Product: The Dead Zone [VHS] (1983)
Rating: 4.0
An excellent adaptation of King's least typical novel
Probably the best King adaptation (in terms of accuracy, though John Carpenter's "Christine" is my favorite king film overall).(I don't really like King much overall, but this book, his [to me] least typical, caught and held me from the beginning, and the film the same.)Some minor changes are perfectly acceptable, given that film and books are two different mediums, and what works in one might look silly in the other, or what plays well might read ludicrously, but the spirit and narrative drive of King's thriller are perfectly maintained. (The scenes showing his vision of the fire, with melting crayons and a boiling fish bowl, are appropriately apocalyptic.)One change i do regret, though i can understand why it was probably done, results in the elimination of the book's two page cameo appearance by Tom Fury, the lightning-rod salesman from Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes". (Wonder how many people i just sent back to the book to look for that, heh.)And the dilemma Johnny faces, unable to explain to anyone else what he has seen, wondering whether to take direct action to prevent the ultimate disaster he has seen that follows Greg Stillson's election as President, knowing that he may be hallucinating, makes for admirable tension and suspense.