Recap / The Twilight Zone (1959) S3E8: "It's a Good Life"

aka: The Twilight Zone S 3 E 73 Its A Good Life

Boy, is it ever.

"Tonight's story on The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction. This, as you may recognize, is a map of the United States, and there's a little town there called Peaksville. On a given morning not too long ago, the rest of the world disappeared and Peaksville was left all alone. Its inhabitants were never sure whether the world was destroyed and only Peaksville left untouched or whether the village had somehow been taken away. They were, on the other hand, sure of one thing: the cause. A monster had arrived in the village. Just by using his mind, he took away the automobiles, the electricity, the machines—because they displeased him—and he moved an entire community back into the dark ages—just by using his mind. Now I'd like to introduce you to some of the people in Peaksville, Ohio. This is Mr. Fremont. It's in his farmhouse that the monster resides. This is Mrs. Fremont. And this is Aunt Amy, who probably had more control over the monster in the beginning than almost anyone. But one day she forgot. She began to sing aloud. Now, the monster doesn't like singing, so his mind snapped at her, turned her into the smiling, vacant thing you're looking at now. She sings no more. And you'll note that the people in Peaksville, Ohio, have to smile. They have to think happy thoughts and say happy things because once displeased, the monster can wish them into a cornfield or change them into a grotesque, walking horror. This particular monster can read minds, you see. He knows every thought, he can feel every emotion. Oh yes, I did forget something, didn't I? I forgot to introduce you to the monster. This is the monster. His name is Anthony Fremont. He's six years old, with a cute little-boy face and blue, guileless eyes. But when those eyes look at you, you'd better start thinking happy thoughts, because the mind behind them is absolutely in charge. This is the Twilight Zone."

— Rod Serling

Air date: November 3, 1961

The town of Peaksville, Ohio is home to Anthony Fremont (Bill Mumy), a six-year-old boy with total omnipotence over his environment. He can change any object he wants into whatever he wants, and whatever or whoever he doesn't like is banished "to the cornfield". Anthony can also read peoples' thoughts, so to spare themselves from getting sent to the cornfield, Anthony's parents (John Larch and Cloris Leachman) and the rest of the townsfolk are forced to think happy thoughts around the boy, and tell him that everything he does, regardless of how it affects them, is "good". One evening, the town gathers in the Fremont house for "television night", where Anthony broadcasts dinosaurs fighting each other for everyone, as well as to celebrate the birthday of local resident Dan Hollis (Don Keefer). However, when Dan dips into the sauce too much, he ends up thinking some very bad thoughts.

For tropes on the original short story, see "It's a Good Life".

