The Shadow Men are the main antagonists of the aptly named 1985 "The Shadow Man", the first segment of the 10th episode of the first season of The Twilight Zone's 1985-1989 iteration. They are mysterious shadow-like entities who externally resemble tall, broad, yet thin humanoids made of pure darkness, with no visible distinct facial features, dressed in trench coats and wide-brimmed hats, and each Shadow Man looks and sounds identical. They are only active at night, hide under beds during the day, and despite their shadowy nature, appear to be physical, able to easily overpower humans.
Both Shadow Men featured in the episode were played by Jeff Calhoun.
History[]
For reasons unknown, Shadow Men would use the beds of humans as their homes, only emerging at night, and first manifest in an area with no artificial light, after which they appear able to freely manifest even in the presence of light sources. While they wandered cities with seemingly only a desire to harm and kill whatever humans they found, they had one rule, to never harm the person under whose bed they lived.
In the 1980s, a young boy named Danny Hayes decided to sleep with no radio, lamp, or television on to get over his fear of the dark. However, the absence of artificial light allowed a Shadow Man under his bed to manifest and emerge. The Shadow Man told Danny that he would never harm the one under whose bed he lived, and then promptly left through the window. Wandering through the city, the Shadow Man began assaulting minors who were still out at night. As the victims were only beaten, but not killed, they reported the encounters with the Shadow Man, but did not realize his inhuman nature, instead spreading rumors of the Shadow Man being an escaped mental patient. The Shadow Man returned under Danny's bed before dawn, and the next night, he emerged again, where Danny tried to take a picture of him for proof, only to find that the camera couldn't capture his image. However, the night after that, Danny took advantage of the Shadow Man's promise to not harm him in order to freely walk the town at night, allowing him to tutor a girl he liked and get a reputation around school for being brave enough to risk a Shadow Man attack.
The Shadow Man continued assaulting children, and eventually, Danny challenged a bully named Eric from his school to a fight in a park where reports said the Shadow Man frequented. When the Shadow Man emerged at night, Danny jokingly asked him to close the window when he returned. Eric met Danny in the park at 9 PM, only to be frightened off by the arrival of the Shadow Man, who came up behind Danny. However, the Shadow Man promptly grabbed Danny and began choking him while repeating his mantra. Danny then demanded to know why the Shadow Man was breaking his promise, only for the Shadow Man to reveal that he was a more homicidal Shadow Man from a different bed, before choking Danny to death. It is unknown what became of Danny's Shadow Man afterwards, or how many Shadow Men existed in the town.
