Not the worst plot, although pretty nonsensical. The original Twilight Zone was cutting edge TV with great acting and a mixture of folklore, paying homage to the tales of terror and the supernatural books that were popular around 1900 and coming up with many new, original, spooky or surreal plots. This was cheesy, over-acted and not very enjoyable. The first series was the best one, then the 1980s one. The most recent one isn't really worth it at all. The 2002 series is in between.
7 Reviews
Killer McCain
kapelusznik1822 August 2016
***SPOILERS*** Untalented and down in the dumps wannabe rock superstar Corey Williams, Lukas Haas, scratches up enough money by selling records at street corners to buy this guitar at his local pawn/music shop that suddenly turned his life around. It belonged to star guitarist Johnny McCain who blew his brains out in 1957 after his last sold out concert in Milwaukee in honor of the Milwaukee Braves baseball team who've just bet the NY Yankees in the world series. At first like Johnny McCain Corey hits the chart with his guitar doing all the work, in playing beautiful music, for him but soon finds out that it will-Like it did to Johnny McCain-destroy anyone who comes in contact with it and soon is in deep deep trouble!
Corey also finds out that the "Majic guitar" also causes his fingers to bleed when he's playing it and brain to short circuit as well. The final straw is when a sex starved Corey invited one of his many female admirers Ashley, Tabgi Miller,to spend the night with him that she was instead of having a good time strangled by the strap on the guitar as a reward! Now realizing that the guitar is cursed Corey does everything he can to get rid of it but, after throwing it in the dumpster, it still keeps coming back too him.
***SPOILERS**** Out of his mind and about to be committed Corey decides to take a ride in his newly acquired sports car, that he bought with the money he made in his latest concert, and take this ride to nowhere ending up in the dead, not twilight, zone with only the magic guitar, that somehow got on board, surviving! In the end it was the guitar that controlled Corey and not the other way around and instead of giving him fame & glory as well as all the chicks he could handle it only lead Corey to an early grave. Like it did to it's previous owner rock or, as they were called back in 1957, rock & roll star Johnny McCain!
Corey also finds out that the "Majic guitar" also causes his fingers to bleed when he's playing it and brain to short circuit as well. The final straw is when a sex starved Corey invited one of his many female admirers Ashley, Tabgi Miller,to spend the night with him that she was instead of having a good time strangled by the strap on the guitar as a reward! Now realizing that the guitar is cursed Corey does everything he can to get rid of it but, after throwing it in the dumpster, it still keeps coming back too him.
***SPOILERS**** Out of his mind and about to be committed Corey decides to take a ride in his newly acquired sports car, that he bought with the money he made in his latest concert, and take this ride to nowhere ending up in the dead, not twilight, zone with only the magic guitar, that somehow got on board, surviving! In the end it was the guitar that controlled Corey and not the other way around and instead of giving him fame & glory as well as all the chicks he could handle it only lead Corey to an early grave. Like it did to it's previous owner rock or, as they were called back in 1957, rock & roll star Johnny McCain!
"It wanted my mind, my body, and my soul."
classicsoncall6 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Corey Williams (Lukas Haas) fancies himself a decent guitar player, while his buddy Ricky (Kirk 'Sticky Fingaz' Jones) thinks he sucks. When Corey unwittingly purchases a used guitar at a pawn shop formerly owned by rock star Bobby McCain, he suddenly begins to play like he made a deal with the devil at The Crossroads. His good fortune starts to go off the rails however, when the guitar gets a mind of its own and becomes jealous of anyone else taking up Corey's time and attention. The guitar strap loops its way into a noose around his girlfriend's (Tangi Miller) throat, and a recording session comes to an electrifying halt when Corey attempts to use a different instrument. The way the guitar intrudes into Corey's life by popping up whenever he tries to put it out of sight calls to mind a Rod Serling episode of the 'Twilight Zone' titled 'The Dummy', in which Cliff Robertson began hallucinating about his mannequin coming to life. I think that one had a better twist ending, here Corey just couldn't take it anymore and drove his car straight into rock n' roll heaven. It's not as glamorous as it sounds.