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It's a good thing that we're going to list the tropes here. A very good thing:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: While Anthony's physical appearance is never fully described in the original story, the few details given suggest that he doesn't quite look human, as he's described as having a "wet purple gaze", an "odd shadow", and is even called a goblin at one point. Here he looks like an ordinary child.
• Adaptational Villainy: Anthony is already a menacing figure in the short story, but he comes across as more malicious in the episode. Part of this is simply due to his Age Lift, as being older and more verbal makes him seem more aware of what he's doing. The adaptation also focuses more on his overtly destructive actions and less on his disastrously well-intentioned ones.
• Age Lift: Anthony was three in the short story, but he's six here.
• Ambiguous Innocence: Like most children his age, Anthony defines things as "good" or "bad" solely by how they make him feel. He genuinely doesn't seem to understand that what may be good for him may not be good for somebody else. The fact that nobody in Peaksville has the courage to punish him for bad behavior only makes it worse.
• Berserk Button: Anthony detests singing. Any kind of singing, whether a cappella or with music, makes him extremely angry. Aunt Amy used to be the one person who could rein him in even slightly, but she made the mistake of singing in earshot of the boy, who rendered her mute in response.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: Dan receives a Perry Como record at his birthday party. Although he wants to play it on the Fremonts' record player, the others talk him out of it because of Anthony's hatred of singing. Dan later gets drunk on whiskey, another of his presents, and starts making noise, much to Anthony's annoyance. While Pat Reilly is playing "Moonglow" on the piano, Dan starts singing "Happy Birthday" and tries to convince Pat to play the song, though Pat is far too afraid to do so. Dan finally loses his cool and tells Anthony that he's a monster. He implores the others to attack Anthony from behind, but none of them have the courage to do so. Anthony promptly turns Dan into a jack-in-the-box and sends him to the cornfield.
• Body Horror: After the episodes introduction, Anthony shows Aunt Amy a three headed gopher he made, which the audience doesn't get to see, and although it clearly disturbs Aunt Amy, she still tells him he did a good job in making it. Near the end of the episode when Dan Hollis urges the others to bash Anthony's head while he's distracted, Anthony turns him into a jack in the box with a head shaped like Dan's, with the heavy implication Dan was killed in the process
• Bratty Half-Pint: Anthony does whatever he wants without regard for how other people feel about it, since he knows that nobody has the heart to discipline him.
• Catchphrase: "That's real good that you did that." with some variations, is the usual response to any of Anthony's actions.
• Cheerful Child: When he's happy, Anthony can be quite gregarious, which makes his fits of reality-bending anger all the more terrifying.
• Children Are Innocent: Anthony has the mental outlook of a normal six-year-old child, which actually makes him all the more terrifying.
• Closed Circle: The outside of Peaksville is a gray nothingness where the rest of the world used to be. The residents aren't sure if Anthony destroyed the rest of the world, or just took Peaksville to some alternate dimension. What's for sure is that the town's isolation is gradually killing it. The people are barely eking out an existence by growing their own food, and they pass their material possessions around to each other as "presents" because that's all they have left.
• Crapsack World: Peaksville is ruled by Anthony, a six-year-old with omnipotent powers whom everyone is too scared to contradict. When your entire life is run by a Reality Warper, let alone a child, it's definitely a Crapsack World.
• Creepy Child: Anthony. The trope is also inverted, as Anthony is also shown to be a fairly normal and even well-intentioned kid who just wants to make others happy. The problem is that his immaturity and inability to fully grasp his powers and take other people's feelings into account result in him having created a world where everyone lives in fear of him.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Dan tries standing up to Anthony while drunk, calling him a monster and begging for someone to use the opening to kill him. It doesn't work out.
• Downer Ending: Dan defies Anthony, so Anthony turns him into a jack-in-the-box and sends him to the cornfield. Because Aunt Amy complained about the heat earlier, Anthony makes it snow that night, which kills off half the crops. And that's only the end of the episode, as Anthony still has complete freedom to continue controlling and tormenting the remaining populace of Peaksville however he sees fit.
• The Dreaded: Everyone in Peaksville is absolutely terrified of Anthony, so much so that nearly every thought and action is directed towards keeping him content.
