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The Dead Zone
Theatrical poster
Directed by	David Cronenberg
Written by	Novel: Stephen King Screenplay: Jeffrey Boam
Produced by	Debra Hill Dino De Laurentiis (uncredited)
Starring	Christopher Walken Brooke Adams Tom Skerritt Herbert Lom Anthony Zerbe Colleen Dewhurst Martin Sheen
Cinematography	Mark Irwin
Edited by	Ronald Sanders
Music by	Michael Kamen
Production companies	Lorimar Productions Dino De Laurentiis Company
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (USA) Dino De Laurentiis Productions (non-USA)
Release date	October 21, 1983
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English Polish
Budget	$10,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$20,766,616 (Domestic)

The Dead Zone is a 1983 American horror thriller film based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by David Cronenberg, the film stars Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, and Tom Skerritt. The plot revolves around a schoolteacher, Johnny Smith (Walken), who awakens from a coma to find he has psychic powers.

Plot

In the town of Castle Rock, Maine, Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken), a young New England schoolteacher, is in love with his colleague Sarah Bracknell (Brooke Adams). He is involved in a serious car accident that sends him into a coma. He awakes under the care of neurologist Dr. Sam Weizak (Herbert Lom) and finds that five years have passed and that his girlfriend has since married and had a child. Johnny also discovers that he has the ability to learn a person's secrets (past, present, future) through making physical contact with them. As he touches a nurse's hand, he sees her daughter trapped in a fire and also realizes Dr. Weizak's mother, long thought dead from the war, is still alive. As news of his "gift" spreads, he is asked by the nearby sheriff (Tom Skerrit) for help with a series of killings but declines. Sarah visits him with her infant son and the two wind up making love.

Johnny then agrees to help the sheriff and through a vision realizes it's his own deputy that is committing the murders. Before they can arrest him, the deputy gets away and commits suicide. Johnny is then shot and injured by the man's mother. Disillusioned, Johnny moves away and attempts to live a more isolated life, taking on tutoring jobs and working from home.

After seeing a vision of the boy he is tutoring falling through the ice during a hockey game, Johnny warns the boy's father and the boy avoids the tragedy, although two other boys are killed. Johnny then realizes he has a "dead zone" in his visions, where he can actually change the future.

Later, Johnny discovers through a handshake that a US Senatorial Candidate whom Sarah is volunteering for, Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen), will become President of the United States, and through the handshake sees Stillson ordering a nuclear strike against Russia, thus presumably bringing on a nuclear holocaust. Johnny feels it to be his duty to assassinate Stillson. Johnny attempts to shoot Stillson at a church rally, but misses and is shot by Stillson's security detail. Stillson grabs Sarah's baby and holds him up in the air as a human shield; this act is photographed. Johnny is confronted by an angered Stillson; he grabs his hand and foresees Stillson committing suicide due to the destruction of his reputation after his cowardly act is revealed. Johnny then says to Stillson "It's over. You're finished." A satisfied Johnny then dies with Sarah by his side.

Background and history

The film was shot in the Greater Toronto Area and Regional Municipality of Niagara of Cronenberg's native Ontario, Canada where some temporary props and structures built for the film are still in place, such as the gazebo which still stands in the small town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, where most of the in-town shots were filmed. The so-called Screaming Tunnel, located in nearby Niagara Falls, Ontario, was also used as the backdrop for one scene. The school where Johnny teaches at in the beginning of the film is Summitview P.S., located in Stouffville, Ontario. According to a David Cronenberg interview on the DVD, The Dead Zone was filmed during a relentless deep freeze in Southern Ontario which lasted for weeks, creating an authentic atmosphere of subzero temperatures and icy snow-packed terrain, which made for great natural shooting locations in spite of its being almost too cold for cast and crew to tolerate at times. Canada's Wonderland (Canada's premier amusement park, formerly owned by Taft Broadcasting, and Dead Zone film distributor Paramount), which is 30 km north of Toronto's city limits, was also used as a filming location. In an interview on the Dirty Harry DVD set, director John Badham said that he was attached to direct the film at one stage, but pulled out as he felt the subject matter was irresponsible to show on screen.

The music soundtrack, composed by Michael Kamen, was recorded by The National Philharmonic Orchestra, London at the famous EMI Abbey Road Studios. Michael Kamen conducted the recording sessions; the orchestra was contracted and led by Sidney Sax. This is the only Cronenberg film since The Brood (1979) for which Howard Shore did not serve as composer.

Reception

The Dead Zone was granted generally favorable reviews, holding an 89% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

See also

• List of American films of 1983
• The Dead Zone (TV series), a television series also based on the novel.

External links

• The Dead Zone at IMDb
• Template:Amg movie
• The Dead Zone at the TCM Movie Database
• The Dead Zone at Rotten Tomatoes

References

1. "The Dead Zone". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2011-07-23.

• 1983 films
• 1983 horror films
• American horror films
• American independent films
• American political thriller films
• English-language films
• Psychological thriller films
• Supernatural thriller films
• Films based on horror novels
• Films based on works by Stephen King
• Films directed by David Cronenberg
• Films set in Maine
• Films shot in Ontario
• Paramount Pictures films