'Bannon is best known for his Sci-Fi hit series Farscape.

Now you would have thought it would be fun to be locked in a department store over night! Guess I was wrong! Awesome insight once again! :)

As a child i saw a movie or tv show where the mannequins came to life after dark when the store was closed , this may have been it. However I'm not sure. I was terrified of mannequins for years . When in a store as a kid. I refused so call them DUMMIES for gear they'd come het me.

I haven't seen this episode however back in the mid-80s with the new Twilight Zone I saw its remake with Marsha being played by a young Terri Farrell (Best known for playing Jadzia Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and it was very creepy.

This Episode is Ever So Much Fun .....❤ Then Stands Still Eyes& Hands in Fixed Position . Until its there turn to be real for a while.

Another great review of one of my all-time favorite episodes! I like how at the end, Marsha goes into her mannequin pose saying thoughtfully: "Ever So Much Fun...." 🤗❤🤗

The Mannequin was based on real life 😂😂 This is a great episode, one I watched and enjoyed! The setting was perfect for a scary movie, alone in a store, locked in, the creepy mannequins, so unsettling.. the reveal was great also, one of my favorites

There's one thing I don't understand about this episode-- Who was the mother that Marsha was buying the thimble for? If Marsha was only outside for a month, then how did she come up with the assumption that she even had a mother?

Hey there, I absolutely love this idea for a story. I had never seen this one, but I can relate to some unsettling real life Closter phobic experiences that could have been made into a Twilight Zone film. My ex and I once were traveling back from Louisiana and we were in the panhandle of Florida and it was around lunch time. We were getting ready to hit our exit soon where the panhandle ends and the long vertical part of Florida begins, which would be going from interstate 10 to getting onto interstate 75. Well, we seen this large place from the road that was a restaurant. I knew something was off from the moment we went inside, it felt very unsettling. It was not busy even though it was noon, but maybe the food sucked who knows. Of course this was a concern we had as well, but we were tired of driving, and a break was what we needed at that time. Anyhow after going inside we figured we could grab a cup of coffee and just check out the menu. Here's where it gets really strange. This place wasn't dirty in appearance, just old, but not dirty, but it had a strange smell to it, like blood and grease. Yuck, I know right! Anyhow, a young woman sat us at our table even though there was only one other person in this large place, we really could have sat anywhere. Anyhow, at that time we just ordered coffee from the young woman, as we looked at the menus she had handed us, and then she headed in the back to go get the coffees. After she left, I noticed the one other person besides us in the restaurant. It was an old man, and his head was down. We were sat in a booth, so my ex couldn't see him, but I could and as we carried on conversed with each other, I kept noticing the man in the back, and it had been like 20 minutes, and the whole time the man never lifted his head up once, and also the young woman never came back with our coffees, which was fine with me, because the more we sat there, the more unnerving this place felt, and finally I said something to my ex about it and the strange smell, as well as the whole creepy old interior inside. He was like, thank God you're telling me this, I wanted to say something to you, but I didn't want you to get mad. I was like no way, I wanted to say something sooner too, but I thought you would think I was crazy. He was like, no there's something definitely not right about this place. We had not received our coffees, so we just left out the door to this place so fast! Later on, another time, I was passing through that panhandle area, as I go to Louisiana quite often, that place that was so easy to spot from the road, was not there. Unless it had been torn down, but I don't think so, as the area looked different like it couldn't even have ever had a place for a building to be. That place we had stopped at, you couldn't miss from the highway as it was big, and all the other times I pass by there, it doesn't look like there could have been any room for a building the way the trees are and stuff. I have searched for this place several times since, but have never been able to find it. Sorry for the long post, but it felt like being inside a Twilight Zone movie. 😂😂

This one is definitely a top tier TZ episode. What I love about the After Hours is that it's ultimately creepy but in the end it was strangely calm as if that unsettling feeling faded. I like that our main character didn't have a dark conclusion.

"Just how normal are we?" How well do we really know the people we see and talk to every day at work or school or even....yootoob!?!? Another great episode Anthony. See ya buddy

Another excellent review. I loved this one, with the musical scares and those zooms into the mannequin faces, this was just the best. I love how TZ could make a completely terrifying show without having to resort to blood and gore. It even includes a quick 4th wall break by the sales guy. Great episode!

Oooh I love the sound of this one Anthony. It sounds right up my street. I think you could convert a Twilight Zone hating viewer though, lol. Your vids are top notch.

Great narration and edits! Great episode of Zone. I made a vid about the comic adaptation, but I haven’t shared it yet. I’m gonna watch the 80’s version. Wow he says Twilight Zo-in Mannequin lol! I saw you in Ocean Chicks comments. Subbed. Greetings from Queens 👍🎞️🎞️🎞️📽️📽️📽️

This is a great episode in so many ways imo. Ann Francis top notch, enjoy James Millhollin with his comedic expressions and the elevator guy looks like my dad. Always wondered if Marsha is a mannequin how does she have any concept of money, a mother and where does she sleep at night on her month of freedom from the store. We have a large department store here in Melbourne, Australia. When I was a kid I'd daydream about hiding somewhere and being locked in overnight to jump on all the beds and play with the toys. Never happened though! Much prefer this original TZ version than the 80s remake. And dam I need to watch Forbidden Planet

Getting forgotten inside a store was a secret fantasy of mine...

This is what I credit to my fear of mannequins

First time Ive seen this. I just watched the 1985 version which was terrible. The original is simply charming. The ending was compassionate, not creepy.

Yay! After Hours is a favorite and I love Anne Francis! Jezebel is another TZ episode I love. Department stores have always giving me the creeps, not just because of the mannequins 😅. Mannequin is a childhood favorite! But I'm not a fan of part 2. Tz :After Hours \ Carnival of Souls (1962) match-up viewing. Ever thought about that? 😂

One of my favorite episodes ❤ please 🥺❤️ post more 🎉

Nice video! Have you heard about La Pascualita? I think that mannequin is creepy 😅

This is the best twilight zone channel bro

Mannequin "is based on a true story." 😄

I love the original episode.

That remake version from the 80s is straight nightmare fuel.... Great retrospective and comparison...👍💀

So, so, so, so, so, so, so (100000x) better than the 1980s version of this episode. There is something so ugly about the 1980s series. It removed the subtly from the original. And another thing that's hard for me to phrase. There's something about this episode, and the 1960s series that I find so genius. The horror isn't portrayed as this visceral, or violent. The fellow mannequin that Marsha meets, especially towards the end interacts with, feel so, for lack of a better word: human. (5:10 - the mannequins are almost like a family)

I’ve got to check that 80’s episode out. I haven’t seen it. Looks…. Interesting, though.

Best way to start my day off 🦊👍

😨😱😨Marsha Marsha Marsha

The original Karen. Boss lady should have slapped some sense into her.

🙌🏼🎬🤌🏻