The Dead Zone (1983)
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 36
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 4
The Dead Zone combines taut direction from David Cronenberg and and a rich performance from Christopher Walken to create arguably the best Stephen King adaptation.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1
The Dead Zone combines taut direction from David Cronenberg and and a rich performance from Christopher Walken to create arguably the best Stephen King adaptation.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 34,247
My Rating
Movie Info
Christopher Walken plays a schoolteacher, Johnny Smith, who awakens from a five-year coma. He discovers that he has acquired the ability to foretell a person's future simply by touching his or her hand. After seeing several examples, Smith's doctor (Herbert Lom) becomes convinced that Smith can not only predict the future, but also has the power to change it. This ability is given its severest test when Smith shakes the hand of ruthless political candidate Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen) -- and
Oct 21, 1983 Wide
Sep 19, 2000
Paramount Pictures
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Cast
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Christopher Walken
Johnny Smith -
Brooke Adams
Sarah Bracknell -
Tom Skerritt
Sheriff Bannerman -
Herbert Lom
Dr. Sam Weizak -
Anthony Zerbe
Roger Stuart -
Colleen Dewhurst
Henrietta Dodd -
Martin Sheen
Greg Stillson -
Nicholas Campbell
Frank Dodd -
Sean Sullivan
Herb Smith -
Jackie Burroughs
Vera Smith -
Geza Kovacs
Sonny Elliman -
Roberta Weiss
Alma Frechette -
Simon Craig
Chris Stuart -
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Les Carlson
Brenner -
William "Wee Willie" Davi...
Ambulance Driver -
Peter Dvorsky
Dardis -
Ramon Estevez
Teenage Boy with Camera -
Barry Flatman
Walter Bracknell -
Chapelle Jaffe
Nurse -
Jack Messinger
Therapist -
Ken Pogue
Vice President -
Helene Udy
Weizaks Mother -
Claude Rae
Reporter -
Jim Bearden
Deputy #1 -
-
-
Wally Bondarenko
Reporter -
Roger Dunn
Reporter -
William Copeland
Secretary of State -
David Ogden Stiers
Gene Purdy -
Nicole deBoer
Sarah Bracknell -
John L. Adams
Bruce Lewis -
Chris Bruno
Sheriff Bannerman -
Dominic Louis
Johnny Smith Jr. -
Manoj Sood
Apu
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All Critics (36) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (36) | Rotten (5) | DVD (25)
An accomplished psychological thriller.
By no means a bad film, just a disappointingly bland and superficial one.
Cronenberg pulls it off, but you can't help feeling it's a movie in search of a TV series.
Top CriticThe Dead Zone does what only a good supernatural thriller can do: It makes us forget it is supernatural.
Mr. Cronenberg's direction is vivid and effective; his pacing is a little unemphatic at times, but the film's individual scenes are very well staged.
It's both moving and quietly unsettling as it builds towards a forceful climax.
while the episodic structure worked in the novel, it does not translate as well to film
Arguably the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel.
Cronenburg attempting a little mainstream with this Stephen King yarn and really pulling it off.
This is a welcome straightforward adaptation/improvement of King's original, minus Cronenberg's visceral flourishes.
A thing of dark, twisted, ironic beauty.
Stephen King's name may be billed above the title, but The Dead Zone belongs firmly in the good company of the early auteurist "Masters of Horror" period of King adaptations.
Don't let the fact that visible breath and frosty misery take priority over exploding heads and fetus-licking snow you.
Cronenberg tells the story with measured strokes and a sure emotional touch as well as nifty blasts of horror.
Chilling.
A gripping thriller done with intelligence. One of the better film adaptations of Stephen King's work.
Walken revels in the lead....intriguing
The classic Walken role, by which all subsequent ones are measured. Possibly the best Stephen King adaptation too.
The Dead Zone is not a story that is particularly suited to Cronenberg's fascination with, and adeptness at portraying, body horror...
Audience Reviews for The Dead Zone
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Johnny Smith: The ICE-- Is gonna BREAK!
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May 17, 2005:
Trailer Bulletin: "A History of Violence"Thanks to the official Cannes Film Festival website for posting the all-new trailer for David...
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Foreign Titles
- Dead Zone (FR)
- La zona muerta (ES)
Christopher Walken stars as Johnny Smith- a schoolteacher whose live goes to pieces after a terrible car accident leaves him in a coma for five years. When he wakes up he discovers that he has the ability to see someone's future simply by touching their hand. It could be a blessing, or a curse, but either way, Johnny's new ability definitely gives him a new lease on life, for better...or worse.
Yeah, this might be just a studio gig for Cronenberg, but I think it's still a pretty solid and entertaining thriller. It's more toned down than most of his work, but he still manages to gt in some effectively creepy and unsettling moments here and there.
Plus, Walken is great. The seeds for his creepiness were sowed with The Deer Hunter and Annie Hall, but they come to full bloom here. Tom Skerritt, Martin Sheen, Brooke Adams and Herbert Lom all give some really good supporting performances, but this is clearly Walken's show.
The cinematography and music are great, I like the way they portray Johnny's visions, and, though this might be a fairly conventional film, it's still quite a fun thrill ride.