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{{Infobox film | name = The Dead Zone | image = The Dead Zone.jpg | caption = Theatrical release poster | alt = | director = David Cronenberg | producer = Debra Hill | based on = The Dead Zone
by Stephen King | screenplay = Jeffrey Boam

| starring =

• Christopher Walken
• Brooke Adams
• Tom Skerritt
• Herbert Lom
• Anthony Zerbe
• Colleen Dewhurst
• Martin Sheen

| music = Michael Kamen | cinematography = Mark Irwin | editing = Ronald Sanders | studio = Dino De Laurentiis Company | distributor = Paramount Pictures
(North America)
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
(International)

| released =

• October 21, 1983 (1983-10-21)

| runtime = 103 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $10 million | gross = $20.8 millionCite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). He developed a script with director Stanley Donen, who left the project before the film reached production at Lorimar. Lorimar eventually closed its film division after a series of box-office failures, and soon after producer Dino De Laurentiis bought the rights to The Dead Zone. He initially disliked Boam's screenplay and asked King to adapt his own novel. De Laurentiis reportedly rejected King's script as "involved and convoluted"; however David Cronenberg, who ultimately directed the film, said that he was the one who decided not to use the script, finding it "needlessly brutal". De Laurentiis rejected a second script by Andrei Konchalovsky, eventually returning to Boam. The film was finally on track to be made when De Laurentiis hired producer Debra Hill to work with Cronenberg and Boam.

Boam abandoned King's parallel story structure for The Dead Zone's screenplay, turning the plot into separate episodes. Boam told writer Tim Lucas in 1983, "King's book is longer than it needed to be. The novel sprawls and it's episodic. What I did was use that episodic quality, because I saw The Dead Zone as a triptych." His script was revised and condensed four times by Cronenberg, who eliminated large portions of the novel's story, including plot points about Johnny Smith having a brain tumor. Cronenberg, Boam, and Hill had script meetings to revise the screenplay page by page. Boam's "triptych" in the screenplay surrounds three acts: the introduction of Johnny Smith before his car accident and after he awakes from a coma, a story about Smith assisting a sheriff track down the Castle Rock Killer, and finally Johnny deciding to confront the politician Stillson. Boam said that he enjoyed writing the character development for Smith, having him struggle with the responsibility of his psychic abilities, and ultimately give up his life for the greater good. "It was this theme that made me like the book, and I particularly enjoyed discovering it in what was essentially a genre piece, a work of exploitation," he said. In Boam's first draft of the screenplay, Johnny doesn't die at the end, but rather has a vision about the Castle Rock Killer, who is still alive and escaped from prison. Cronenberg insisted that this "trick ending" be revised. Boam submitted the final draft of the screenplay on November 8, 1982.

King is reported to have told Cronenberg that the changes the director and Boam made to the story "improved and intensified the power of the narrative."

Before Christopher Walken was cast as Johnny Smith, Bill Murray was considered for the role. Murray was King's first choice for the role. Cronenberg initially wanted Nicholas Campbell to portray Johnny, but the director wound up casting him as the Castle Rock Killer instead. Cronenberg also wanted Hal Holbrook to portray Sheriff Bannerman but de Laurentiis objected.

Filming

The film was shot in the Greater Toronto Area and Regional Municipality of Niagara of Cronenberg's native Ontario, Canada. The so-called Screaming Tunnel, located in nearby Niagara Falls, Ontario, was also used as the backdrop for one scene. The gazebo was built by the film crew and donated to Niagara-on-the-Lake.

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 it being almost too cold for cast and crew to tolerate at times. Canada's Wonderland, a theme park 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.

Music

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

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2014)

The Dead Zone received positive reviews on release. It holds a 90% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, which catalogs both contemporary and modern reviews. The site's consensus reads, "The Dead Zone combines taut direction from David Cronenberg and a rich performance from Christopher Walken to create one of the strongest Stephen King adaptations".

Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars, describing The Dead Zone as by far the best of the half-a-dozen cinematic adaptation of King's novels to that date. He praised Cronenberg's direction for successfully weaving the supernatural into the everyday, and noted believable performances by the entire cast, especially Walken: "Walken does such a good job of portraying Johnny Smith, the man with the strange gift, that we forget this is science fiction or fantasy or whatever and just accept it as this guy's story." Janet Maslin of The New York Times referred to the film as "a well-acted drama more eerie than terrifying, more rooted in the occult than in sheer horror."

See also

• List of American films of 1983
• The Dead Zone (TV series), a television series also based on the novel.
• "The Ned Zone", a segment of the Simpsons "Treehouse Of Horror XV" episode that parodies the novel and film.
• "Ed Glosser, Trivial Psychic", a Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Christopher Walken that parodies the film.

References

1. ^ "The Dead Zone (1983)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
2. De Laurentiis PRODUCER'S PICTURE DARKENS: KNOEDELSEDER, WILLIAM K, Jr. Los Angeles Times 30 Aug 1987: 1.
3. Ferrante, A.C. (May 1, 2013). "Exclusive Interview: The Last Crusade of Screenwriter Jeffrey Boam". Assignment X/EON Magazine. Midnight Productions, Inc.
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference cinefan_deadzone was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ Collings, Michael R. (2008-08-30). The Films of Stephen King. Borgo Press. p. 91. ISBN 0893709840.
6. ^ Wiater, Stanley; Golden, Christopher; Wagner, Iank (May 2001). The Stephen King Universe: The Guide to the Worlds of the King of Horror. Renaissance Books. p. 139. ISBN 1580631606.
7. Magistrate, Tony (2003). "Defining Heroic Codes of Survival". Hollywood's Stephen King. New York City: Palgrave MacMillan. p. 120. ISBN 0312293216.
8. Locke, Greg W. (26 August 2011). "The Top 25 Roles Bill Murray Didn't Take". Archived from the original on 25 November 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
9. Evans, Bradford (17 February 2011). "The Lost Roles of Bill Murray". Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
10. ^ Mell, Eila (2015). Casting Might-Have-Beens: A Film by Film Directory of Actors Considered for Roles Given to Others. McFarland. ISBN 9781476609768.pages 66-67
11. "The Dead Zone". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
12. Ebert, Roger (26 October 1983). "The Dead Zone". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 14 September 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
13. Maslin, Janet (21 October 1983). "FILM: 'DEAD ZONE,' FROM KING NOVEL". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 September 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links

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

• 1983 films
• 1983 horror films
• 1980s independent films
• 1980s psychological thriller films
• American supernatural horror films
• American films
• American independent films
• American political thriller films
• English-language films
• Supernatural thriller films
• Films about assassinations
• Films based on American novels
• 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
• Films scored by Michael Kamen
• Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis
• Films produced by Debra Hill