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Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt

A man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic detective ability.

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73% liked it

9,285 ratings

Critics

89% liked it

36 critics

R, 1 hr. 43 min.

Directed by: David Cronenberg

Release Date: June 1, 1983

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DVD Release Date: September 19, 2000

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Stats: 1,054 reviews

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The Dead Zone Christopher Walken as Johnny Smith in The Dead Zone (1983) The Dead Zone Sean Patrick Flanery The Dead Zone
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Flixster Reviews (1,054)

  • stopitgoaway
    July 27, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    A schoolteacher Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) a survivor of a road accident awakes from a five-year coma to discover he has psychic abilities, which he gets visions of the past, present and the deadly future. And how he does it, is through the use of touch. But life has chang...( read more)ed within that time with his girlfriend (Brooke Adams) being married; he's basically crippled and no longer having a job. So now he uses his abilities to help a sheriff (Tom Skerritt) solve a murder case, to save a child's life and predicting world's fate from an evilly corrupt politician (Martin Sheen) who plans to be president.

    It's definitely one of my favourite King adaptations and you could say Cronenberg at his best. This time around Cronenberg has taken a more mainstream (even though depressing) approach with none of his grotesque and disturbing visuals evident, but that doesn't take away from the experience - as on show is good story telling, performances and film-making. Visually the film does hold strong imagery (especially the vision scenes) and also the picture truly captures the unsaturated colours of the wintry backdrop, which makes the bleak atmosphere such a dour affair. Though the sharp stabbing sounds when Johnny gets a vision truly knocks you, but it's the stinging outcome that made the film for me. Distinctive photography by Mark Irwin was beautifully constructed and pretty smooth in the detail of the settings. While, the driving score stood out and was particularly on the spot with capturing the right mood. Sound performances are given by the likes of the sympathetic Christopher Walken and the innocent Brooke Adams. Martian Sheen delivers a rather hammy performance and Tom Skerritt's performance is the total opposite, being rather toned down. Cronenberg's solid direction paces the film swiftly and also creates some well-staged sequences of tension that stick in your head. In all you can always expect dashing film-making by Cronenberg and that's what you get in this picture.

    The story is what I had some gripes with. At times it felt like writer Jeffrey Boam was trying to squeeze too much into the story. Some interesting and intelligent sub-plots (murder investigation) felt hurried and rather contrived - it was like it was concentrating and building more towards the final act instead. But then again time is money and it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of this film. The plot is basically a portrait of a man coming to grips with his pain and accepting the fate his been chosen and also throw in some social commentary into the mix. Also added is the occasional dabbing of dry/witty remarks, but for me it was uncomfortable humour. That being pretty much the state of the film. One thing I noticed, but don't know if this symbolism was intended but the way Johnny is always wearing the black coat reminded me of death (fate). Especially with touch his can see into the future and actually alter what can happen (say death). Perhaps it was just I?

    It isn't gut wrenching stuff we've come to expect by Cronenberg, but still he nails down a well drawn up and gripping drama/thriller.
  • kiriyamakazou
    April 17, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    One of the best Stephen King movies. One of Cronenberg's best movies. Both Walken and Sheen giving two of their finest performances. The Dead Zone is a simple idea that has been complicated. Walken is a man who can get glimpses of the past and the future by touching people. This ...( read more)leads to all sorts of problems which conflict with Walken wanting to live a normal life. He's already lost the girl of his dreams because of a 5 year coma. Cronenberg is very, very restrained in this film. He uses violence and gore only when absolutely necessary, which isn't that often. The film manages to escape it's episodic narrative by some clever editing techniques and time jumps. It plays out more like biopic than your average thriller. Sheen is gloriously manic on screen. Tearing it up and becoming a terrifying villain. That's only half the story though, as The Dead Zone has two distinct plots and two very separate cases. It's no surprise that this has been adapted into a TV show. This film is brilliant and really makes me want to watch the TV show and read the book.
  • mjgildea
    March 2, 2009
    mjgildea
    Reading Stephen King's work to me is just like watching paint dry in a Midwestern state and for the most part, the film adaptations of his work resemble that sentiment even more so. But David Cronenberg's adaptation kind of had me curious and I haven't seen The Dead Zone (or the ...( read more)pieces of it I remember) in decades. It's kind of fitting that the USA network turned The Dead Zone into a TV series because that's all this movie felt like--a few TV episodes tied together. Christopher Walken was alright and Cronenberg managed to put enough of his twist on it to make The Dead Zone interesting. It's no Shawshank Redemption, Carrie or The Shining but it's no... anything else of King's that ended up on a screen.
  • organgrinder136
    February 15, 2009
    organgrinder136
    has a really very eerie sense to it and christopher walken is always a strong actor to watch. cronenberg is more often than not a good director. adapted from a stephen king story of which i'm sure the book is probably better. it was a tad slow but engendered all the chilling atmo...( read more)sphere a stephen king novel usually does. it works!
  • Gx7
    December 26, 2008
    Gx7
    Chistopher Walken plays Johnny Smiths character almost to perfection in this 1983 film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone. However, like most film adaptations of books, the imagination and the amount of information the reader has about the story will always surpass book-b...( read more)ased films.

