Review of The Dead Zone (1983) by Darik H — 10 Sep 2008

Stephen King, David Cronenberg, AND Christopher Walken, all in one movie- you would think this would be right up my alley, and frankly, you'd be right. The only problem is that usually, Stephen King and cinema are like infants and carving knives- they just don't go well together.

Almost every film adaptation of a Stephen King novel has been a disappointment in one way or another. Just look at the Shining: the book was genuinely thrilling and spooky, while the movie was... significantly less so (I love Jack Nicholson like anyone else, but even he couldn't save that mess).

Frankly, the best ones are the ones based on his short stories, where the writer and director can take his core concepts and run with them, instead of having to hammer all the material of the book into a ninety-minute framework.

The film that I think suffers most from this compression problem would have to be the Dead Zone. The book has a narrative that spans decades, yet the film's running time is only 103 minutes, so a lot of the plot development seems rushed to me (probably because I loved the book).

Then again, while it does have its choppy bits, the Dead Zone also has some moments of real greatness, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Cronenberg and Walken; they take what could have been just another B-movie thriller and make it genuinely chilling and honestly affecting.

The film concerns the conspicuously-inconspicuously named Johnny Smith, a schoolteacher and an all-around nice guy who's just getting into a relationship with a fellow teacher, Sarah. On his way back from a date, however, Johnny is in a major accident that puts him into a coma for five years; when he awakens, Sarah is long since married, his muscles have atrophied, forcing him to walk with a cane, and he develops an unstable psychic ability that manifests whenever he touches someone.

At first feeling alienated and embittered by his lost time and his newfound power, Johnny soon realizes that he can use his ability to help change the future- a realization that presents a horrible dilemma when Johnny shakes the hand of a psychotic politician bent on reaching the White House.

As Johnny Smith, the affable teacher whose life gets shot to shit virtually overnight (to him, at least), we have Christopher Walken, who brings to the part brooding despair, simmering anger, and soul-crushing guilt, all with that patented Walken touch (and those patented Walken speech patterns).

It's cool to see a film from back in the days when Walken was actually a really good actor, and not just a pastiche of himself (kinda like William Shatner and Adam West are now); this is definitely one of his better dramatic roles, loaded with pathos and powerful moral dilemma without losing the lighthearted personal moments that keep things from getting too dark (he pretty much carries the movie by himself).

I think it's funny that, as a teacher early in the film, he has fairly normal hair- short with bangs- and when he comes out and his powers develop, his hair starts standing up the way Walken's always does, which is actually pretty funny- apparently, Walken's normal hair is used as a symbol for his transformation into a freak.

Playing opposite Walken is Brooke Adams as Sarah Bracknell, Johnny's great love who's moved on and settled down without, him but still has feelings for him. The part is pretty truncated, all things considered, and Adams isn't exactly a high-caliber actress, but she holds up well in the role, and the character and emotional beats all work.

And as for the villain, Martin Sheen hams things up as the insane political candidate Greg Stillson, a character that is fairly extravagant from the get-go (an insane politician? That's a recipe for overacting if I've ever heard one) and which gets pushed right over the edge by Sheen's overbearing performance.

The character is sort of a borderline evangelical rabble-rouser, a guy who gets elected because he can stir the passions of large groups of people (you know, like Adolph Hitler did); sometimes, however, the depths of his evil are so hilariously over-the-top that you can't help but laugh (especially when he grabs a little kid to shield himself from a sniper- I mean, COME ON!).

What really holds it all together is David Cronenberg's direction, the way he brings tension and suspense to the scenes; I know he's known for his violence and gore, but in this one he keeps that to a minimum, instead playing on the audience's anticipation of violence and gore to keep us on the edge of our seats (such as in that scene with the scissors.

.. You know what I'm talking about). Also incredibly helpful is the way Smith's psychic flashes are portrayed, with us seeing him thrust violently into the past or the present and becoming a part of what he sees- the moment when he finds himself in a burning building, his covers on fire, is especially good.

The score by Michael Kamen ties everything together beautifully, with a soft, underplayed theme that builds slowly into a tragic crescendo. You know, maybe Stephen King's films aren't ALL bad- they're just sort of hit-and-miss.

After all, Misery is a classic, and Cujo is great... Stand By Me was fantastic- hell, the Shawshank Redemption is one of the best movies ever made, in my opinion. And while the Dead Zone may not rank up there with the greatest films of our time, I think it's safe to say that it falls on the "good" side of the Stephen King spectrum, even if it seems that David Cronenberg crunched it down a bit to make it play more like his kind of movie.

The Dead Zone is my favorite King book, and one of my favorite Cronenberg movies- note, however, that the terms are mutually exclusive.