SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 204 - The Dead Zone (1983)

[europe1]

NOTE to NON-MEMBERS: Interested in joining the SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB? Shoot me a PM for more info!

Here's a quick list of all movies watched by the SMC. Or if you prefer, here's a more detailed examination.

Our Director​

How the hell did it take 204 weeks for us to get to a freaking David Cronenberg movie?

David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early age (he wrote and published eerie short stories, thus following his father's path) and for music (playing classical guitar until he was 12), Cronenberg graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Literature after switching from the science department. He reached the cult status of horror-meister with the gore-filled, modern-vampire variations of Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1977), following an experimental apprenticeship in independent film-making and in Canadian television programs.

Our Star
Christopher Walker (without makeup)

​

Film Overview



Premise: A man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic ability.

Budget: $7.1 million

Box Office: $16.3 million

Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)

* Director David Cronenberg had to re-shoot the scene in which John Smith has his first premonition. It showed a little girl's room burning and a small E.T. doll could be seen on one of the shelves. The scene had to be re-shot when Universal Pictures threatened to file a lawsuit against them.​

*Johnny's mother is played by Jackie Burroughs, who is only four years older than Christopher Walken.

* This film (and Stephen King's novel) are both loosely based upon the life of famous psychic Peter Hurkos. Hurkos claimed to have acquired his alleged powers after falling off a ladder and hitting his head.

* David Cronenberg wanted to change the name of Christopher Walken's character: "I'd never name someone 'Johnny Smith'", he quipped, but in the end it was left as is. The book does specifically mention how it sounds like a fake name.

* Director David Cronenberg fired a .357 Magnum loaded with blanks just off camera to make Smith's flinches seem more involuntary; this was Christopher Walken's own idea.

* Before the accident, Johnny instructs his class to read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Christopher Walken would later appear in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999).​

Members: @europe1 @Doc Whorfin @MusterX @FrontNakedChoke @Scott Parker 27 @Yotsuya @jei @cheesus @HARRISON_3 @Bubzeh @the ambush @SalvadorAllende @moreorless87 @HenryFlower @Zer

 

[HARRISON_3]

Gazeeebooo...

 

[Scott Parker 27]

NOTE to NON-MEMBERS: Interested in joining the SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB? Shoot me a PM for more info!

Here's a quick list of all movies watched by the SMC. Or if you prefer, here's a more detailed examination.

Our Director​

How the hell did it take 204 weeks for us to get to a freaking David Cronenberg movie?

David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early age (he wrote and published eerie short stories, thus following his father's path) and for music (playing classical guitar until he was 12), Cronenberg graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Literature after switching from the science department. He reached the cult status of horror-meister with the gore-filled, modern-vampire variations of Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1977), following an experimental apprenticeship in independent film-making and in Canadian television programs.

Our Star
Christopher Walker (without makeup)

​

Film Overview



Premise: A man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic ability.

Budget: $7.1 million

Box Office: $16.3 million

Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)

* Director David Cronenberg had to re-shoot the scene in which John Smith has his first premonition. It showed a little girl's room burning and a small E.T. doll could be seen on one of the shelves. The scene had to be re-shot when Universal Pictures threatened to file a lawsuit against them.​

*Johnny's mother is played by Jackie Burroughs, who is only four years older than Christopher Walken.

* This film (and Stephen King's novel) are both loosely based upon the life of famous psychic Peter Hurkos. Hurkos claimed to have acquired his alleged powers after falling off a ladder and hitting his head.

* David Cronenberg wanted to change the name of Christopher Walken's character: "I'd never name someone 'Johnny Smith'", he quipped, but in the end it was left as is. The book does specifically mention how it sounds like a fake name.

* Director David Cronenberg fired a .357 Magnum loaded with blanks just off camera to make Smith's flinches seem more involuntary; this was Christopher Walken's own idea.