• Enfant Terrible: Anthony, obviously, as he's not emotionally mature enough to handle his omnipotence wisely.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Anthony does seem to care about his parents and can be quite nice to them, even if he doesn't understand their fear of him.
• Evil Redhead: Anthony is a redhead, and he's also the Villain Protagonist of the story.
• Goo-Goo-Godlike: Deconstructed. Anthony has unexplained godlike powers, but his lack of wisdom and maturity means that he exercises them in ways that harm those around him, even when he wants to help.
• Happiness Is Mandatory: Everyone in Peaksville is to repress negative thoughts and emotions out of fear that if Anthony senses unhappiness, he will either lash out at the thinker for being dissatisfied with the world he has made, or make a misguided attempt to help.
• Happy Birthday to You!: Dan Hollis sings the song as "Happy Birthday to Me" while wasted. Anthony gets peeved on hearing him sing it, as he has a total disdain for singing.
• Hope Spot: While Dan is yelling at Anthony, imploring for someone to kill Anthony right there, we see Aunt Amy get up, slowly reaching to grab a fire poker off the mantle... only to pause and lower it once it's clear that no one else is willing to do something.
• Innocently Insensitive: Anthony honestly means well and wants everyone around him to be happy, but his young age means he's unable to understand adult emotions and the feelings of others, or fully control his own emotions, meaning that he often makes things far worse when he wants to help and everyone around him is too frightened to do anything but placate him.
• Invincible Villain: Anthony is completely untouchable, armed with omnipotent powers and no one able to contradict him.
• It's All About Me: Anthony is genuinely unable to understand the idea that other people have different desires and needs than him. Whenever he uses his powers against someone who angers him, he'll justify it by saying that the victim was being "bad" to him.
• Karma Houdini: Anthony gets no comeuppance for his bad deeds, and he's free to continue torturing Peaksville however and whenever he wants.
• Kids Are Cruel: The thing is, Anthony isn't any different from regular children, as far as his mental and emotional states. He honestly means well and thinks that his actions are for others' benefit, and is rarely shown acting maliciously. The problem is that he has total omnipotence over his town and everyone in it, and that doesn't go well with the mood swings and lack of empathy common to every kid his age, especially since nobody dares to try to discipline him.
• Knight of Cerebus: Anthony is quite possibly the darkest villain ever presented in the series. Not only does he receive no comeuppance for his actions, but as Rod Serling himself states, the episode has no moral. This is what happens in Peaksville EVERY SINGLE DAY, and the episode's events are merely an update on Anthony's reign of terror. He becomes even worse in the sequel, when he is all grown up and now aware of his actions.
• Lost in the Maize: Anthony is prone to making things or people that irritate him disappear from Peaksville entirely, which he and others refer to as "sending them to the cornfield". While the term has a very literal meaning in the original short story, the episode never explains it, turning it into an ominously vague euphemism. The picture used for the episode credits hints that it's a literal cornfield.
• Mind Rape: Aunt Amy, years ago, was the only person who could exercise any control over Anthony. She unfortunately offended him by singing in his presence, and his mind "snapped" at her. She's now a shell of her former self, smiling vacantly and no longer watching how she acts or what she says around Anthony.
• Mood-Swinger: Anthony can go from happy to angry in the blink of an eye. This is pretty normal for a kid his age. The issue is that he has the ability to inflict unspeakable agony on anyone who gets on his bad side.
• Named by the Adaptation: In the short story, Anthony's mother is not named. In the television adaptation, her first name is given as Agnes.
• No Music Allowed: As explained in the opening monologue, Anthony greatly dislikes singing. One day, Aunt Amy made the mistake of singing around the boy, who used his powers to Mind Rape her. From then on, the townsfolk have to keep themselves from singing to avoid Anthony’s wrath.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Between the limitations of special effects in the 1960s and Serling's artistic sensibilities, a lot of creepy images are left for the viewer to imagine, sometimes to excellent effect.
  • What exactly happens to the people who get sent to the cornfield? What the cornfield itself is is similarly never specified, but chances are that it's not a place anyone wants to end up in.
  • We never see the three-headed gopher Anthony claims to have created, but Bill Soames' uncomfortable reaction to it tells us that it isn't pretty. We also don't see it die, just Anthony's scowl as he casually commands it to "be dead."
  • We never even learn why or how Anthony got his omnipotence in the first place. For all we know, he was just born with it.
