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The Dead Zone (1983)

tomatometer

89

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.

80

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.

audience

72

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

Sep 19, 2000

Paramount Pictures

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All Critics (36) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (36) | Rotten (5) | DVD (25)

An accomplished psychological thriller.

October 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comments (2)
Variety
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By no means a bad film, just a disappointingly bland and superficial one.

September 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comments (2)
Chicago Reader
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Cronenberg pulls it off, but you can't help feeling it's a movie in search of a TV series.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
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The Dead Zone does what only a good supernatural thriller can do: It makes us forget it is supernatural.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
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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.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's both moving and quietly unsettling as it builds towards a forceful climax.

October 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Total Film
Total Film

while the episodic structure worked in the novel, it does not translate as well to film

September 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment (1)
Q Network Film Desk

Arguably the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel.

September 25, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Cronenburg attempting a little mainstream with this Stephen King yarn and really pulling it off.

September 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

This is a welcome straightforward adaptation/improvement of King's original, minus Cronenberg's visceral flourishes.

September 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

A thing of dark, twisted, ironic beauty.

November 15, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com
DVDTalk.com

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.

October 23, 2006 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Don't let the fact that visible breath and frosty misery take priority over exploding heads and fetus-licking snow you.

October 23, 2006 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Cronenberg tells the story with measured strokes and a sure emotional touch as well as nifty blasts of horror.

September 28, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

Chilling.

November 6, 2005
ColeSmithey.com

A gripping thriller done with intelligence. One of the better film adaptations of Stephen King's work.

October 9, 2005 Full Review Source: FulvueDrive-in.com
FulvueDrive-in.com

Walken revels in the lead....intriguing

May 12, 2005
Moviehole

The classic Walken role, by which all subsequent ones are measured. Possibly the best Stephen King adaptation too.

May 22, 2004
New Times

The Dead Zone is not a story that is particularly suited to Cronenberg's fascination with, and adeptness at portraying, body horror...

January 21, 2004 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment (1)
Q Network Film Desk

Audience Reviews for The Dead Zone

Based on a novel by Stephen King, this is easily one of David Cronenberg's more straightforward and accessible films.

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.
November 12, 2012
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

A teacher involved in a near fatal car crash reawakens from a coma five years later with the power of second sight. David Cronenberg's most restrained and mainstream movie is based upon a Stephen King novel, but don't let that put you off. The Dead Zone, along with The Shining, is one of the very best examples of his numerous adaptations and is a fine exercise in supernatural suspense. The inventive plot sees a man haunted by images of future events, finely played by Christopher Walken in one of his least flamboyant performances. His hollow eyed, almost shell shocked interpretation strikes the mark perfectly and he is ably supported by Herbert Lom as a pragmatic doctor and holocaust survivor and Martin Sheen as an insidious senatorial candidate. The score also deserves a mention, providing exactly the right mix of the otherwordly and oppressive and the film as a whole is a perfectly engineered, tightly plotted and tautly paced chiller which still stands as one of Cronenberg's best.
November 15, 2006
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

    1. Johnny Smith: The ICE-- Is gonna BREAK!
    – Submitted by Alannah D (16 months ago)

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Latest News on The Dead Zone

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...

Foreign Titles

  • Dead Zone (FR)
  • La zona muerta (ES)
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