* Before the accident, Johnny instructs his class to read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Christopher Walken would later appear in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999).​

Members: @europe1 @Doc Whorfin @MusterX @FrontNakedChoke @Scott Parker 27 @Yotsuya @jei @LHWBelt @cheesus @HARRISON_3 @Bubzeh @moreorless87 @HenryFlower @Zer

This was an excellent movie. Walken really plays it us as a man finally about to crack from the pressures of the gift he did not ask for, but was forced on him. It started off quickly and didn't really have any parts that dragged on for me. I didn't really feel a central theme or agenda from movie such as karma or heroism so that kept me guessing as to what would happen next. I guess maybe one theme would be once an asshole, always an asshole.

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

Hello my friends,
@FrontNakedChoke returns
(from Sherdog sabbatical)

I really liked this film.
Had me interested from the start.
Christopher Walken was great in his role.



I enjoyed the Castle Rock Killer story-line a little more than the political finale one.

Overall a really enjoyable Stephen King based Horror-thriller.
Under the likes of The Shining & Misery, but still quite good.

This one has been on my list for a while now.
Really glad I took the time to watch it.

@FrontNakedChoke signing off

 

[ufcfan4]

Great choice. Love this movie! Walken at his best.

 

[cheesus]

Loved it, Walken has such a strong pressence and such a diverse ability in characters, he can literally play anything.

" The ice is going to break ! "

 

[ufcfan4]

This was an excellent movie. Walken really plays it us as a man finally about to crack from the pressures of the gift he did not ask for, but was forced on him. It started off quickly and didn't really have any parts that dragged on for me. I didn't really feel a central theme or agenda from movie such as karma or heroism so that kept me guessing as to what would happen next. I guess maybe one theme would be once an asshole, always an asshole.

I am a huge fan of this film.

Everything about it just works. From the hauntingly effective score that opens the movie, to the performances (Walken is phenomenal, Lom Sheen, Skeritt, Adams, Zerbe etc all very good in supporting roles), to the editing and cinematography. The cutaways to Johnny's visions are masterfully done. That first sequence where he sees Amy in the burning room while he's holding the nurse's hand is particularly effective and has a Twlight Zone kind of vibe to it. The nuance of including Walken flinching as he starts to experience the vision is just one aspect of the way those scenes are shot that really stands out to me and makes it work so well.

This is a film that truly showcases how good Walken was at this stage of his career. He definitely portrays Johnny as a tortured soul, cursed with an extraordinary ability that he didn't ask for and does not even particularly want to utilize. But, because he is a good person at his core, he is also unable to sit idly by and allow something disastrous to happen when he can prevent it. The sequence with Skeritt is so important because it shows exactly why Johnny's gift is a curse. His best laid plans to help the community and save lives end up in his nearly being killed. But, in the latter sequence of the film, when he is trying to live a quiet, nearly reclusive life, he cannot help but use the ability when he sees a chance to save lives again.

Great film. 80s classic.

 

[therealdope]

Inb4 "THE ICE IS GONNA BREAK!!!"

 

[therealdope]

On of the best movies of the 80s and after the Shining, it's the next best Stephen King adaptation.

3 yrs ago I borrowed The Dead Zone DVD from the library and watched it with the kids (14 and 11). They thought it was great. My younger daughter is now a huge Stephen King fan and is reading all his books.

Great casting, Walken, Sheen, Dodge's mother, the sets were great.

 

[HARRISON_3]

"Yea, God's been a real sport to me..."
(*head bobbles)

 

[moreorless87]

On of the best movies of the 80s and after the Shining, it's the next best Stephen King adaptation.

3 yrs ago I borrowed The Dead Zone DVD from the library and watched it with the kids (14 and 11). They thought it was great. My younger daughter is now a huge Stephen King fan and is reading all his books.

Great casting, Walken, Sheen, Dodge's mother, the sets were great.

This does feel much more like a "King movie" to me than The Shining, I'v not read the book but my understand is the film is pretty close being mostly a case of condensing events?

