Fly By Night: The Secret Story of Steven Spielberg, Warner Bros, and the Twilight Zone Deaths Paperback – September 22, 2023

The book goes into so much detail about the reckless actions of the movie director John Landis that led to the deaths of Vic Morrow and two children hired illegally to star in the Twilight Zone Movie. It also covers the trial in detail including the witnesses, the prosecution, and the defense for the case. There is graphic photos of the remains of the victims but I think it is necessary to show since they were included as an exhibit in the case. If you are squeamish this book isn’t for you.

This is an absolutely harrowing, fascinating, horrifying and gut wrenching read. Steve Chain has written to date, the best and most definitive book on the Twilight Zone tragedy.I’ve read “Outrageous Conduct” and skimmed through “Special Effects.” Both of those books came out just a little after the trial. Again, Fly by Night makes them look like amateur efforts.Not only have countless interviews been done for this book, but the author has been granted access to many confidential sources and even crime scene photographs. Just a Warning, they are very graphic but are necessary to tell this story accurately and truthfully.Vic, Myca, and Renee deserve justice. They shouldn't have died on that July day 40 years ago. This book exposes all parties involved and the cover up that ensued.This is a non-fiction account that reads like a true crime novel. Highly recommended.

If you like the gory details, this book has them. Maybe it’s my fault, but this had a lot more in it that what I really wanted. I can tell the author will read this and grit his teeth as he did a great job presenting everything, and I mean everything. It sometimes dragged along for me. But that’s not to say it’s bad. It is highly informative, but maybe not an entertaining read. Felt somewhat like reading a textbook to me. Which may be the intent!

Whether you are interested in the Twilight Zone accident, Hollywood's dark underside, or just how the criminal justice system works when famous people are accused, this book has it all. This is the best book I've read in some time. After reading you will either think that John Landis was just the victim of a freak industrial accident, or that he got away with three murders. The book also lays out evidence showing how Steven Spielberg may have blood on his hands as well. Overall, I loved this book.

It seems that the only reason this book was written was to trash John Landis as thoroughly as humanly possible. This is the third book on this subject that I have read, and the author doesn’t even pretend to be objective. I’m not saying Landis wasn’t guilty of some questionable decisions, but when it’s all said and done, it was an ACCIDENT, Landis and the others are not murderers. Chain uses a lot of examples as “proof”of wrong-doing that are not evidence and based purely on conjecture. The book is disrespectful to the families of the victims in that he goes over gruesome details at LEAST 8 times in the book about the condition of the bodies and if that isn’t enough, is ghoulish enough to include photographs of the broken, dismembered bodies and parts. Thankfully, the Kindle version (what I purchased) doesn’t include those awful photos. Not only do they include those graphic photos, but the publisher chose to put a “hype sticker” on the cover of the physical book to advertise its graphic content. Gross and exploitative. As others have written, the book jumps all over the place, probably so Chain can go over the condition of the victims bodies once again. If you didn’t know better you would think that John Landis never made a good film according to Chain, which again chips away at his credibility. Landis, for whatever you think of him made Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf In London, Trading Places, and Coming To America, arguably some of the greatest movies of the 1980’s. Chain also has two themes throughout the book, one being that the death of John Belushi made Hollywood’s rampant cocaine use come to light, has NO PROOF that cocaine was used on the set and insinuates that Landis may have been using. If anyone has read “Wired” Bob Woodward’s book on Belushi’s drug use, one of the standout passages in that book is John Landis throwing Belushi’s coke stash into the toilet of his trailer. Doesn’t sound like a user or enabler to me. The second silly theme is the “summer of Spielberg” where basically the studios would do anything to work with him, including allowing children to die on a set and covering up Spielberg’s involvement, again, no proof just conjecture. This book is basically a rehash of two better books, but with gruesome, unnecessary parts thrown in. Chain should be ashamed of himself. If the author does actually read this, how about in a second printing, at the VERY least, leave the exploitative, unnecessary gruesome pictures out. Seek out “Outrageous Conduct” it’s a much better book. Chain is a ghoul.

