The Dead Zone

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(1979)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id256.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Giggles"><U>Dr. Giggles</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id257.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Driller Killer"><U>The Driller Killer</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id258.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Dunwich Horror"><U>The Dunwich Horror</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#990000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 BGCOLOR="#FFFF99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>The Dead Zone</B></div> <div> <B>(Psychic/politics)                                      7*******skulls</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>*Blood* *Violent* *No Strong Language* *No Sexual Situations* *Brief Nudity* *Not Particularly Gory* </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>1983/Color/104 Min./Paramount & Dino De Laurentis, Corp./Rated R</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Director.............David Cronenberg</B></div> <div> <B>Screenplay......Jeffrey Boam</B></div> <div> <B>Music................Michael Kamen</B></div> <div> <B>Producer..........Debra Hill (Halloween)</B></div> <div> <B>Executive Producer....Dino De Laurentis</B></div> <div> <B>Director of Photography....Mark Irwin, C.S.C.</B></div> <div> <B>Special Effects Coordinated by Jon Belyeu</B></div> <div> <B>Special Effects by Mark Molin</B></div> <div> <B>Based on the Story by Stephen King</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Dramatis Personae</B></div> <div> <B>Johnny Smith.......Christopher Walken</B></div> <div> <B>Greg Stillson......Martin Sheen</B></div> <div> <B>Sarah Brocknell....Brooke Adams</B></div> <div> <B>Sheriff Bannerman..Tom Skerritt</B></div> <div> <B>Dr. Sam Weizek.....Herbert Lom</B></div> <div> <B>Roger Stuart.......Anthony Zerbe</B></div> <div> <B>Henriette Dodd.....Colleen Dewhurst</B></div> <div> <B>Frank Dodd.........Nicholas Campbell</B></div> <div> <B>Herb Smith.........Sean Sullivan</B></div> <div> <B>Vera Smith.........Jackie Burroughs</B></div> <div> <B>Sonny Ellimon......Geza Kovacs</B></div> <div> <B>Alma Frechette.....Roberta Weiss</B></div> <div> <B>Chris Stuart.......Simon Craig</B></div> <div> <B>Dardis.............Peter Dversky</B></div> <div> <B>Amy................Julie-Ann Heathwood</B></div> <div> <B>Walt...............Barry Flatman</B></div> <div> <B>Vice President.....Ken Pogue</B></div> <div> <B>Five Star General..Gordon Jocelyn</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Critique</B><B>: Johnny Smith a regular guy school teacher, getting ready to marry, gets in a terrible accident and falls into a coma. He should have spent the night. He awakens five years later, crippled, his life gone, his sweetheart long married. Soon, upon being touched by the nurse, he intuits that her house is now on fire and her daughter is in terrible danger. He continues having episodes to the backdrop of the rising promminence of a dangerous senatorial candidate. Not really a horror film. Walken's startled reaction when he gets a reading on someone is always pretty entertaining--all the more so if you have seen the saturday night live take off. In general, Walken's performance is excellent. That Bronx accent is just a killer. Who wants to be chosen by God after all? It's generally meant trouble. Nice touch when the sheriff is heckled by an onlooker asking him if it was his idea to call in a psychic. Walken plays the bitter guy to good effect. Good role for Sheen--he ought to be the bad guy more often. This is a winner for general audiences. Those looking for a splat romp might find this to be a bit lugubrious, and might be a bit uncomfortable with the mainstreaminess of the production. It's really only the Stephen King connection that gets it in the horror aisle. There is a mass murderer on the loose, but that is just a little fun on the side, allowing Johnny to exercise that pineal gland a bit. Those who have a special aversion to psychic films in general might be wary of this film as well, but we found that there was a certain freshness to this one not to be found in other films of its ilk. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Plot Summary</B><B>: Johnny recites the Raven to his class of highschool kids, and assigns the legend of Sleepy Hollow. He heads out with his woman friend, a fellow teacher to the amusement park, and has an experience on the roller coaster. Afterward, he insists he is alright, but seems shaken. They proclaim their love, and he heads home in the rain in his VW. A truck driver falls asleep on the road and jackknifes his trailor. Johnny smashes into the trailor and is rushed to the hospital. His girlfriend finds him with his head wrapped and on the edge of death. In the Weizak clinic, Johnny wakens. He is informed by Weizak that he had been there a while. His parents arrive, and mother spills the beans. He had been in a coma for five years. He is told that Sarah is married. A nurse blots him with a cloth