The Dead Zone - Liked It - DOUBLEFEATUREPREACHERS

The Dead Zone - Liked It

8/2/2017

Stars: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams
Director: David Cronenberg
Runtime: 1 hour, 43 minutes
Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller | 1983
Based on The Dead Zone by Stephen King

I always find it strange to watch a movie from the 80’s after only ever seeing an actor in more recent movies. Christopher Walken as a younger man looks completely different, kind of like how we watched that awful pirate movie starring Michael Caine. It’s just odd to watch. The Dead Zone is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, and leads us into our second day for “Stephen King” weeks. I for one, am liking what I’m seeing so far. Horror/Thrillers are by far the top of my list when it comes to choosing movies.

This film was interesting, a man wakes up from a coma and has learned that he gained the ability to see the past and future for a person. Waking up so many years later, the love of his life has moved on and married, so he must cope with that along with his new ability. The film it mostly about him trying to decide if he wants to use his ability for good or if he just wants to be alone and live his life. For a book (and a novel for that matter) I’m sure you can guess that he tries to use his ability for good - helping the police and others.

One thing I didn’t like much about this film was that there really wasn’t a standalone storyline, other than just following the main character around. He helps multiple people, and none of them really cross paths at all or play on the stories of one another: a serial killer, a troubled young boy, and a politician. I just didn’t see how they fit together, perhaps David’s review has more insight on this since he is the biggest Stephen King fan I know.

Regardless, this film was good. Christopher Walken was good on screen and I felt played his character well. I’d like to say that the effects weren’t the greatest, but what can you expect from a film that was released in 1983? The face he made during the visions was priceless. I’ll give this movie a “Liked It” rating too. Can’t wait to watch other movies, hopefully some more new though. (4/5)