I think you can see some elements which end up as weaknesses in other King adaptations in terms of the plot being quite sprawling and episodic but here the film manages to avoid them being negatives. Cronenberg and Walken together really manage to sell it more as a personal story of Johnny rather than depending purely on the plot as many other king adaptations. Reading wiki Cronenberg trimmed a good deal of detail out of the script to help with that plus whilst its maybe not as striking as some of his other work he does sell the doomed atmosphere very well too, I don't think the King smalltown setting as ever been as effective as it is here.

Production wise I think its interesting Dino De Laurentiis was behind this and getting Cronenberg involved, you could argue it was really a pattern of this phase of his career to try and get well regarded but cultish directors involved in somewhat more mainstream genre films, Bergman's Serpent's Egg into Mike Hodges with Flash Gordon, this film and then Lynch with Dune. The latter was less successful, perhaps because the scale of the production had become too large to allow the same kind of freedom? after that he backed off allowing Lynch to basically make his own films with Blue Velvet on a much smaller budget.

 

[ufcfan4]

This does feel much more like a "King movie" to me than The Shining, I'v not read the book but my understand is the film is pretty close being mostly a case of condensing events?

I think you can see some elements which end up as weaknesses in other King adaptations in terms of the plot being quite sprawling and episodic but here the film manages to avoid them being negatives. Cronenberg and Walken together really manage to sell it more as a personal story of Johnny rather than depending purely on the plot as many other king adaptations. Reading wiki Cronenberg trimmed a good deal of detail out of the script to help with that plus whilst its maybe not as striking as some of his other work he does sell the doomed atmosphere very well too, I don't think the King smalltown setting as ever been as effective as it is here.

Production wise I think its interesting Dino De Laurentiis was behind this and getting Cronenberg involved, you could argue it was really a pattern of this phase of his career to try and get well regarded but cultish directors involved in somewhat more mainstream genre films, Bergman's Serpent's Egg into Mike Hodges with Flash Gordon, this film and then Lynch with Dune. The latter was less successful, perhaps because the scale of the production had become too large to allow the same kind of freedom? after that he backed off allowing Lynch to basically make his own films with Blue Velvet on a much smaller budget.

Great points.

Of the Cronenberg films I've seen, this one and The Fly are, by far, my favorites. Perhaps they are his most commercial/maintstream as well.

 

[moreorless87]

Great points.

Of the Cronenberg films I've seen, this one and The Fly are, by far, my favorites. Perhaps they are his most commercial/maintstream as well.

Yeah they probably are although I think The Fly feels more akin to his regular grimy body horror of the 70's to the 90's.

The Dead Zone in some ways I'd say actually feels more like his latter career, its still overly supernatural/sci fi I spose but is generally a bit more down to earth spending most of the time building up a relatively normal location. What actually comes to mind for me is Spider from 2002, that's got the same kind of focus on a more down to earth environment that reflects the mood of the troubled protagonist.

 

[europe1]

This is a good movie but I'm much more mellow on it than the rest of the SMC it seems.

The King novel was one of those doorstoppers that I quit halfway through. As is usually a problem with him, there was waaay too much faffing about and the plot really lacked a sense of direction. One thing that I remembered finding really hilarious was when Johnny first awakens out of his coma and talks to his parents, one of the very first things they talk about is the Watergate scandal. The dad is like: "Nixon is a cheat, son!" and Johnny is like: "Huh!? Nixon? No!" I dunno, talking politics with your recently comatose son just seems to have a tint of the absurd.

The film obviously strips out a lot. But I kinda wonder if it could have exorcized even more. For example, Johnny's mother just zips right by in this iteration. In the novel, she becomes a religious loon due to the car-crash. That's present here in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it way. Which makes her heart-attack likewise seem quite underserved.

lol at Sheen doing pushups to prove that he's fit for office. And the way he just snatches that kid to use as a human shield without a moment's hesitation is hilarious as well<45>

(this is definitively another SMC Week-picture)

I enjoyed the Castle Rock Killer story-line a little more than the political finale one.