• "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: After setting up the backstory, Rod Serling remembers that he forgot to actually show us "the monster":
  Rod Serling: Oh yes, I did forget something, didn't I? I forgot to introduce you to the monster. (cut to Anthony, smiling, climbing up onto a gate) This is the monster.
• Obliviously Evil: According to Bill Mumy, Anthony is honestly trying to make the world a better place. He simply doesn't grasp that making the world better by basing things on what makes him happy isn't actually improving the world for everyone else. In short, his immaturity prevents him from taking other's views into consideration. This is explored further in the short story.
• The Omnipotent: As noted above, there's essentially no limit to what Anthony can do.
• Phrase Catcher: Anything Anthony does is described as being "real good".
• Playing with Fire: It is mentioned that Anthony set Teddy Reynolds on fire for thinking mean thoughts about him.
• Psychic Static: Dan tries to invoke this by distracting Anthony, and he begs anyone else present to kill Anthony while the kid's attention is focused on his outburst. Unfortunately for Dan, everyone is still too afraid to raise a hand against the boy.
• Pushover Parents: Anthony's parents. With their child being an omnipotent tyrant, how could they be anything else?
• Reality Warper: Anthony can shape the world to his whim, seemingly without any limits.
• Recycled Script: A portion of the audio and footage of Serling's opening narration was later used as part the pre-show in the Disney Theme Parks thrill ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Specifically, the part where he says "This as you may recognize is a map of the United States", it cuts off at map and continues with "a maintenance service elevator still in operation, waiting for you". Additionally, Serling's voice narration in the ride was provided by voice actor Mark Silverman, as Rod Serling passed away in 1975.
• Riddle for the Ages: Exactly how Anthony got his powers and where they came from is never explained.
• Running Gag: Every single time someone complains or gets unhappy with Anthony even slightly, the others are quick to assert that whatever Anthony's done was actually a good thing. "A real good thing."
• Scary Jack-in-the-Box: Anthony transforms Dan Hollis, his sole on-screen victim, into one of them. The scene is parodied in The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror II, where Bart turns Homer into a jack-in-the-box. Unlike Dan, Homer remains alive and able to speak and hop around in this form.
• Shout-Out: Dan is disappointed he can't listen to his new Perry Como record because Anthony hates singing.
• Spoiled Brat: Anthony has possessed his powers ever since he was born, meaning that by the age of six, he is totally habituated to getting his way in every situation imaginable, and has had no occasion to learn about compromising or respecting boundaries.
• Stepford Smiler: The only way to keep Anthony happy is to think happy thoughts and act like everything's okay, regardless of how much damage he does to Peaksville and its people.
• Telepathy: Anthony can read minds, so the townspeople can't even think anything bad about him or anything unhappy in general.
• Theme Naming: Anthony Fremont, his mother Agnes, and his aunt Amy.
• Tragically Misguided Favor: The townspeople apply their "real good" mantra to everything that happens, whether or not Anthony is directly responsible, out of fear that he might sense unhappiness from someone and cause even more damage with a poorly informed attempt to help.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Averted, believe it or not. Anthony is generally a pretty normal kid who, in another setting, would probably grow up to be a regular adult rather than a born sociopath. It's just that his parents are absolutely terrified of his powers so they are too frightened to ever discipline him or teach him to think of others' feelings.
• Unbuilt Trope: This was one of the first mainstream horror stories to have a child as a villain, setting the stage for the likes of Damian. But Anthony is noticeably different from many who would come after. In contrast to later stories where said child villains are shown as actively malicious and sadistic and portrayed as creepily as possible, Anthony is portrayed mostly as a fairly normal kid whose mood swings and lack of empathy are normal for someone of his age. He is even shown as capable of being genuinely well-meaning and polite and honestly believes the world he's created is better and many of his acts are borne from a misplaced but sincere desire to make others happy. The horror comes not from Anthony being cruel or a born monster but how terrifying such power would be in the hands of any kid emotionally unsuited for it, no matter how well-meaning they were.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Many of Anthony's actions are borne from a sincere desire to make those around him happy but having no ability to understand their feelings.
• What If God Was One of Us?: Specifically, what if God had the mentality of a child?