I was introduced to this book by a friend. Very fascinating, definitely recommend it.

This July 23, 2022 marks the 40th Anniversary of the accident that occurred on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie. In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, actor Vic Morrow and two illegally hired child actors were killed when a special effects explosion brought down a helicopter. Vic Morrow, 53, and Myca Dinh Le, 7, were decapitated and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, 6, was crushed by the helicopter. Morrow's face was also horribly mangled and the decapitated heads were retrieved and placed in a garbage bag. The bodies of the children were wrapped in a blanket and set aside. This blanket can be seen in news footage showing the wrecked helicopter. Morrow's body was dragged to the shore and placed in an area called "the island". The accident was captured by six different cameras and used as evidence at the trial 4 years later.The following investigation and eventual criminal trial revealed a film-set wrought with deception, carelessness, and incompetence. Director John Landis's behavior as a tyrant on the set is well known and seems to be the way he operates. One moment he can be joking around and the next he is berating and cursing someone out. Special FX man Paul Stewart was in charge of the striking board that detonated the huts in a fiery explosion which brought down the helicopter. James Camomile was the person who actually detonated the striking board but he was not charged. It was reported that many of the crew had been drinking that night, including Stewart. Landis knew about this but tolerated it because it made Stewart more compliant.Live ammo was also used on the set at one point and Morrow had a close call while shooting a scene where his character was put inside a train car with 30 extras playing Jewish prisoners. Rain shorted out a circuit and an electrical fire broke out near the box car, which had been locked trapping Morrow inside. The key to the lock was quickly found and disaster averted.Executive Producer Frank Marshall was the highest ranking official on the set that night and he evaded questioning by the police and NTSB during the entire investigation and has never spoken about it publicly. The police even followed him to Paris but he eluded them and took off to Spain where Steven Spielberg was filming his latest movie. It is known that several people knew about the illegally hired children and they were kept hidden from Jack Tice, who was a fire safety officer on the segment as well as a child labor representative . If Tice knew about children working at 2:00 in the morning, he had the power to shut the film down.The trial began on September 3, 1986 and on May 29, 1987, director John Landis, associate producer George Folsey, unit production manager Dan Allingham, special effects coordinator Paul Stewart, and helicopter pilot Dorcey Wingo were all found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. In the end the only fine Landis had to pay was for violating child labor laws.This is a good book but be warned it does contain the crime scene photos showing the decapitated heads as well as a still of Morrow's headless body. I've read the other two books on this case, 'Special Effects', and 'Outrageous Conduct', and have to say that I prefer 'Outrageous Conduct'. Even though both of those books are long out-of-print and go for ridiculous prices now, I'd suggest trying to find a copy for a good deal. If you don't want to do that then get Fly By Night. I'm sure in a few years this book too will go out-of-print and be expensive beyond belief. One small complaint I have with Fly By Night is the placement of the photo section. It's located at the very end of the book. I wish it was in the middle like most books have them or spread throughout to correspond to what's being described on the page.

A lengthy, thorough, excoriating examination of the Twilight Zone helicopter negligence and its aftermath. Chain spends a great deal of time recreating the moments of the accident itself - what led up to it, the actions of the individuals involved, the traumas inflicted - through to the immediate aftermath and trial. The focus on individuals, their intentions, their likely actions etc leaves you with the impression of a thousand hands contributing to a tremendous failure to keep two children and a veteran actor alive.The narrative isn't served by its sometimes choppy nature, flitting backward and forward, breaking the flow. The shift from film-making to legal battle is handled well but the legal case is examined in vast depth which can sometimes be isolating (read: boring). Chain admirably keeps the victims of this centred and clearly has access to multiple off-record sources (including for the supply of otherwise unseen sketches of the set).