Review of The Dead Zone (1983) by Spangle — 11 May 2015

The Dead Zone is a film that does not do much wrong, but does not much particularly great to be seen as such. It features some really good acting from Christopher Walken in the lead role, as well as typically great direction from David Cronenberg.

The writing is really good and it is very well paced. However, ultimately, I felt like the story was a little lacking. Though it had all these good pieces and the idea was really, really good, it came together more like a by-the-numbers television series.

Walken's character was essentially put in many different positions throughout the film and I think it would have been well-served if it chose one of these, rather than a bunch of them. The film tried to do much and made itself feel as though it were multiple different films, rather than one single film.

In addition, I never found it scary. This isn't a negative, since I just expected a supernatural thriller, but I've seen it listed as a great horror film and I think I must have missed that aspect of it, as I found none of it that scary at all.

Certainly, is unsettling, but never once was it scary. Overall, The Dead Zone is a pretty good film with good parts that could be even better if it was a more focused picture.