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Rod Serling: No comment here, no comment at all. We only wanted to introduce you to one of our very special citizens: little Anthony Fremont, age six, who lives in a village called Peaksville in a place that used to be Ohio. And if by some strange chance you should run across him, you had best think only good thoughts. Anything less than that is handled at your own risk, because if you do meet Anthony, you can be sure of one thing: you have entered the Twilight Zone.

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It's a good thing we didn't forget to list the tropes in various other adaptations of this work. It's a very good thing:

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Burgess Meredith: Portrait of a woman in transit. Helen Foley, age twenty-seven. Occupation: schoolteacher. Up until now, the pattern of her life has been one of unrelenting sameness. Waiting for something different to happen. Helen Foley doesn't know it yet, but her waiting has just ended.

The third segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie is a loose adaptation of this episode. On a long road trip to a new home, a schoolteacher named Helen Foley (Kathleen Quinlan) meets Anthony, who in this version is ten years old and has the ability to venture outside of his isolated realm and into the wider world. He invites her to come home with him, where she discovers his supernatural nature and the dire consequences it has had for him and the people around him.

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• Adaptation Deviation: The movie segment uses the same basic premise of "a small, isolated community lives in fear of a child with godlike powers", but the specifics of characters, setting, and plot are different.
• Adapted Out: Anthony mentions that his real mother and father hated him and wanted to "send [him] away to someplace bad." Ethel tells Helen that he did something terrible to them but she does not go into details. In the short story, Anthony's parents are major characters.
• Age Lift: Anthony is about ten or eleven years old. He is three years old in the short story and six in the original episode.
• Canon Foreigner: Neither Helen Foley or Anthony's elder sister Sarah appear in the short story. In the story, Anthony is an only child.
• Deranged Animation: Played for nightmare fuel. Anthony is obsessed with cartoons, so instead of "the cornfield" he sends his victims to "cartoonland", depicted as a technicolor nightmare. He also brought a Tasmanian Devil-like toon character into the real world.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Ethel is eaten by a monster after Anthony transports her into a cartoon. As Anthony says, "Th-th-th-th-that's all, Ethel."
• Green Thumb: As he and Helen drive away from his old house, Anthony turns the desert landscape into a beautiful garden filled with many different kinds of flowers.
• Hair-Raising Hare: Anthony's "uncle" pulls a rabbit-like monster out of a hat.
• Mythology Gag: Helen Foley tells Walter Paisley that she is going to Willoughby and that she is from Homewood. Walter tells her that it looks like she missed a turnoff at Cliffordville.
• No Name Given: Anthony's fake mother and father are not named.
• Remake Cameo: Bill Mumy appears as a diner patron named Tim. He sarcastically tells his friend Chris that it was "real good" that he attacked Anthony.
• Tuckerization
  • Helen Foley is named after Rod Serling's favorite teacher. She shares her name with the protagonist of "Nightmare as a Child".
  • Walter Paisley mentions a town named Beaumont. This is a reference to Charles Beaumont, who wrote numerous episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959).
  • Uncle Walt is named after Walt Disney.
• Wipe That Smile Off Your Face: Anthony took away his real sister Sarah's mouth so she would not be able to yell at him anymore.

It's Still a Good Life

Forest Whitaker: Forty years ago, Rod Serling introduced us to a monster, a monster so powerful he was able to make the world disappear just by using his mind. For the residents of Peaksville, Ohio, the nightmare had begun. The monster knew their every thought, could feel their every emotion; and when they made him angry, which was often, he would banish them into a cornfield from which there was no return. And the most frightening thing about this monster was that he was only six years old. Now it's forty years later, and the people of Peaksville are still in Hell. Oh, yes, there's one other thing: The monster now has a child of his own, and though she possesses none of her father's powers, he still loves her very, very much.

The 2002 revival series produced a direct sequel to "It's a Good Life", starring Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprising their roles. Having grown to adulthood without any limits on his power or challenges to his self-centered worldview, Anthony has become set in his monstrous ways, and the people of Peaksville continue to live in fear of his volatile temper. The only person to whom he shows a kinder aspect is his daughter, Audrey (Liliana Mumy). When Anthony's mother realizes that Audrey has inherited her father's powers, she sees an opportunity to end Anthony's reign, but things don't go according to plan.