    The Dead Zone was one of my most favorite books while growing up and I dont know what I was thinking when I expected to see the whole story on film just like how I pictured it in my head years ago. Nonetheless, they did get certain parts right on the nail and Oh wow! Walken really is just one heck of an awesome actor!

    Im just left wondering why Jeffrey Boam (the screenwriter) and Cronenberg decided to delete the history scene about Johnny playing Ice Hockey as a kid and that day at the carnival with the wheel of fortune, they skipped a whole bunch of interesting stories from the book which most S.King Fanatics are complaining about, but overall I think this was a pretty decent adaptation than the 2002 TV series (Which I also have but never bothered finishing because it was a total snoze).

    It took me about 2 years to hunt this movie down and Im pretty happy to have found this rare thing at the video store (It was the last copy too!) --- If it werent for the great performances of Walken, Herbert Lom and Martin Sheen this movie wouldnt be worth collecting.

    Get the book if you want to be truelly blown away, but watch the film to see the super-rific Walken in his Early years as an actor.

    Non-related Sidenotes

    1: Its funny how Walken continues talking about Ichabod Crane and Sleepy Hollow throughout patches of the film, I wonder if it was really included in the script or did he just mesh that in there, its like he really likes that story.

    2: Time seems to be in love with Walken, Martin Sheen is 3 years younger than him.

    Directed by: David Cronenberg
  • ifeels1ck
    October 30, 2009
    ifeels1ck
    Walken and Cronenburg team up to bring Stephen King's story of a tortured psychic to life.
  • lezmartin
    October 11, 2009
    lezmartin
    Stephen king book gets adapred again,film is looking a bit past its sell by date tho,but its still a good film....
  • jam233
    July 1, 2009
    jam233
    The plot is interesting and it has a really good cast. It has suspense, solid direction. Stephen King rarely gets a good adaptation to a movie, this is an exception.
  • Surfer567Rosa
    June 26, 2009
    Surfer567Rosa
    "psychic detective abilities"...i wasn't aware you could acrue detective abilities that way.
  • myfavchords
    June 14, 2009
    myfavchords
    I had not heard much about this movie beforehand, I enjoyed it. Christopher Walken was great in the title role. The direction was good and the story was interesting the entire way. I would definitely recommend this one.

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Critic Reviews

October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The Dead Zone does what only a good supernatural thriller can do: It makes us forget it is supernatural. full review

View more The Dead Zone reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • Salemslot9
    April 18, 2008
    Salemslot9
    it's been so long since I've seen it
    I'll make sure I pay attention
    to the music next time
  • skadinky
    April 2, 2008
    skadinky
    LOVE THE MUSIC
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The Dead Zone Trivia

  • The geeky ginger kid in The Breakfast Club is now the lead character in which show?  Answer »
  • Who has started in The Deer Hunter, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, Batman Returns, True Romance, Pulp Fiction, and Catch Me If You Can, just to name a few?  Answer »
  • Who played Johnny Smith in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone?  Answer »
  • Name the film who has this tag line: He saw wrong and tryed to right it. He saw suffering and tryed to heal it . He saw war and tryed to stop it ?   Answer »
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