Product: The Dead Zone [VHS] (1983)
Rating: 4.0
Not a Horror Movie, But a Suspenseful Drama.
Stephen King is a really good writer, even though he has become known as the king of horror. However, the best Stephen King stories are the one's that really aren't horror stories, such as "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" and THE GREEN MILE. Not surprisingly, these are the same stories that when adapted have been turned into the best movies. THE DEAD ZONE is another one of these films.THE DEAD ZONE is about a teacher named Johnny Smith (brilliantly played by Christopher Walken). After a mysterious night at a carnival, Johnny gets in a car accident after dropping off his girlfriend. He survives the accident but enters a coma and awakens to find himself several years in the future. His entire life has changed seemingly overnight. However, not only that, but Johnny now posesses a psychic gift that allows him to see possible events in the future and events that have occurred in the past. The "gift" seems like a curse and separates Johnny from the rest of the world. The movie builds up to the point when Johnny meets a man running for the US Senate. He sees the evil in the man and the destruction of the world if he is elected. So the question is raised, if you could go back in time and kill Hitler, would you?THE DEAD ZONE stays fairly close to the King novel it is based upon. There really isn't any horror here, just a tasty morsel of the supernatural. Walken, who so often finds trouble finding good work because of his peculiar physical appearance and voice, fits the part of Johnny Smith perfectly. Also memorable is Tom Skerrit in the role of a local sheriff and Martin Sheen as the shady politician. The movie is worth watching and serves as a good introduction to some of the non-horror writings of Stephen King.