For me it was the reverse. This was really one of those flicks that very slowly garnered momentum up to a good ending.

However, I do find it a bit funny that this master-criminal has killed several women without the police getting so much as a sniff of him. Yet he does his assassination in broad daylight right out in the open.

 

[europe1]

Production wise I think its interesting Dino De Laurentiis was behind this and getting Cronenberg involved,

I really want to know if Dino picked Cronenberg on pure reputation alone or if he actually sat down and watched Shivers, Scanners and The Brood and then went: "Yup! This is the guy that we want!"<45>

 

[ufcfan4]

This is a good movie but I'm much more mellow on it than the rest of the SMC it seems.

The King novel was one of those doorstoppers that I quit halfway through. As is usually a problem with him, there was waaay too much faffing about and the plot really lacked a sense of direction. One thing that I remembered finding really hilarious was when Johnny first awakens out of his coma and talks to his parents, one of the very first things they talk about is the Watergate scandal. The dad is like: "Nixon is a cheat, son!" and Johnny is like: "Huh!? Nixon? No!" I dunno, talking politics with your recently comatose son just seems to have a tint of the absurd.

The film obviously strips out a lot. But I kinda wonder if it could have exorcized even more. For example, Johnny's mother just zips right by in this iteration. In the novel, she becomes a religious loon due to the car-crash. That's present here in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it way. Which makes her heart-attack likewise seem quite underserved.

lol at Sheen doing pushups to prove that he's fit for office. And the way he just snatches that kid to use as a human shield without a moment's hesitation is hilarious as well<45>

(this is definitively another SMC Week-picture)



For me it was the reverse. This was really one of those flicks that very slowly garnered momentum up to a good ending.

However, I do find it a bit funny that this master-criminal has killed several women without the police getting so much as a sniff of him. Yet he does his assassination in broad daylight right out in the open.

She knows him. Not scared. She knows him!

lol at the Sheen doing push ups campaign gimmick. That was great.

Walken and Sheen of course would also be in another film together a couple of decades later, Catch Me if You Can. No scenes together but it’s kind of funny how Walken is Dicaprios dad and Sheen is his potential father-in-law.

 

[europe1]

That first sequence where he sees Amy in the burning room while he's holding the nurse's hand is particularly effective and has a Twlight Zone kind of vibe to it.

Yeah. Its kinda dissapointing that they could never get that "reality-and-vision mixing together" feel going after that.

 

[moreorless87]

I really want to know if Dino picked Cronenberg on pure reputation alone or if he actually sat down and watched Shivers, Scanners and The Brood and then went: "Yup! This is the guy that we want!"<45>

Honestly though it makes more sense that some of the other ones doesn't it? the guy who did the Elephant Man? yes he's just who we need for Dune! remember Get Carter? ideal for Flash Gordon! If anything I think its surprising that Dino did as well as he did.

Not sure I would say its a "great" film but again I think its probably the best example of the true "King style" adaptation of his work, at least his horror work. To me that almost becomes a genre unto itself as the tropes, the episodic plotting, etc are expected but here not so much of an issue because the film does actually manage to build character/atmosphere.

As you say the cast is much more consistant than you expect from King adaptations, normally you get a few Stockwells and Bronson Pinchots lighting it up and a lot of blandness but here most of the cast is between entertaining or at least competent.

 

[chickenluver]

I've seen this film a handful of times over the years and have always had a fondness for it. The funny thing is I can't recall now if I first saw it in its entirety at a very young age but only remembered bits and pieces, or if I actually only saw bits and pieces off it. I think I watched the entire movie but their were certain parts that stuck in my memory, namely the vision scenes.