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• Ambiguous Ending: Was Audrey sending all the townspeople away only to restore the outside world within a few days a display of childish capriciousness or a calculated plan to make Anthony see the folly of impulsively sending people away? Does Anthony actually want to go to New York or is he obeying Audrey out of fear of her superior powers? Will Audrey be a calming influence on Anthony as they explore the world, or will the two use their powers to wreak havoc?
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Anthony himself learns this lesson after his daughter sends everyone to the cornfield, realizing how lonely it is with just him and his daughter as the last people on Earth. Although his daughter is able to restore the world, it's ambiguous whether the lesson stuck enough to make him think twice before lashing out in the future.
• Beware the Superman: Anthony's actions in the original episode can be summed up to him being only six years old, and with his parents being too afraid of his powers, his sense of right and wrong was defined by what he liked and didn't like. As a result, when he grows into an adult, he goes ahead and selfishly uses his powers knowing that no one can do anything to stop him, and if they tried, he just sends them into the "corn field."
• Big "NO!": Agnes screams this when Audrey firmly sides with her father before sending her away to the cornfield.
• Call-Back
  • Anthony sets George on fire and mind rapes Lorna. In the original episode, it was mentioned that Teddy Reynolds and Aunt Amy suffered these respective fates.
  • The final line of the episode is Anthony telling Audrey that “It’s gonna be a good day, a real good day”. The original episode ends with Anthony’s father speaking a very similar line.
• Calling the Young Man Out: At the climax of the episode, Agnes finally tells "the monster [she] gave birth to" how cruel and selfish she really thinks he is.
• Continuity Nod
  • Lorna mentions how much Anthony loves tomatoes and considers giving him some from her garden, presumably as a way of currying favor. In the original episode, Bill Soames brought two of the last cans of tomato soup in Peaksville to the Fremonts' house because he heard Anthony likes it.
  • In the original episode, Anthony enjoys piano music. In the 2002 episode, he has learned to play the instrument himself.
• The Dog Bites Back: After Anthony terrifies Joseph on bowling night and later threatens to send both him and his close companion Cynthia to the cornfield as part of a collective punishment for the town, Joseph does what Dan Hollis suggested forty years earlier and tries to bludgeon Anthony while he's distracted. He only fails because Audrey intervenes to protect her father.
• Even More Omnipotent: Audrey is even more powerful than her father, as she can do the only thing he cannot: return things to normal. She displays it by bringing back a watch belonging to her grandmother that Anthony erased from existence. In the end, she is even able to restore the entire world that Anthony caused to vanish.
• Ironic Echo: Agnes tells Anthony that he is a bad man, a very bad man. This is the same thing that Anthony said to Dan Hollis in the original episode over 40 years earlier.
• Knight Templar Parent: Adult Anthony's Establishing Character Moment is to punish a boy named Timmy for accidentally pushing his daughter Audrey out of a tree, not by hurting him directly, but by burning his father George and then sending him to the cornfield. Unsurprisingly, Timmy stopped playing with Audrey after that.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Everything Anthony did is undone by Audrey who is even more powerful than him and now he as to make sure not to upset her out of fear of reprisal, just as his own parents did with him.
• Mercy Kill: Anthony tells his daughter that he sends people to the cornfield "for their own good, so that [he] won't hurt them anymore". How sincere he is about this is open to interpretation.
• Mind over Matter: Anthony is seen using telekinesis to play the piano.
• Mind Rape: Anthony punishes Lorna for keeping the secret of Audrey's power from him by destroying her mind, a more extreme version of what he did to Aunt Amy in the original episode.
• Missing Mom: Anthony sent Audrey's mother to the cornfield at some point before the story begins.
• Morality Pet: Anthony has a genuinely caring relationship with Audrey, who seems to be the only person able to dissuade him from harming people. He spares Timmy at her request (although he winds up taking out his anger on Timmy's father instead) and she distracts him from a frustrating bowling game when he threatens his opponent.
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Anthony has grown tired of always winning at bowling and challenges Joseph to a game. When Joseph deliberately sends his ball into the gutter twice in a row, Anthony becomes angry at him for letting him win. He is about to punish him but Audrey asking him to play pinball with her stays his hand.
• Offing the Offspring: Agnes Fremont hopes to arrange the assassination of her son.
• Playing with Fire: Anthony incinerates a man with his mind early on in the episode.
• Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Audrey and Agnes both try to intercede on behalf of various people Anthony threatens over the course of the story, with varying degrees of success.
• Psychic Static: Agnes has developed the ability to shield her thoughts from Anthony after more than 40 years. She taught Audrey to do the same thing, though in her case it proved unnecessary as Anthony couldn't read her thoughts.
• Psychopathic Manchild: While Anthony did somewhat mature a bit, he kept his spoiled attitude and overly simplistic worldview.
• Reality Warper: Audrey to an even greater extent than Anthony as she is even able to undo his acts, something Anthony wasn't capable of.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The climax involves Agnes delivering one to Anthony.
  Agnes: For forty years, I did nothing while you tortured the people of this town! I sat back and watched while you destroyed everything I cared about... everything I loved.
  Anthony: Not everyone. You love me.
  Agnes: Love you? Love? You? I curse the day I gave birth to you. Night after night, I lie awake, thinking of ways to put an end to this madness. To put an end to you! And do you want to know why, Anthony? Because you are a bad man. A very bad man. The worst that ever lived.
  Anthony: Mom, I'm warning you-
  Agnes: You are a monster, a spoiled, vicious monster, and if anyone deserves to be in the cornfield, it's you!
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Agnes mentions that Anthony sent his father Bill to the cornfield years earlier.

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Forest Whitaker: No lesson to be learned here. No morals to be taught. Just an update from Peaksville, Ohio, where Anthony and Audrey Fremont want you to think happy thoughts, and you better do as you're told. Otherwise, you might wind up in that cornfield known as The Twilight Zone.

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It's still very good we split this page off. A very good split.

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