Product: The Dead Zone [VHS] (1983)
Rating: 5.0
Amazingly creepy and surprisingly poignant
Possibly the best big screen adaptation of a Stephen King novel (even better than Brian De Palma's Carrie), the Dead Zone is the culmination of producer Debra Hill (a longtime partner of John Carpenter) and horror maestro David Cronenberg. Like the above Amazon review states, with a lineup like this you'd expect a horror movie chock full of all the blood and gore you can handle, but instead the Dead Zone is an amazingly creepy and heart wrenching tale, starring Christopher Walken in one of his finest performances as Johnny Smith; who awakens from a coma to find that he has acquired an ability that allows him to see horrible past and possible future events just by touching someone. Most of the film deals with Smith's inner struggle at his dilemma, before concluding with a face off against a shady politician (Martin Sheen). Not really a horror movie, but it supplies the right amount of dread and suspense that you would expect from this crew, and this film not only ranks as one of the best King adaptations, but one of the best films to come from the visionary Cronenberg.