I was going to write something without re-watching, but I'm glad I decided against that because I realized I had forgotten many of the details. Overall I think the film holds up really well. As far as King adaptations go (I'm not too hot on King as a writer btw) I still think it's well below the Shining but above the others I've seen.

Kind of funny how at the start you hear that Walken and his co-worker girlfriend haven't had sex yet so I assumed they were rather new in their relationship, then he says he's going to marry her, so I guess not. Is this a 80's American thing or something? I guess it makes it more significant when they finally do get together years later.

I think Walken gives the performance of his career in this. He's an actor with a reputation for being rather eccentric, but at the start he seems perfectly normal and charming. After the accident he becomes much more serious and intense, but he really never goes over the top. He basically reacts like how I imagine a normal person would in his situation. Even when the events get really crazy he keeps that quiet intensity.

Herbert Lom is someone else that I am used to seeing giving over the top performances (as Chief Inspector Dreyfus in the Pink Panther series) and here also gives a very good, understated performance as the doctor. Kind of interesting that "would you kill Hitler" is the most generic "would you change history" type of question, yet in this case it's actually apt considering Lom's character personally suffered under the Nazis.

After praising the understated performances of most of the cast I need to mention that Martin Sheen certainly does not go that same route. He's so over the top, but I think it works rather well considering he's a scummy politician who's all about coming across as charismatic, not to mention that he's also a complete psychopath.

I think the episodic structure works pretty well here. Walken basically goes through a series of "cases" so to speak, which really aren't related to each other at all apart from Walken's involvement. As I mentioned earlier, the psychic vision scenes are very well done and creepy, enough to stick in one's mind for years (especially if seen before the age of 10 apparently). I think the vision of the fire, the murder, and the kids falling in the ice are particularly effective.

Count me among those who liked the serial killer part more than the political assassination part. Honestly I think it's a tad cheesy that in the end he sacrifices his life to basically save the entire world. It seems like a leap both for the narrative and for him as a character. Sheen actually trying to use the nearest baby as a human shield is pretty fucking hilarious. Not to say it's a bad ending or that I disliked this part.

 

[chickenluver]

" The ice is going to break ! "

I really like the detail of him touching the kid's hand again and because he doesn't see him drowning anymore he thinks the game is called off, but it's really only because that kid has decided he won't do it and the drowning still happens. I would kind of liked to have some follow up on the consequences of that, but I guess that's outside the scope of Walken's story.

How the hell did it take 204 weeks for us to get to a freaking David Cronenberg movie?​

hahaha I believe I tried to get eXistenZ watched three or four times, nominating it and voting for it each time.

The King novel was one of those doorstoppers that I quit halfway through. As is usually a problem with him, there was waaay too much faffing about and the plot really lacked a sense of direction.

That's every King book for me.

For example, Johnny's mother just zips right by in this iteration. In the novel, she becomes a religious loon due to the car-crash. That's present here in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it way.

lmao I had assumed she was always like that. She was a weird character. I swear she talked like someone from the 19th century.

Honestly though it makes more sense that some of the other ones doesn't it? the guy who did the Elephant Man? yes he's just who we need for Dune!

The beginning of Lynch's career is really funny to me. He spends seven years working on this experimental, independent film. Mel Brooks sees it and loves it, this gets Lynch the job on the Brooks' produced Elephant Man. Now suddenly Lynch is making a studio film and working with some of the greatest living actors, John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John fucking Gielgud. The movie gets eight oscar nominations, and based on this success he gets offered both Return of the Jedi and Dune. As puzzling as it is that Brooks would offer Lynch the Elephant Man gig based on Eraserhead, it's much more baffling that de Laurentiis and especially George Lucas would want Lynch for their sci-fi movies based on his career thus far. And of course Lynch ended up hating the experience of making Dune and since then has stuck to smaller-budget films wherein he can exert creative control. So really it all worked out pretty well. When a director only has one film that they are unhappy about I'd say that's a very good track record.