The Dead Zone [Blu-ray]

Director: David Cronenberg David Cronenberg

Overview

A faithful adaptation of Stephen King's novel of a man who emerges from a coma after five years to find that he has been blessed, or cursed, with psychic powers. Struggling to come to terms with this ability, it is not long before he is put to the test.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/27/2021
UPC:	0826663209853
Original Release:	1983
Rating:	R
Source:	Shout Factory
Language:	English
Time:	1:43:00
Sales rank:	16,370

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Christopher Walken	Johnny Smith
Brooke Adams	Sarah Bracknell
Tom Skerritt	Bannerman
Herbert Lom	Weizak
Colleen Dewhurst	Henrietta
Anthony Zerbe	Stuart
Martin Sheen	Greg Stillson
Nicholas Campbell	Frank Dodd
Sean Sullivan	Herb Smith
Jackie Burroughs	Vera Smith
Simon Craig	Christopher Stuart
Barry Flatman	Walter Bracknell
Raffi Tchalikian	Actor
Ken Pogue	Vice President
Gordon Jocelyn	Actor
Bill Copeland	Actor,Secretary of State
Jack Messinger	Therapist
Chapelle Jaffe	Nurse
Cindy Hines	Actor
Helene Udy	Weizaks Mother
Ramon Estevez	Teenage Boy with Camera
Joseph Domenchini	Actor
Roger Dunn	Reporter
Wally Bondarenko	Reporter
Claude Rae	Reporter
John Koensgen	Actor
Les Carlson	Brenner
Jim Bearden	Deputy #1
Hardee Lineham	Actor
Géza Kovács	Sonny Elliman
Roberta Weiss	Alma Frechette
Cindy Hinds	Natalie
Deirdre Bowen	Actor
Janet Hirshenson	Actor
Jane Jenkins	Actor
Peter Dvorsky	Dardis
Wee Davis	Ambulance Driver
Michael Kamen	Composer

Technical Credits

David Cronenberg

Stephen King

Jeffrey Boam

David Cronenberg	Director,Screenwriter
Jon G. Belyeu	Special Effects
Dino DeLaurentiis	Executive Producer
Debra Hill	Producer
Stephen King	Screenwriter
Michael Lennick	Special Effects
Bryan Day	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Michael C. Gutierrez	Sound Effects
Duane Hartzell	Sound Effects
Dino De Laurentiis	Producer
Carey Loftin	Stunts
Deirdre Bowen	Casting
Janet Hirshenson	Casting
Peter Cox	Stunts
Jerome Tiberghien	Stunts
Greg Walker	Stunts
Jeffrey Boam	Screenwriter
Dwayne McLean	Stunts
Loren Jones	Stunts
David Rigby	Stunts
Shane Cardwell	Stunts
Steve Maslow	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

David Cronenberg's adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Dead Zone succeeds in fusing the distinct vision of two very different approaches to horror. Where King's books succeed at revealing the horrific and mysterious in a seemingly ordinary world (The Green Mile, Christine, It), Cronenberg has always been intrigued by the fragility of the human body. The movie version of The Dead Zone triumphantly coalesces these two themes into a highly emotional and simultaneously chilling tale. In Christopher Walken, the filmmakers found an ideal actor to dramatize these two themes. Walken's Johnny Smith (a most ordinary name for this most ordinary man) is a decent, quiet English teacher who wants nothing more than to be with his fiancée, Sarah (Brooke Adams). When his powers emerge after a horrific car accident, Johnny still wishes to be ordinary. However, each time he touches someone and sees the future his body reacts violently. As more and more people want to utilize his strange powers, Johnny's body grows weaker and weaker. While Cronenberg has used makeup to effectively show bodily degeneration in other films (The Brood, They Came From Within, The Fly), here he allows Walken to show the physical exhaustion in how he carries himself and in his interaction with the other characters. By the time Johnny takes heroic action, the audience feels both the triumph of so average a man making such a noble decision, and the physical deterioration that makes that decision a little easier. Fine performances by Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, and Martin Sheen help to keep this supernatural tale grounded in an authentic reality. The Dead Zone is very much greater than the sum of its already impressive parts.