Long Distance Call has got to be one of the most disturbing Twilight Zone episodes ever, and shows how the series was not afraid to deal with depressing subjects like the inevitable end of someone's life. The episode is also the last of around 6 episodes to be video taped, which is why it has a grainier and older look to it, which in my opinion makes it that much more creepy. The plot is about a little kid named Billy Bayles (Billy Mumy), and today is his birthday. His beloved grandmother arrives at his house to present to him a gift: a toy phone. Immediately after, his grandmother becomes ill and retires to a bedroom. She dies shortly after. Being only 5 years old, Billy doesn't really understand the concept of death being permanent, so he's not as upset as he should be. He honors his grandmother's memory by playing with the phone she gave him. Strangely, Billy tells his father Chris (Philip Abbott) that his grandmother is talking to him on the phone from beyond the grave. Soon, strange things begin happening and it appears the phone is adversely affecting Billy's behavior, such as when he almost gets hit by a car one afternoon and tells his terrified mother the phone told him to step in front of it. Shortly after, Billy's mother decides she has to put her foot down and find out who her son is talking to all the time. She sneaks behind him and takes the phone from him, and is shocked to hear what sounds like breathing on the other side. Billy is so sad that his mother tried to take his phone away that he runs outside and tries to drown himself in a pond. A group of paramedics arrive to try and revive Billy, but are unable to. Facing the horrible situation no parent ever wants to face, Billy's father picks up the toy phone and pleads with his dead mother to give him his son back. He tells her when she was at his birthday party, she thought of Billy as her own son and how he made her extremely happy. If she really does love Billy, she won't let him die. By the time Chris is done talking, Billy miraculously comes back to life. When I said this episode is disturbing, I wasn't kidding. It is essentially about a dead woman trying to convince her grandson to commit suicide so they can be together again. While I typically find Billy Mumy obnoxious, he does a good job in this episode. He thinks that maybe by talking to his grandmother on the phone, she'll come back, but we never actually hear what she's telling him during their conversations. It's also disturbing knowing that Billy's parents aren't able to do anything about his grandmother urging him to kill himself. This means that there is a slight plot hole here because if the grandmother really did love Billy, why does she want him to die? I know it's so that she can see him again, but she already has an eternity to spend in death anyway. Either way you look at it, Long Distance Call is (along with Living Doll) one of the creepiest things shown on the Twilight Zone, and shows that the series didn't back down from exploring morbid topics.
Review of Long Distance Call
