The Dead Zone

  

The Dead Zone

1983

Director- David Cronenberg

Cast- Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Anthony Zerbe, Colleen Dewhurst, Martin Sheen, Nicholas Campbell, Simon Craig, Géza Kovác

            

     Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter, Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow) plays Johnny Smith, a high school English teacher. He is very much in love with his fellow teacher Sarah (Brooke Adams, probably best known as Elizabeth from Invasion of the Body Snatchers). On his way home from dropping her off after a date, he has an accident and crashes his car. The next thing he knows, he is waking up in some kind of hospital. Much to his surprise, he finds out that he has been in a coma for five years!

            

     Along with his body deteriorating, he has to face the fact that he has lost his job and worst of all, his girlfriend. Sarah has long since moved on, having married and given birth to a child. While convalescing in his bed he makes physical contact with a nurse attending to him and he has a vision of her house burning, her daughter trapped inside. Appropriately freaked out, Johnny tells the nurse and she races home, just in time to save her daughter.

            

     Johnny’s doctor is intrigued by this (played by the wonderful character actor Herbert Lom who starred in Spartacus, Mark of the Devil, 99 Women, and a hundred other things). After doing some research, he is convinced that Johnny has developed some kind of precognitive ability. Word gets out about Johnny’s power and he becomes a local celebrity (or freak depending on your point of view). 

            

      A string of brutal murders has been plaguing the town, stretching back to when Johnny was still in his coma. The town sheriff (Tom Skerritt from Alien and Top Gun) asks Johnny to use his special talents to help him solve the crime. He initially refuses but later agrees after a brief but passionate reunion with Sarah. After the murder is solved, and Sarah has left his life again, Johnny decides to move to another town in order to escape his notoriety.

           

      A local millionaire (Anthony Zarbe from The Omega Man and the Matrix trilogy) has a son who is withdrawn and hopes that Johnny can reach him. Johnny is able to and while visiting, sees the kid’s father having a meeting with a loud mouth politician (played by Martin Sheen). Another chance meeting with the politician allows Johnny a vision of the future and he sees that the man will one day be President and start World War 3. Johnny is faced with the dilemma of what to do.

            

     The movie was based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Interestingly, before Christopher Walken was cast, Bill Murry was considered for the role and was, in fact, who King had in mind. I would love to have seen that take on the film!

            

     David Cronenberg (Shivers, The Fly, Video Drome) is best known as the father of body horror. The Dead Zone differs from most of his other films of the 70s and 80s as the terror is not an alteration of the body but of the mind. Johnny doesn’t just flirt with madness, we see the toll that his gift takes as he becomes depressed and worn down.

            

    Likewise, this was a departure for Christopher Walken as well. He usually plays very intense, animated characters. Here, he turns in a very nuanced ,at times touching, performance.

            

     Of the many adaptations of King’s works, The Dead Zone remains one of the most respected and best loved. Whereas with It, the strength is in the power of the source material, with The Dead Zone, I think its power comes from its strong cast and direction. Ultimately, it is less of a plot driven movie and more of a character study. Not a scary movie, but a thought provoking thriller.