Don’t Be So Political: THE DEAD ZONE (1983)
Runtime: 103 mins | Release Year: 1983 | Rating: R | Genre(s): Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
Production Country: Canada | Original Language: Russian
Johnny Smith is a schoolteacher with his whole life ahead of him but, after leaving his fiancee’s home one night, is involved in a car crash which leaves him in a coma for 5 years. When he wakes, he discovers he has an ability to see into the past, present and future life of anyone with whom he comes into physical contact.
Showtimes
Don’t Be So Political is a monthly film series that engages with films through a political lens. Each screening is preceded by an expert Q&A. Hosted by Zach Wortzman
“The ice is gonna break.”
After a car accident puts Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) in a coma for five years, he awakes with a supernatural ability to see the future of everyone he touches.
The only collaboration between two masters of horror, Cronenberg directs Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Filmed mainly in Toronto and Niagara Falls, the film takes place in King’s favoured haunt of Castle Rock, Maine. A brutal winter shoot added natural atmosphere to the tense script. Walken bring his singular energy to the second-sighted Johnny Smith and joins Cronenberg’s stable of forceful leading men. Martin Sheen’s appearance as Senatorial hopeful Greg Stillson steals the film with his bombastic portrayal of an ambitious populist.
When King wrote his novel in the years leading up to Ronald Reagan’s first election, his great fear for American politics was a descent into hollow populism and victory-at-all-costs elections, a fear that has been made to look naive in what has come since. Building toward a memorable and ending that you have to see to believe, The Dead Zone is ‘Don’t Be So Political’s’ Halloween season screening. (ZACH WORTZMAN)
Part of the Don’t Be So Political series!
Cast/Crew Info
Director: David Cronenberg | Cast: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Anthony Zerbe