Tags:
Film: The Dead Zone
Year: 1983
Director: David Cronenberg
Writer: Jeff Boam
Starring: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams and Tom Skerritt
Review:
Now this is a rare movie that I saw after reading the book. I feel like I caught parts of this on the movie channels growing up. It was one that I didn't fully watch all the way through until college. Even then, it is one that I don't revisit all that often. I was intrigued to give this a rewatch as I've podcasts talk about it and just being more of a seasoned cinephile.
Synopsis: a man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic ability.
We start this off with Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) teaching his class. They're reading The Raven from Edgar Allan Poe. The day ends and we see that Johnny is dating Sarah (Brooke Adams). He takes her to an amusement park. What I didn't notice until this viewing was that he gets a pain while they ride a rollercoaster. The night ends with him dropping her off and heading home, only to get in a car accident with a semi-trailer.
The movie then shifts us to an institute run by Dr. Sam Weizak (Herbert Lom). Johnny has been in a coma. His parents Herb (Sean Sullivan) and Vera (Jackie Burroughs) greet him as he wakes up. They break the news to him. He's been asleep for five years. He starts his road to recovery. It isn't easy and even more heartbreaking to learn that Sarah has gotten married during that time.
Johnny also has a new ability. When he touches people, he can see their future. It starts with telling a nurse that her house is on fire. This ends up saving her daughter. The news learns about what happened. To try to calm it down, he does a press conference. It doesn't go as he planned though and ends up causing a reporter to get upset.
He gets out of the institute and tries to live his life. Johnny is approached by Sheriff Bannerman (Tom Skerritt) to help with in a murder investigation to find The Castle Rock Killer. This keeps him in the news. He does get a bit of normalcy as he tutors Chris Stuart (Simon Craig). His dad approaches him, Roger (Anthony Zerbe), who is wealthy. Johnny keeps hearing about a new, upstart politician named Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen). Through Roger, the two come face to face for the first time.
Johnny shakes hands with Greg and sees what he will become. This causes Johnny to seek the advice of Dr. Weizak, asking the question, what would you do if you had information to stop a bad person like Hitler, before they rose to power.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is the earliest Cronenberg that doesn't feel like the movies before it. I'm not shocked to see that he would go on to make mainstream films that weren't in the horror genre. If this didn't come from a novel written by King, I'm not fully sure it goes into the genre. There is a serial killer, but that is a small part of the story. We also don't see any of that. Then there is a Stillson and what he will become, but that doesn't necessarily push it into horror either. Most everyone, including myself, still classifies this in the genre.
Now that I've set that up, let me get into the character of Johnny. It's been a while since I've read the novel. I don't recall him having flashes before his accident like we got here. What I love is the idea that he goes into a coma. Because of that, his brain rewires itself for him to wake up five years later. There is quite a bit cut out here. I would say for good reason. His muscles would be in worse shape. I did like a throwaway line from Dr. Weizak that he was worked out during his time asleep. It covers it enough for me. The major change is that he can see the future when he touches people. It is a possible future though as it can be changed. We see this a couple different times which I like. It reinforces the idea of freewill.
Where I want to go then is the character of Stillson. What is scary here is that we have politicians like this in power. He wants to win by any means necessary. It feels like he tells whoever is listening what they want to hear without truly having a plan. Part of that is this takes place in a world where we don't have social media or the internet. It was easier back then. We see though, a charismatic person can win like he is here even in the world today.
The biggest draw here is the cast. There are big names everywhere. I thought that Walken was fine as our lead. He is young here, which is interesting to see. From what I remember, Johnny was supposed to be plain before his accident. I think Walken does well in conveying that. Adams was solid as Sarah. She is torn between her former life with Johnny and the life she moved on to. It makes her complicated. Skerritt, Zerbe and Lom are all great in their respective roles. They are cameos for different parts of Johnny's recovery. Sheen is great as this 'wolf in sheep's clothes' villain. I'll also credit Colleen Dewhurts, Nicholas Campbell, Sullivan, Burroughs and the rest of the cast. The acting carries this for sure.
All that is left then is filmmaking. The cinematography here is good. I do expect that seeing Cronenberg's name attached. This is a grounded film from him. He does capture that Maine atmosphere, which you need. It feels cold in the winter scenes. There's also a bleakness with the serial killer there. We don't get a lot in the way of effects. What I like is the editing to showcase that he has visions. I also thought the soundtrack fit for what was needed.
In conclusion, this isn't my favorite Cronenberg. That's not to say that this is bad. What he does great here is capturing the vibe of the novel. There are things I know are cut out, but most of that is incidentally. Being able to do what he did in less than 105 minutes is impressive. There is a solid concept here. The acting carries this though with the likes of Walken, Skerritt, Lom, Sheen and Zerbe. There isn't a bad performance. This is also well made with the cinematography and editing lead there. I'd recommend this to fans of the novel, King adaptations or Cronenberg fans. This one should be at least seen once for sure.
My Rating: 8 out of 10