So harsh it's good
talllwoood1322 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This is a story told a hundred times by a hundred better writers. I'll admit it's kind of entertaining where I kept pausing it to see if it really was a 1957 Fender Stratocaster as I know my stuff about guitars. What I found amusing at first was when the boy knew who previously owned the guitar he proceeds to play the guitar covered in blood. I don't care if it's Jimi Hendrix, Yngwie Malmsteen or David Gilmour I refuse to play a guitar with even a drop of blood on it.
The love child of Jack White and Steve Buscemi buys a guitar and MAGIC happens! Who needs to practice when you have that right guitar! Somehow without a big tour or what seems like he finished up the album he's got it "all". I'm sorry most people hate new music and would rather just stick to what is already successful. Plus you've got to tour and have an album out before hot girls are throwing themselves at you. Sure if the label believed in you, you get an advance to do an album but I get it. You've only got 20 or so minutes to make a compelling story as this isn't back in season 4 or 5 of Twilight Zone from the 1960s where each episode was double the length.
The lead actor in this can't act. The music is awful and the guy can't sing. Thankfully autotune became a necessity more and more after this episode came out. This just seems like a failed reject episode of another show or movie and doesn't have that umph certain episodes of Twilight Zone have. Not to say that every episode of Twilight Zone was perfect. As there is a ton of awful ones. This is a so bad its good episode without any doubt. If the guitar was truly cursed he should have burnt it instead of driving the way he did.. and gosh darn Forest didn't even call it the Twilight Zone in the opening. That's embarrassing. It's like he knows it's not twilight zone how awful this generation of it is and is waddling around that green room for that pay check.
The love child of Jack White and Steve Buscemi buys a guitar and MAGIC happens! Who needs to practice when you have that right guitar! Somehow without a big tour or what seems like he finished up the album he's got it "all". I'm sorry most people hate new music and would rather just stick to what is already successful. Plus you've got to tour and have an album out before hot girls are throwing themselves at you. Sure if the label believed in you, you get an advance to do an album but I get it. You've only got 20 or so minutes to make a compelling story as this isn't back in season 4 or 5 of Twilight Zone from the 1960s where each episode was double the length.
The lead actor in this can't act. The music is awful and the guy can't sing. Thankfully autotune became a necessity more and more after this episode came out. This just seems like a failed reject episode of another show or movie and doesn't have that umph certain episodes of Twilight Zone have. Not to say that every episode of Twilight Zone was perfect. As there is a ton of awful ones. This is a so bad its good episode without any doubt. If the guitar was truly cursed he should have burnt it instead of driving the way he did.. and gosh darn Forest didn't even call it the Twilight Zone in the opening. That's embarrassing. It's like he knows it's not twilight zone how awful this generation of it is and is waddling around that green room for that pay check.
Same Old Story
danieln-155255 August 2020
The Guitar from Hell
Hitchcoc8 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
A pretty easy concept. A guitar once owned by a rock star who shot himself comes into the the hands of Corey. He immediately can play like the best when he could barely patch together a chord before. He gets fame and fortune and a beautiful woman. It soon becomes obvious that the guitar is a jealous lover which begins to destroy whomever played it. One day, the young woman Corey loves is strangled by the guitar strap on the Strat-o-Caster. Corey sees the handwriting on the walls. He tries to avoid the inevitable, but no such luck. Good episode but one can figure it out very quickly.
Don't you just hate it when your guitar kills?!
planktonrules14 February 2022
The plot to "Harsh Mistress" is pretty silly. Some schlub (Lukas Haas) finds a used electric guitar for sale. He immediately recognizes it as the one owned by a famous guitarist. As soon as he gets home and plays it, the guitar makes him play like one of the most talented guitarists on Earth. But, there's a problem...the guitar is cursed and evil. It murders a girl(!) and he also learns that those who owned it before him met untimely deaths!
An evil electric guitar?! What were they thinking?! Overall, an episode that is just too silly to take seriously and a big disappointment..and the dumbest episode so far in this re-booted series. The only thing I did enjoy was the cool hard rock music...that was pretty cool.
An evil electric guitar?! What were they thinking?! Overall, an episode that is just too silly to take seriously and a big disappointment..and the dumbest episode so far in this re-booted series. The only thing I did enjoy was the cool hard rock music...that was pretty cool.
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