The Dead Zone

One of the very best Stephen King film adaptations, The Dead Zone is imbued with an ever-present atmosphere of dread. Shot in a permanently wintry Canada (standing in for New England), the icy backdrops are subtly employed by director David Cronenberg to accentuate the story?s fatalistic tone. Cronenberg?s welcome emphasis for the most part on psychological terror over physical shocks (something of a change of direction for him after The Brood and Scanners) is further enhanced by composer Michael Kamen?s marvellously chilly music score and Christopher Walken?s understated yet dominating central performance as high school teacher Johnny Smith, who wakes from a coma following a car crash to learn that he has been cursed with the gift of second sight. That his uncanny ability is indeed a curse and definitely not a blessing is made abundantly clear: even when Johnny is able to save people?s lives, there is always a price to pay. The cosmic law of Karma is grimly unforgiving. Herbert Lom, as Johnny?s sympathetic doctor, sums up the character?s plight, "Some things just weren?t meant to be." And even when Johnny learns the terrible secret of future Presidential candidate Greg Stillson (a villainous Martin Sheen), he knows he cannot act without accepting the fatal consequences. Brooke Adams, as the love of Johnny?s life, and Tom Skerrit, as the quietly desperate sheriff on the trail of a serial killer, are excellent in support.

On the DVD: this disc comes with a chunky accompanying booklet with background notes on the film, cast and director, as well as a script excerpt for the originally planned pre-credits sequence (in the finished film we assume Johnny?s second sight is a result of the car accident--this earlier screenplay follows the book more closely). The movie itself--which features the "scissor-suicide" scene uncut--is accompanied by a chatty and informative commentary from film critics Stephen Jones and Kim Newman (a regular Amazon.co.uk contributor). Both the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen picture and the Dolby 5.1 sound are adequate if unexceptional. --Mark Walker