and he grabs her hand and tells her her daughter is in a house that is burning down. She rushes home, and her daughter is saved. The doctor (Sam) tells him his therapy will take a long time, and he tells him of events during the war--and that the boy is safe. He tells him his mother is alive, and that he knows her name and where she lives. Sam calls to check out Johnny's story, and it is true. Sarah comes by to visit, and they have a few awkward moments. Johnny cites Ickabod Crane: As he was a bachelor, no one troubled there heads about him anymore. He says he wants that. He holds a press conference to try to still all the talk about his having psychic powers. He grabs one of the reporter's hands, and knows why his sister killed herself, which makes the reporter angry. His mother has a stroke watching on TV, and dies soon after. The sheriff comes to Herb Smith's (Johnny's father's) house to speak to Johnny. He wants to know if Johnny can help with the castle rock killer who has been killing young women. Johnny says he won't help, and seems pretty bitter about his situation. Sarah shows up at Johnny's with her son, Denny. She tells him she still interested in him--all one happy family. But it seems Sarah has just dropped in. Johnny watches the news afterward and sheriff Bannerman asks for any help he can get. The next day, Johnny goes to the sheriff and is brought to a tunnel where a girl was killed. Johnny handles an empty pack of cigarettes, but seems to get nothing. Just then, the sheriff gets a call that there's another body. Johnny accompanies him. A girl, Elma, who had worked at the cafe. Johnny grabs the girl's hand and sees the killer call to Elma from the gazebo--she knew him. He puts his arm around her and stabs her with a scissors. Johnny sees his face, and one of the cops, Dodd, takes off with the sheriff's car. Dodd locks himself in the bathroom. Johnny ralizes that the mother knew her son was a killer. She tells him he is a devil. Up in the bathroom, Dodd sets up scissors to pierce the inside of his mouth. When Bannerman breaks in, he is at his last gasp. Dodd's mother shoots Johnny when he comes out of the room and Bannerman guns her down. Sam arrives at Johnny's house, who has become a real recluse. Apparently the bullet hit no major organ. Johnny has been suffering from headaches. Sam tells Johnny there had been cases like Johnny's. He says the body always weakens as the "spells" get more powerful. Sam insists he go back to the clinic. He has huge piles of letters from needy people, but he doesn't open them. Johnny has been doing a little tutoring. He is approached by Roger Stuart (rich). Stuart says his child is withdrawn. Johnny agrees to help him. He is driven to the Stuart's estate. As Johnny enters, he meets politician Greg Stillson. Chris tells Johnny (who now walks with a cane) that it's not he who lives in a sell but his father. They turn on the TV and Stills does one hundred pushups for the reporters. Stuart tells Johnny that Stillson is dangerous. Stillson and his henchman, Sonny pay a visit on a reporter who has written a negative editorial. He shows the reporter pictures of Brenner in compromising positions with someone loyal to Stillson. Sarah coincidentally shows up at Johnny's while out leafleting for Stillson with her husband, Walt. Johnny breaks into tears when they leave. Chris tries to comfort him, but he gets a flash that he and others on the hockey team will break through the ice. His father doesn't believe Johnny and fires him. His father insists on going on with the practice, and two kids drown, though Chris had refused to go. Stillson has a political meeting just outside his house and Johnny goes down hoping to see Sarah. Johnny gets a funny feeling as Stillson gets closer, and lines up to shake his hand. When Johnny grasps his hand, he sees Stillson preparing to start a nuclear war, muttering about his destiny. Johnny calls Sam and asks him if he would have killed Hitler. He tells Sam that in the vision about the hockey accident, there was something he couldn't see. A dead zone. Sam tells him that zone comes from his ability to affect the future. Sam says he is expected to save lives, so he has no choice--he would kill Hitler. It appears Johnny's mind is made up. He pulls out a hunting rifle. Johnny writes Sarah a letter in which he tells Sarah he knows he is right, and knows she won't understand. Johnny shows up well before the meeting looking for a way in the building. He breaks a window to the basement and is in. Johnny has set up in the balcony and fallen asleep. He sees that people have already arrived. He fumbles with the bullets, and one drops unnoticed to the floor. Stillson arrives, kissing babies, telling Sarah to bring her baby onstage with him. Johnny shoots and misses, but Stillson holds up Denny to save himself. Johnny tries to shoot again, but he is gunned down. Stillson comes and grabs Johnny, and Johnny sees the picture of Stillson on the front of a magazine holding up the baby, and then his shooting himself. He tells Stillson "he's finished". Johnny dies in Sarah's arms.</B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>