Movie Notes: The Dead Zone
= 4 stars
Starring Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Tom Skerrit
Directed by David Cronenberg
Synopsis
After a near-fatal car accident, school teacher Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) awakes from a coma with psychic abilities. Soon his powers are involved solving crimes and influencing politics through of a future president, Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen).
The Good
- Solid horror / thriller plot from Stephen King. Lots of scary stuff — being in a coma for years and having your life changed. There’s a little bit of philosophy if Johnny’s gift is a blessing or a curse, and the public’s reaction to a psychic.
- Great early role from Christopher Walken. He’s very expressive with some out-there material. But when starts having his visions it’s really creepy stuff. Can’t beat his cane-swinging action when he says “The ice is gonna break!”
The Bad
- Certainly campy to a fault at times. Johnny’s visions (a burning house, World War II and the start of a nuclear war) are brought to life in corny sequences, probably due to budget constraints.
- A little much blood and gore — well — this is a horror flick.
- The flick sags a bit in the middle.
Conclusion
After eXistenZ, Cronenberg is growing on me. This movie was way better than I thought it would be, mostly due to Christopher Walken and direction by David Cronenberg. It’s definitely got a slightly campy harror movie feel, but I’m into that.
IMDB: The Dead Zone
Wikipedia: The Dead Zone
Rotten Tomatoes: The Dead Zone 89%
From what I remember, the book was excellent. I didn’t know they made a movie about it.
From what I remember, the book was excellent. I didn’t know they made a movie about it.
I’ve been meaning to watch this for some time now. My mom said the book was really good, especially given King’s own experiences after his accident. I saw The Mist the other day, though, and that put me off his movies for a while.