Fans rejoiced in the early 1980s at the news of a big-screen adaptation of “The Twilight Zone.” The project — “Twilight Zone: The Movie” — brought together Steven Spielberg, John Landis, George Miller, and Joe Dante, each of whom directed a segment. Three stories remade episodes of Rod Serling’s show, but Landis’ portion, “Time Out,” was only partially based on an original episode. It resulted in catastrophe.
Questionable decisions abounded on the set in 1982. Renee Shin-Yi Chen and Myca Dinh Le, the child stars in “Time Out,” worked illegally. As reported by The New York Times, child labor laws forbade kids from working late at night. To bypass this, producer George Folsey Jr. never added their names to the production’s paperwork. He also paid them in cash. Even worse, live ammunition was used for the action sequences.
An obit in The New York Times revealed that disaster struck on the shoot’s last night. During the fatal scene, Vic Morrow’s character rescues Shin-Yi Chen and Dinh Le’s characters from an American air raid. All three were supposed to escape safely from a pursuing helicopter. On-set explosions caused the pilot to lose control of his aircraft and it crashed into the actors (via History), killing them instantly. Landis and four other crew members were subsequently charged with involuntary manslaughter. Remarkably, all five were acquitted. Weeping, Landis left the witness stand, vowing never to involve his cast again in such a reckless stunt (via The New York Times).