The Dead Zone

Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) was just an average guy. He had a good job as a school teacher where he working alongside his girlfriend Sarah (Brooke Adams). After an idealic date - Johnny gets into a terrible car accident. Five years later he awakens from a coma and the world has moved on without him. Only Johhny didn’t wake up the same man. When he touches someone, he can see their past or their terrible future. This gift is a curse until he shakes the hand of a campaigning zealot senator (Martin Sheen), and Johnny becomes the only man who can avert a possible future global catastrophe. 

Stephen King’s novels often try to normalize and humanize the supernatural. Take an impossible ability or event and cast it around normal everyday characters. A group of normal average kids dealing with a murderous sewer-dwelling demon. A doctor with a tainted graveyard in his backyard. A guard with a gigantic prisoner with the incredible power to heal any wound. These are supernatural - often horrifying - scenarios applied to average individuals. And in The Dead Zone, Johnny Smith is relatably average making his new abilities a curse more than a blessing.

The Dead Zone was one of the first Stephen King movies I ever saw. I was a little kid, it was on television one night, and even heavily edited it still freaked me out. When I was finally old enough to read his books, The Dead Zone was one of the first I picked up. I loved it, but I thought the movie was better. Stephen King loves to go on tangents with his novels. Sometimes it works and helps flesh out characters or the plot in interesting ways. However, The Dead Zone has many tangents and not all of them come back to center often undercutting important developments. King punts the ball with a lot of characters giving away a lot of the game before they’re actually supposed to be surprises. We know who our villain is going to be deflating the impact of the hero's important discovery. The film amends that and other issues with the novel crafting a more fulfilling story arc for all characters involved. 

This is where adaptation can be such an important tool. For the film, director David Cronenberg and screenwriter Jeffrey Boam cut a lot of the fat and trimmed the story down to the bare essentials. Things that should have been a surprise in the novel play out with a better shock value in the film. Our primary “villain” is always present on the perimeter of the story until it becomes necessary for him to get in close. How certain character's relationships resolve themselves has a more natural flow and conclusion.

While not a traditional body horror show, this film absolutely falls within Cronenberg’s wheelhouse. It’s light of viscera and gore, but it focuses on the terror of not being able to control your own body. Anything or anyone you touch could trigger a psychic episode. Like cancer, it grows and does what it wants. Johnny can't decide when he's going to use his powers, his body decides that for him.

In addition to Cronenberg’s lean and to-the-point filmmaking style, the film benefits from a terrific cast. Christopher Walken is the perfect Johnny Smith. He can communicate so much range you believe the simultaneous range of anger and fear. When he meets people he gives the smallest moment of hesitation before touching them. While not a very large role, Herbert Lom is splendid as the calm and steadfast Dr. Weizak. Likewise for Tom Skerritt’s brief but memorable turn as Sheriff Bannerman. Brooke Adams also doesn’t get a whole lot to do but she shines with the time she’s given. And then we have Martin Sheen damn near steals the show as Stillson.

Books and movies are not at all the same artform. Even screenwriting is its own beast. To make one piece of art work in a different medium, you often have to make some big changes. The Dead Zone is no different. Changes were made from the novel - but they were smart and made the story work better. I love Cronenberg’s steady direction. I love Walken’s performance bringing all of the rage, fear, and sadness of the character to life. I love Michael Kamen’s moody and atmospheric score. Everything works in this film and of the many Stephen King movies out there, The Dead Zone is among the best. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
The Dead Zone awakens again on Blu-ray for the second time inside of a year. This time we’re getting a genuinely great release from Scream Factory. Pressed on a BD-50 disc, the disc is housed in a standard sturdy case with a slipcover and reversible insert artwork. The disc loads to a static image main menu with traditional navigation options while Kamen’s score plays in the background.