The Dead Zone (1983)

Christopher Walken wakes from a coma due to a car accident, only to find he has lost five years of his life, and yet gained psychic powers. Foreseeing the future appears to be a 'gift' at first, but ends up causing problems...

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, Brooke Adams, Herbert Lom and Tom Skerritt.  In the previous post I commented on a movie based on a Stephen King story and it got a thumbs down.  This movie gets two thumbs up....way up. It might be the best adaptation of a King story ever made.  It's one of the few King novels turned into a really good movie.

The film centers around a young man (Christopher Walken) who is a popular teacher, has a great girlfriend he's going to marry, and has a fantastic life and future in front of him.  But late one night, a horrific car accident takes all of that away from him.  He awakens from a coma five years later and his old girlfriend is married with a child and he has a new ability.  He's able to look into the past or the future with just a touch.  A terrible doomsday vision affects him and he sets out to change the future, even if it means he will not live to see it for himself.

Your house is burning! There's still time!

 This is an emotional, sorrowful tale of loss, grief and sacrifice.  Walken is absolutely fantastic in the role.  He's very likable and, at the same time, frighteningly intense.  The wintry backdrop makes for a bleak atmosphere and helps convey the sadness and loneliness that Johnny feels in his life.  Also starring are Brooke Adams as Johnny's ex, and Herbert Lom as a doctor.  I kept waiting for Lom to go on a rant about Inspector Clouseau.  Martin Sheen is impressive as a sinister politician

Director David Cronenberg delivers a film that resonates perfectly with King's book.  With Cronenberg you may expect this to be a gore-filled affair, but it is actually a subtle film which stresses the psychological sense of fear rather than settling for blood-spattered mayhem.  Nothing in this film will make you jump out of your seat in terror.  But it will wear on your mind and stick with you long after you've finishing watching it. 

it's called the coma diet - lose weight while ya sleep

This film holds up today even though it was made in 1983.  The Dead Zone's script was written by the very talented Jeff Boam and it's fantastic.  He had a nearly unbroken nine-year streak of hit screenplays.  A somber, downbeat film with an unhappy and reluctant hero, The Dead Zone is compelling and definitely recommended.  Quite possibly my favorite film from Cronenberg.

Trivia: 

Before the accident, Johnny instructs his class to read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Christopher Walken would later go on to appear in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow.

Martin Sheen's character says he has had a vision that he will be the President of the United States. Sheen went on to play the President of the United States in the mini series Kennedy and in The West Wing. 

During the time Michael Kamen was composing the music for the film in London, he would play the score on the piano in his home. He received several complaints by his neighbors who asked, "Can you please stop playing that music? I can't sleep and it's giving my family nightmares."

The film makes reference to 'Sleepy Hollow' which, like this film, is about a schoolteacher. In the novel, Johnny Smith compares his coma and subsequent recovery to 'Rip Van Winkle,' another short story written by Washington Irving. 

"Bless me"? Do you know what God did for me? He threw an 18-wheeled truck at me and bounced me into nowhere for five years! When I woke up, my girl was gone, my job was gone, my legs are just about useless... Blessed me? God's been a real sport to me!

Director David Cronenberg had to re-shoot the scene in which John Smith has his first premonition. It showed a little girl's room burning and a small E.T. doll could be seen on one of the shelves. The scene had to be re-shot when Universal Pictures threatened to sue.

Cronenberg fired a .357 Magnum loaded with blanks just off camera to make Smith's flinches seem more involuntary; this was Christopher Walken's own idea. 

A stuntman was severely burned around the legs and groin when a squib went off too near him during the shooting of the WWII flashback sequence.

The "sweat" on Christopher Walken's face during the "burning bedroom" sequence was in fact a flame-retardant chemical that had been sprayed onto him. The resulting effect, which hadn't been anticipated, looked surprisingly dramatic on film. 

David Cronenberg wanted to change the name of Christopher Walken's character: "I'd never name someone 'Johnny Smith'", he quipped, but in the end it was left as is. The book does specifically mention how it sounds like a fake name.

One of only three David Cronenberg films that do not have a score by his friend, composer Howard Shore. This was due to studio politics in which Paramount wanted a more familiar composer to write the music for the film. Michael Kamen, who had written the music for the film Venom for the studio, was chosen instead. 

This film (and Stephen King's novel) are both loosely based upon the life of famous psychic Peter Hurkos. Hurkos claimed to have acquired his alleged powers after falling off a ladder and hitting his head.

The poem Johnny reads in the beginning of the film is the end of "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. 

There are several deleted scenes that were filmed and completed but have never been seen publicly and are thought to have been discarded prior to the films release. Among them: - A prologue showing John Smith as a boy (played by Stephen Flynn) who sustains a head injury during an ice hockey match. The scene features actor Sean Sullivan as John's father. - An alternate scene of John Smith's vision of the Camp David scene (featuring Martin Sheen) in which John himself appears in the vision as a helpless spectator. Photos of these scenes appeared in the December 1983 issue of Cinefantastique.

Three people were involved in the James Bond franchise. Anthony Zerbe (Roger Stuart) would later appear in Licence to Kill, while Christopher Walken (Johnny Smith) would later appear in A View to a Kill. Michael Kamen, who did the music for this film, would later do the music for Licence to Kill. 

The Dead Zone was the first of several Stephen King novels and short stories that took place in the small town of Castle Rock. Others include Stand by Me, Cujo, The Dark Half, and Needful Things.

Bill Murray was Stephen King's choice for the part of Johnny.

The gazebo where the murder took place was built for the film, and was later donated to the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, where it was filmed and is now a favourite spot for wedding photographs.

I have had a vision that I am going to be President of the United States someday. And nobody, and I mean *nobody* is going to stop me!

In the "nuclear war" scene, Greg Stillson, Martin Sheen's character, threatens to "hack off" someone's hand and put it on the scanning screen. An earlier version of the script actually had Stillson shooting the man and putting his dead hand on the screen.

One rejected ending had Johnny Smith survive being gunned down and predicting a knife attack against his girlfriend while in the hospital, then slipping back into a coma and dying.

In the final scene when Sarah is crying and hugging Johnny, we hear her stop crying for a few seconds to tell Johnny that she loves him, but since her mouth is obscured we don't actually see her say it. The original script did not have her saying this. Her voice was dubbed in later in order to have some closure for Johnny.

The Ice is going to BREAK!!!